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Who's in this play, anyway? semo.net thought it might be helpful for our readers to get a sense of why community theater is called...well, community theater. Some of your friends are in this play. Some of your colleagues and classmates have found their way onto the stage in a bid to bring live theater of quality into the heart of Poplar Bluff life. Your boss may be wearing a glowing white wig, eye shadow, rouge, and control-top pantyhose on the only occasion you'll ever get to see him this way in public. Looking good, too! As you can tell, the reasons for patronizing live theater are many and varied...

Even after last Wednesday night's 67-60 triumph over Portageville, Greenville girls' basketball coach Diane Rainwater Meyer still has a pretty impressive "to do" list pending. Let's see now...March 8: Coach the Lady Bears in the quarter-finals against the Metro (St. Louis) Lady Panthers at Farmington (today!). April 19: Celebrate 4th wedding anniversary. April 19, Part II: Bring Baby Ian into the world. May 3--- Wait a minute. Say what?

"I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is a disgrace; two are a law firm; and three or more become a congress." ---John Adams, "1776"   Don't be fooled by the subject matter; this play, under Stage Company perennial Ron Gilliland's deft direction, offers laugh-out-loud moments throughout---and even a generous dollop of romance, to boot! But for now, picture the genteel, the be-wigged, the be-stockinged, the deeply annoyed and the highly nervous coming together from all over the land to chart a course for a new kind of political entity. Of course you've worked out the play's title year and its significance; well, physically, the action in 1776 is set almost entirely inside chambers of the Second

In their stunning production of 1776, which opened last night at the Rodgers Theater, The Stage Company of Poplar Bluff delivers the goods with robust humor, fine music, and lavish attention to period detail. Not since last summer's well-received Chicago, another demanding musical known for its large cast, has the Company attempted a production of such scope and logistical difficulty. But under the direction of Stage Company veteran Ron Gilliland---also at the helm for Chicago---1776 is an assured, smart, and often boisterous delight. Don't flee in terror upon discovering that it's thought-provoking, too.

Last Week's Weigh-In: 138 This Week's Weigh-In: 141!!! All right, I'm a classic case. A routine statistic. A poster child for nutritional and fitness improvement gone horribly awry. I've made a declaration; I've made earnest attempts; and yet I have succumbed at every turn---offering virtually no struggle---to the powerful force of habit that says, "The food's here, you're here---Why don't you two kids get together? What could it hurt?".