It's been 20 years since my first visit to the Playmill, but I remember it like yesterday.
My 6-year-old heart fluttered when we were greeted at the door by an oh-so-good-looking young man who flirted with my twin sister and me while he led us to our seats. I giggled when a beautiful girl sat on my dad's knee during the variety revue that precedes each show. I booed the villain and cheered the hero with such enthusiasm that my parents had to quietly restrain me.I left that night in love with all the men in the cast, envious of the beautiful girls and with a dream of someday being involved in something so fun and so entertaining.
I have returned several times in the 20 years since that first visit and am amazed at how little it has changed through the years. The wooden stage is still small, props are few and scenery is simple - just as with the first production 26 summers ago. Nestled in the small town of West Yellowstone, Mont., the Playmill Theatre was originally designed to cater to tourists. Four men leased the old post office/drug store building with dreams of turning it into a theater and providing fun, family summer entertainment. Before a decade was up, Lynn Benson and his wife, Fern, were sole owners of the theater - and the reputation it had already attained.
Although tourists were still a mainstay, the small summer repertory theater had become a yearly tradition for many people, reported John Bidwell, who was a performer at the theater for 10 years. When the Bensons retired last year, Bidwell and his wife, Trudy (the two met in 1976 at the Playmill), bought the theater.
"We have people who have been coming up for 20 years or more," he said. "Some of them travel for several hours just to spend an evening here."
Bidwell attributes Playmill's success to its family appeal and the hard work of the performers. "Our audiences know they can come up here and see a show that is good, fun and clean," he explained. Until this year, the theater operated in conjunction with BYU. The actors, who also work on costumes, sets and make-up, paid tuition and received credit for the summer's work.
Now the actors are paid. "We're still continuing with the same type of clean, fun entertainment, we just wanted to pay the performers. Granted, it's not a lot of money," Bidwell observed wryly. "But hopefully the amount will increase over the years."
"It's really the audiences that make Playmill unique," explained Roger Merrill, who has returned for four years to the Playmill stage. Merrill, too, met his wife at Playmill, and the couple are planning to make performing at West Yellowstone a summer tradition.
"There's something here you can't find anywhere else," he continued. "It's such an intimate theater. You can see your reflection on the audience members' glasses. There's communication here."
That communication doesn't come easily. After auditions, which are conducted in Idaho and Utah, the 14-16 cast members arrive in West Yellowstone by the beginning of May. Snow is still on the ground as they begin 12-hour rehearsals for the two musicals and one melodrama which will open a short month later.
"It's hard work," admitted Stephen Pullen, a BYU graduate who returned this year for his third Playmill year. "But there's something magic about this town, about this location. It's worth it."
When the shows open and day-long rehearsals end, most cast members continue to work at odd jobs around town. After waitressing tables, pumping gasoline or cleaning hotel rooms, the troupe gathers in the early evening for cast call and then prepares for "street contact." With Pullen strumming his guitar, they stroll the streets and sing, passing out flyers and inviting passers-by to come to the evening's performance.
That one-on-one relationship continues as audience members are seated by cast members who chatter about hometowns, birthdays and anything else that happens to come up. Conversation is light and wit is quick as jokes are thrown back and forth across the small theater between cast and audience. Before the show even begins, there is a feeling of camaraderie between performers and patrons.
Through the years, one of the Playmill trademarks has been its unique approach to concession sales. Priced very reasonably, fudge, popcorn, suckers and soda pop disappear quickly in an entertaining 10 minute-intermission as cast members run around the small theater, filling orders and cracking jokes. Audience members need never leave their seats.
"Some people say that is their favorite part of the whole show," Bidwell said. "They laugh harder buying a piece of fudge than they've laughed all year."
Playmill specializes in making people laugh, in helping them forget their problems for a few minutes. "I think the hardest I have ever laughed in my whole life was at Playmill," remembered one loyal patron. "I can't remember the show, I can't even remember what made me laugh, but I remember laughing and loving it."
I went back to the Playmill last month. I was led to my seat by an oh-so-good-looking young man, was involved enthusiastically (and vocally) in the production, left the theater in love with most of the men and still envious of all involved in providing such a heartwarming evening of entertainment.