History of Tibbits Professional Summer Theatre

Named one of “10 great places to see the lights way off Broadway” by USA Today, Tibbits Summer Theatre (TST) celebrates its 45th season this year bringing professional theatre by a stock company to southwest Michigan and the tri-state area. 

Our artistic mission is to present the best possible theatre for Branch County and the surrounding area.  Each season is a balancing act of the classics of musical theatre and some of the best writing of the last 20 years.   Each year Artistic Director Charles Burr hires the entire company, actors, musicians, directors, designers, technical crew from throughout the Midwest.  Many are professionals who have been working steadily in the Midwest theatre circuit for years.  The company often includes college professors and graduate theatre students. The season lasts nine weeks and each production is blocked, rehearsed, designed and built in 10 days. 

Begun in 1964, the first two years of summer stock at the newly restored Tibbits were produced by the American Theatre Festival.  Mostly made up of theatre professionals from Indiana, the group presented a large season, with a new show opening every week.  The comedy “The Solid Gold Cadillac was the opening production, followed by nine other plays and one musical. 

By 1966, Tibbits executive director, Larry Carrico decided that the Tibbits itself would produce the season.  Musicals became the stock in trade and are still the staple of the Tibbits season.  While Tibbits produces the biggest names such as “Show Boat,” “South Pacific” and “Fiddler on the Roof,” it has also been instrumental in introducing audiences to lesser known gems such as “Lucky Stiff,” “Hi-Hat Hattie,” “Baby” and “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.” 

Tibbits has also worked in conjunction with the estates of two of our foremost composers being the first theatre to revive Cole Porter’s 1935 royal romp, “Jubilee” and to offer the first production in close to 50 years of Rodgers and Hart’s “A Connecticut Yankee.”  

Plays remain vital to Tibbits which is one of the few theatres in America to offer all three installments of the important Neil Simon trilogy that began with “Brighton Beach Memoirs.”  Many recent Tony or Pulitzer Prize winners have been seen on the historic stage as well as popular fare including  “Driving Miss Daisy,” “Steel Magnolias,” and “The Last Night of Ballyhoo.” 

In 1988 TST added the popular Popcorn Theatre, theatre designed for children and performed by the adult company members. Popcorn Theatre has become a multi-generational adventure for many families and serves as a beautiful introduction to theatre.

Through its occasional winter productions Tibbits has been able to stretch its artistic wings.  Shows have included productions of “Mass Appeal,” “Grace and Glorie,” “Ellemosynary” and “john and jen.”  In 2007 Tibbits was responsible for bringing to the stage a new production written by Charles Burr and Bobb James based on the books of nationally-acclaimed and locally-based children’s author Patricia Polacco.