SUGARCREEK The nomadic lifestyle of actors as they pursue their dreams on stage makes adjusting to life in Amish Country easier to take as they settle in for the summer production of The Best of Me.
Bobby Hall Jr., of Bluefield, West Virginia, Caroline Clay of Greenup, Kentucky, and Connor Murphy-White from Greenville, Alabama, all call Sugarcreek home this summer as they act and sing in several shows a week through Oct. 28.
The cast members are part of the production team of Blue Gate Musicals out of Nashville, Tennessee. Blue Gate is one of several companies that choose from a pool of around 500 actors to perform in venues like Ohio Star Theater across the country.
Blue Gate Musicals was founded in 2010 by longtime Christian music producer and executive Dan Posthuma and Mel Riegsecker, who turned his hobby for making miniature horse-drawn vehicles into a business that includes the 750-seat Blue Gate Restaurant, the 350-seat Blue Gate Theatre, a 154-room inn, three retail stores and a horse and carriage business in Shipshewana, Indiana.
Their company expanded its productions to the Ohio Star Theater in Sugarcreek, Ohio and the Bird-in-Hand Stage in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, before adding the new Sarasota venue.
All four theaters are located in Amish tourist areas and present original musicals, mostly created by director and composer Wally Nason and writer Martha Bolton, a former comedy writer for Bob Hope.