Local talents

Before the Golden Globes kicked off the Hollywood award season Sunday, a small but mighty group of actors in Cape Girardeau held their own trophy party.

The River City Players community theater group hands out Abbott Awards to its actors, directors and members each year. Some say the sound of a happy audience is enough, but for this small group of thespians the awards banquet is a chance to get together and celebrate one another.

On Page 13A you'll find out more about the actors who won the awards and a bit about what they'll be up to this year.

Community theater can be a tough row to hoe, with little funding for advertising, costume and set design. However, River City Players has been blessed with dedicated talent who spend countless hours rehearsing, making sets, finding costumes and performing the three to four plays River City Players schedules each year.

With the River Campus, the Show Me Center and nearby larger cities attracting dozens of touring acts and putting on their own professional-level shows, River City Players has plenty of competition.

The little theater that could has carved a niche in this performance-rich market. Their dinner theater format offers a two-in-one night.

Theatergoers get to have dinner and conversation before enjoying the show, which usually errs on the side of comedy. The bar a few steps away adds to the adult night out.

Yes, the River Campus productions have the lights, the professionally designed costumes and an undeniably talented pool of students to pull from, but River City Players productions have an unparalleled intimacy. Their look and feel -- and the fact that you probably know at least one person on stage -- make it more like watching an argument in your living room or backyard.

They may not be fully-funded with Broadway training, but River City Players manages to put on a good show and they have fun doing it.