'We're back!' Southern Door Community Auditorium returns to full schedule for 2024 season
BRUSSELS - The theme of Southern Door Community Auditorium's 2024 Performing Arts Series is important and accurate – "We're back!"
After an absence of several years, a regular schedule of concerts, plays and shows, including a local singing competition, has returned to the auditorium. And, new programming director Cory Vandertie said, it couldn't have happened without the support – indeed, the impetus – of the community.
The 592-seat facility on the Southern Door school campus just off State 57 was built in 1991 for that purpose. It hosted school musicals, plays and concerts, but it also brought in regional and national acts to a part of the Peninsula that otherwise doesn't get such entertainment.
That ended with the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, of course. The auditorium hosted a couple of shows in 2022 and 2023, but now it offers a 13-show season; a December holiday show and Jan. 6 family movie have taken place as part of the season, but 11 shows remain.
Vandertie said the SDCA's revival is a response to the desires of local residents to make use of a gem of a facility and provide a variety of entertainment options to the Southern Door area.
"This really was the result of the community requesting that more events take place here," Vandertie said. "There was the school stuff (musicals, plays and concerts), but they wanted more.
"We know Door County is super-rich in the arts. There's so many option. We just felt in this rural community where there isn't anything else like this, we have this beautiful auditorium, we wanted to be able to provide something for everyone."
Vandertie is no stranger to bringing entertainment to the auditorium, or to Southern Door. He graduated from the high school in 1993 and returned as an elementary school teacher in 1999.
He took over as auditorium director in 2000, which he said was a part-time, extracurricular position like a sports coach for the school, and served in that post until stepping away to pursue a master's degree in administration in 2009. He returned to Southern Door in 2017 and became elementary school principal but resigned in 2022 to be a stay-at-home father to his and his wife's three young sons.
But with the programming director position for SDCA vacant for a couple of months, which is part-time and allows that person to perform at least some work remotely, Vandertie decided to take on the task of bringing shows to the auditorium. He took the position in September, which left extremely little time to book a 2024 season outside of the annual events that play there, such as the Miss Door County program and Kids from Wisconsin.
But Vandertie was able to schedule a handful of touring acts and some popular regional bands to fill out the slate while he's already working on acts for the 2025 season.
"The thing that was really important for us was to re-energize the space and see what works," he said. "We're starting to plan for 2025 already, but this year will be our new baseline."
The community support Vandertie noted to bring back a seasonful of shows also extended to sponsorship dollars that he said will help keep ticket prices low. It also enabled Vandertie to offer tiered ticket prices that differ depending on seat location, instead of the flat-rate pricing of previous years. Vandertie said the tiered pricing could appeal to those, especially families, who want to attend a show but don't necessarily want to pay top-of-the-range prices.
As for the 2024 shows, one of the highlights is "SING, Door County," the return of a singing competition featuring high school students from across Door County with votes from a panel of judges and audience members deciding the winner. (Auditions are taking place Jan. 20 and 21, for those interested.)
The Peninsula previously saw a similar high school singing contest, "Door County Idol," which was produced by Kristy Nelson and held at Door Community Auditorium in Fish Creek from 2005 to 2013. A Southern Door tie-in to that show helped bring about this new competition, Vandertie said.
"One of the co-producers of 'Door County Idol,' Lee Spude, is a Southern Door grad (and 2006 Idol winner)," Vandertie said. "He reached out to Kristy Nelson to see if there was any interest in redoing that, and she said, go ahead. She gave us her blessing."
Vandertie said he's looking forward to the show and has had a lot of interest from local high schoolers who want to compete.
"It's just being able to celebrate the talents of our youth in a positive way," Vandertie said. "We hope it brings communities from throughout all of Door County together. I'm really excited, there's a lot of positive energy."
Along those lines, Vandertie also is excited about an appearance by The MadHatters, the University of Wisconsin-Madison's longest-running a cappella singing group (formed in 1997), which has performed at the White House for President Obama and Lambeau Field. He said he hopes groups like this and Kids from Wisconsin show local students involved with music that they can continue those interests beyond high school.
