Taking Center Stage

THE Greater Ocean City Theatre Company has set the stage for its comeback. Now the nonprofit just needs the community to remember the show must go on.

“This is in many ways a make-or-break summer for us,” Michael Hartman, OCTC artistic director, said. “If we don’t get to the level we were pre-pandemic, we will be forced to make some pretty drastic changes to our programming and the structure of our nonprofit.”

Michael founded the company in 2007 to provide professional and educational theater opportunities to this barrier island community and beyond. The group’s robust slate of 2023 productions and programming is proof that this mission has blossomed, despite when the worst kind of showstopper showed up in COVID-19 three years ago.

“The pandemic really has impacted live theater and music,” Michael said, “and we still have yet to experience a ‘normal’ summer since 2019.”

In addition to a loss of revenue in ticket sales and camp registrations, the OCTC took a hit with donations and corporate sponsorships, too. The nonprofit is always looking to increase its giving, and donations can be made right on the website at oceancitytheatrecompany.com/get-involved/onlinedonation. Sponsorship information is on the website as well.

While the group is appreciative of the support it receives from the city, the association has been a bit of a detriment in terms of donations.

“People assume we are funded by the city, and we’re not. We are our own nonprofit,” Michael stressed. While giving going into the summer was down, camp registration and ticket sales looked promising. And with an extensive schedule of theatrical entertainment all summer long, the OCTC team is optimistic.

Back to Broadway

OCTC will come full circle with its impressive Broadway series this summer. The Wizard of Oz was the first professional show to hit the OCTC stage 16 years ago, and 2023 marks the first time the nonprofit brings back one of its Broadway hits.

“We’re really excited. We’re teaming up with the Ocean City Pops for the production,” Michael said.

The Wizard of Oz will be held at the Hughes Performing Arts Center at Ocean City High School with show times at 7:30pm on August 1, 2, 4, 8, 9 and 11. Matinees are at 2pm on August 3 and 10.

The show features a cast of professional performers who auditioned in New York City. ZFX Flying Effects will send Glinda the Good Witch skyward in her bubble, not to mention adding a bit of airborne magic to the flying monkeys, too.

“It’s all the excitement that goes into a fully-staged Broadway musical, complete with a full piece orchestra provided by the Pops, at a major fraction of the cost of a Broadway show – right here in Ocean City,” Michael said.

Tickets are only $30 for general admission and $25 for senior citizens and children 12 years old and younger.

“When we did The Wizard of Oz 16 years ago, we sold out the run,” Michael said. “That’s a pretty high bar to do that again, but we’d love to see that happen.”

Children’s Series

A perfect beach day afternoon can kick off with the OCTC Children’s Series this summer when it returns to the Ocean City Music Pier. After taking in a Tuesday morning 10:30am live, professional theater production, families can then more or less walk out the door to the beach.

The 2023 schedule includes Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat on July 11, Red Riding Hood’s Woods on July 18, Pinocchio on July 25 and Rapunzel on August 1. Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door.

“The series is performed by musical theater professionals and people in the industry who are in college,” Michael explained. “The shows are for children and families. It’s meant to be an affordable, low-cost way for families to experience theater.

“Often it’s a child’s first introduction to theater, which is very special for us,” Michael continued. “It’s also a chance for us to incorporate education, literature and creativity in the summer season when kids, in their minds, are off from school.”

The next generation of performers

Education is a huge component of OCTC, evident in its theater camps, classes and lessons taught by industry professionals.

“We also, through our education, really want to be inclusive and tackle theater and performing arts so that it is a journey, so that students are always learning and always growing,” Michael said. “It’s important that every phase of their journey through theater, music, dance – they’re engaged and growing. That’s why we start our programming at the youngest of young all the way up through adults.”

More than 300 kids come through the OCTC educational programs in a given year. This summer features all of the typical camps, as well as some new offerings.

The Stars program is geared toward teenagers and adults with physical, cognitive or intellectual disabilities. The six-week $60 program – which can also be attended individually for $10 per class –gives attendees the chance to build theater skills and socialize. A showcase for family and friends caps off the program.

OCTC incorporates music and theater into the tiniest of fans with its new Broadway Babies program, which is for children from age eight weeks through three years (and their grown-ups, of course). Babies interested can have their adults sign up for one class or all six, which run on Saturday mornings from 9 to 10am, June 24 through July 29. Cost is $18 per class or $108 for the series. Babies will move and groove to Broadway hits with the help of props and musical instruments.

Young professionals

The OCTC Jr. Company is unique in that it gives students an opportunity to experience what it’s like to be part of a professional company, from auditions to rehearsals, while still, of course, having fun. The Jr. Company will perform two musicals this summer at the Ocean City Music Pier.

“We try to replicate what it’s like doing a professional show as best we can with student performers,” Michael explained, “with expectations and a different level of standards.”

OCTC is one of the first to get to perform Mean Girls on stage. The show features students entering ninth through 12th grades and is at 7:30pm on July 21 and 22. Legally Blonde The Musical Jr. will highlight the talents of rising fifth- through eighth-graders at 7:30pm on August 25 and 26. Tickets are $15.

The OCTC Jr. Company auditions and rehearses as a professional theater company for its summer shows. Last year’s included Shrek The Musical Jr.

An identity – and future – of its own

“Theater, from an audience perspective, is an opportunity for people to walk in and sit shoulder-to-shoulder with someone you don’t know and have a shared experience,” Michael said. “Theater really can be a center point of a community.”

To that end, the goal of OCTC is to appeal to everyone in the community. The company works with the city and Ocean City Pops in assessing what will be a good fit and sell tickets.

According to Michael, as the premier theater company in “America’s Greatest Family Resort,” it’s also important to appeal to the families of the community – which doesn’t necessarily mean a mom-dad-kid dynamic.

“I like to challenge the thinking of what a family is,” Michael said, explaining that this could be parents or grandparents, chosen family members, neighbors and beyond. “We want to offer a program that appeals to all of the different types of families that either live or visit the Ocean City area.”

Robust ticket sales, corporate sponsorships and generous donations will make a world of difference to OCTC in 2023. The nonprofit’s new digital box office – accessible at oceancitytheatrecompany.com – curbs added fees and gives the opportunity for a total cost to be “rounded up” to the next nearest dollar as a donation. Additionally, patrons can further donate when they buy their tickets.

“Over time,” Michael said, “those small donations will make a huge impact on our little operation.”