Both avid followers of this column have already noticed a subtle trend in the South Sound theater scene. Not only are there more of theater companies these days, but the ones that often stage shows for their own audiences are reaching out more often than not to the public at large as they increasingly understand that their stage doesn’t compete with other theaters but with the silver screen or the electronic drug that is television.



More theater partnerships and programs have sprung up in the last two years than in the previous decade.



Such partnerships have paid off in better performances all around, increased attendance and more tactile bonuses such as the local landing of the National Theater Festival bid to come to Tacoma in 2009. But another much more interesting trend is also emerging. Community colleges are making more of an effort to reach into the local theater scene for actors and audience members.



One such case can be found at Pierce College. The theater just finished an amazing run of “The Laramie Project,” a show that is arguably one of the most daring theater projects of the modern age. I managed to see the show in a last-minute calendar shift at casa Dunkelberger and found the show simply amazing. Forget everything you think you know about community college theater. Your assumptions are all wrong; the show was well produced, well acted and drew crowds that more represented the community around it than the students of the commuter campus. The cast list included more members of the South Sound theater scene than students, which is not to say the actors-in-training failed to hold their own. In fact, any community theater would be lucky to have the depth of talent found in this show.



Not only were there South Sound veterans Lynn Geyer, Les Price and Kim Hunsaker, but there also were some up-and-comers most certainly on the fast track to better things. Standout newbies include Blake York, whom I last wrote about in his performance of “The Nerd” earlier this season, and Katie Wheeler, who was a young actress on the move when she took to the stage in Gig Harbor and stands out here as well.



Looking through the playbill, I found it interesting that about half of the “Laramie” cast was not from the ranks of Pierce College’s student rolls but members of the community. That is not happenstance.



“This is about the community,” says Pierce College theater Professor Fred Metzger. “It’s their college.”



Metzger has been a member of the theater faculty at Pierce College since 1976 and has seen the community pendulum swing back and forth several times over the decades. The current swing will bring a new theater to Pierce College Fort Steilacoom. Renovations will take about a year and convert a lecture hall into a two-story theater by this time next year. The spring show will be the last in the current stage. Although smaller by about 50 or so seats, the new theater will allow for more dramatic lighting designs because the catwalk will be more accessible. More on this in the coming months.

‘Ruthless!’

On the other side of the bridge, Paradise Theater is staging “Ruthless!” — a musical about seven strong-willed and wacky women that centers on the story of 8-year-old Tina Denmark, who is certain she was born to play Pippi Longstocking in the school play and will stop at nothing to win the part.



Cast includes: Diane Daniels as Judy Denmark, Amelia Brummel as Tina Denmark, Tamara Nelson as Sylvia St. Croix, Sylvia Shaw as Lita Encore, Marianne McColley as Miss Thorn, Madeline Dullum as Louise Lerman, and Palmer Scheutzow as Eve.



The show runs at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and at 4 p.m. on Sunday through March 11.

Buy tickets online at www.paradisetheatre.org or call 253.851.PLAY. Tickets are $10 to $20. The theater is located at 9911 Burnham Dr. N.W., Gig Harbor.