Other highlights for Vandertie include popular Green Bay-based company Let Me Be Frank Productions bringing a 25th anniversary production of their musical comedy "2½ Belgians" to SDCA ‒ "What better place to have that show than in Brussels?" Vandertie asked rhetorically ‒ and tribute rock shows “Oh Boy: A Tribute to Buddy Holly" and "Foreigner 4 Ever."
"I don't think we've ever had anything like that on our stage," he said about the 1970s-'80s power rock of the Foreigner tribute show.
As noted, Vandertie already is in the process of booking acts for a 2025 season. He's also talking with administrators and educators from public and private schools in Door and Kewaunee counties to explore an educational performing arts series for all schools in the area, starting with the 2024-25 school year.
He said he doesn't necessarily have a specific goal for the season, but it's more important that the season helps re-establish SDCA as a place to go for entertainment.
"We are starting over, so it's going to take some time to get the word out that we're having some high-quality events again," he said. "We're getting the word out that we're back. I think it's about getting support from the community that we're an option for quality entertainment in Door County."
Series at a glance
The 2024 Southern Door Community Auditorium Performing Arts Series:
Feb. 3, 5:30 p.m.: Miss Door County Scholarship Program: Contestants compete to see who will represent Door County in the Miss Wisconsin and Miss Wisconsin Teen Pageants in 2024 and earn scholarships. $20.
Feb. 18, 3 p.m.: "2½ Belgians," a 25th anniversary production by Let Me Be Frank Productions that is centered around the fictional Pankratz boys, the real-life Frosty Tip drive-in in Dyckesville and music from the 1960s and '70s. $25, $30, $35.
March 23, 7 p.m.: Copper Box, the popular accordion-driven band that weaves folk, polka, Cajun, rock, blues and jazz into their music. $14, $18, $22.
April 20, 7 p.m.: "SING, Door County!" a singing competition featuring high school students from across Door County, with a team of judges and the audience voting to determine the winner. $12, $15, $18.
May 19, 2 p.m.: Jerry Voelker and the Jolly Gents, celebrating their 55th year playing a variety of dance music for audiences, including Czech tunes, German polkas and waltzes, and the jitterbug. Free.
June 14, 5 p.m.: "Treasure Island" presented by Missoula Children’s Theatre, the troupe makes its traditional weeklong residency at Southern Door, featuring the school's elementary and middle school students, in this original adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s epic novel. $8.
July 26, 7 p.m.: Kids from Wisconsin, the troupe of singers, dancers and instrumentalists ages 15 to 20 from across the state celebrates its 56th season of presenting family-friendly, high-caliber shows. $14, $17, $20.
Sept. 28, 7 p.m.: “Oh Boy: A Tribute to Buddy Holly," a show by a four-piece national touring band celebrating the early rock/rockabilly music of the 1950s. $15, $19, $23.
Oct. 12, 7 p.m.: The MadHatters, the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s longest-running and premier men’s a cappella group. $13, $16, $19.
Nov. 16, 7 p.m.: Foreigner 4 Ever, a Milwaukee-based tribute band to iconic 1970s-'80s power rockers Foreigner (“I Want to Know What Love Is,” “Cold As Ice,” “Juke Box Hero,” "Hot Blooded"). $18, $24, $30.
Dec. 14, 7 p.m.: "Home for the Holidays," a holiday show featuring some of the community’s most talented singers and musicians. $12, $15, $18.
Southern Door Community Auditorium is on the campus of the Southern Door County School District, 2073 County DK, Brussels. The auditorium also may be rented by businesses or organizations for large group presentations, meetings, featured guest speakers and performing arts-related activities. Volunteers are needed to serve as ushers for shows.
For tickets or more information, call 920-676-1920 or visit southerndoorauditorium.org.
Contact Christopher Clough at 920-562-8900 or cclough@doorcountyadvocate.com.
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This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Southern Door auditorium returns to full schedule for 2024 season
