This year marks the 65th anniversary of Traverse City’s Old Town Playhouse – and the community theatre group is going all out to celebrate, including mounting special offsite productions of The Prince of Egypt at Milliken Auditorium and Ten November at the Grand Traverse Yacht Club, hosting a super-sized MainStage season with six shows ranging from Sister Act to The Rocky Horror Show, and reviving its Studio Theatre for a full run for the first time since 2019.

With the OTP Young Company occupying the organization’s Eighth Street building all summer for camp, staff had to get creative when they were offered early rights to produce The Prince of Egypt. Based on the Oscar-winning 1998 animated DreamWorks film, the musical tells the story of Moses from the Book of Exodus. “We don’t often get to take advantage of the summer tourist season here, so we thought it would be great,” says OTP Executive Director Deb Jackson. “But how could we do it? We reached out to Milliken Auditorium, and it worked for them. It’s kicking off our anniversary season, and we were founded by Eleanor Milliken, so that feels serendipitous.”

With six shows planned for the MainStage season on Eighth Street for 2025-2026 – instead of the usual five – Jackson worried about “overtaxing our regular volunteers” by adding The Prince of Egypt to the lineup August 21-23. “We thought this could be an opportunity to engage others from the community who may not be regular volunteers,” she said. “Let’s try to do this as a community collaboration.’” The local nonprofit Grand Traverse Men’s Shed has jumped in to assist with set design, while Bethlehem Lutheran Church and Central United Methodist stepped up as church sponsors – offering rehearsal space and volunteers from their choirs. Local sewing and quilting groups will help with costumes.

Wes Curry, OTP’s new artistic director who recently joined the organization after relocating from North Carolina, will direct the production. “It’s exciting to be offsite, because it makes us think outside the box as artists,” he says. “Nothing can be screwed into the floor or be permanent. It challenges you as a director. I grew up in the nineties, and (The Prince of Egypt) was huge, so we want to make it a beautiful production.” Curry hints at planned tricks to bring the visual epic to life – this is a show that has everything from a holy burning bush to the Ten Plagues of Egypt to Moses parting the Red Sea – with choreography, lighting and visual effects, and an estimated 30-member ensemble backed by a community choir to produce a “surround sound” effect for audiences.

“We’re going to try and make it seem as magical as possible,” Curry says, adding that he’s hoping for a strong audition turnout June 4 and 5 at Bethlehem Lutheran Church. “We’re going to try to pull out all the stops.”

The Prince of Egypt will be followed by the kickoff of the MainStage season September 12-27 with Sister Act, the musical comedy based on the 1992 Whoopi Goldberg film. Jackson says the anniversary season was designed to offer something for everyone – including The Rocky Horror Show (October 24-November 1), a combined MainStage and Young Company holiday production of Matilda (December 5-20), the popular Stephen King thriller Misery (February 13-21), the Tony-winning musical The Drowsy Chaperone (April 17-May 3), and the mystery comedy Four Old Broads (May 15-23). While tickets for The Prince of Egypt are on sale now, MainStage season passes will go on sale in July, with single show tickets available in August.

In addition to 2025 being a key anniversary year for OTP, it’s also the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Accordingly, OTP will mount a special offsite production of Ten November – a dramatic play that recounts the ship’s sinking through monologues, songs, and storytelling – November 7-9 at the Grand Traverse Yacht Club. “We’ve often had requests to do dinner theatre, and we thought this would be a great opportunity to do that,” says Jackson. “It’s perfect to have the nautical theme right on the bay.” One night will be a performance solely for Yacht Club members, while the other two ticketed shows will be open to the public. OTP also plans to invite Coast Guard and maritime families to attend dress rehearsals free of charge.

Ann Arbor-based author John Bacon has a new book coming out October 7 called The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald. He’s expected to appear at the National Writers Series just prior to OTP’s production of Ten November, Jackson says – all activities that will lead up to the Great Lakes Maritime Academy’s annual memorial ceremony on November 10 commemorating the Edmund Fitzgerald and its lost crew. “It’ll be almost a whole week of events,” Jackson says.

OTP is also fully reviving its Studio Theatre program this year for the first time since 2019. The shows – which were once held at the Depot but will return to OTP’s lower-level Schmuckal Theatre – are more experimental and intimate in nature, with a capacity of just 60. “Studio shows have more social themes and issues,” explains Curry. The lineup will include The Minutes November 14-22 – a dark comedy about a small-town city council meeting that slowly unravels – and Whose Life Is It Anyway? January 30-February 7, a drama about a sculptor who’s paralyzed in an accident and fights to end his life on his own terms. The Studio Theatre season concludes March 13-21 with Paint Night, a humorous play about a group of strangers attending a community painting class.

Rounding out OTP offerings will be multiple Young Company shows, plus Aged to Perfection – a social group of individuals 55+ who meet twice a month to read scripts and put on occasional performances. That program will expand this year with a few staged reading events that won’t have any age requirements or limitations, opening it up to more participants. “I think there are maybe five days where there isn’t something going on in that building,” Jackson says.

It's not lost on OTP staff that the playhouse’s packed anniversary season is coming at a time when arts funding is taking a significant hit. OTP posted a call-to-action Friday to support funding for the Michigan Arts and Culture Council (MACC), which provides over $11 million in grants to arts organizations across Michigan – many in the Traverse City area. Some state budget proposals have called for eliminating MACC funding. Jackson is hopeful that events like OTP’s upcoming Gala on June 19 – its major annual fundraiser – plus the robust season ahead will keep the organization steady, with ticket sales accounting for 40 percent of OTP’s overall budget.

“Everyone is nail biting with worry,” Jackson says. “But we are very fortunate that we have a loyal patron and donor base that has supported us for years. We’re counting on them to keep us going.”