News Editor

The old town hall in Brundidge will get a new look and a new feel as a result of motions approved by the Brundidge City Council at their meeting held Tuesday, Feb. 5.

During the meeting, Wymon Botts presented the council with a letter from the Community Theater Company of Brundidge requesting the use of the old Brundidge city hall building as a community theater. Members of the group have secured a grant from the Alabama Council on the Arts and Humanities for the purpose of presenting a folk-life play for the Brundidge community.

Directing the play will be Margie Benson, a theater director who is highly acclaimed for her productions in Ozark and at Looney’s Amphitheater in Double Springs. Jerry Pate, a noted songwriter from Enterprise, is writing music for the play which is called "Come Home, It’s Suppertime!"

The theater group had previously approached the council about using the building. At that time the council agreed to allow them to use it if they attained a grant for the production of the play.

The city took bids for putting glass in the windows of the building and only received one bid from Dothan Glass for putting glass in the upper and lower window spaces. Mayor Jimmy Ramage told the council that they had taken bids for the same project once before and the current figure quoted by Dothan Glass was lower than the previous figure which was only for the placement of glass in the lower windows. He explained that bid requests had been sent out previously for doing the upper windows with some type of plaster or stucco, but had never received any bids for that portion of the project.

The council voted unanimously to approve the placement of the glass in the building by Dothan Glass.

Botts also pointed out that the theater group had requested that the city pack the dirt floor and supply electricity to the building. Mayor Ramage said that dirt had already been hauled to the site and needed to be packed with a roller or packing machine.

Botts said the theater company would take care of the construction of the stage and sets, as well as the seating arrangements for the audience. The play is planned for the first two weekends in April, with four performances with 100 tickets available for each.

Council Member Isabelle Boyd asked if the building would be for use by just the theater company or whether the public would have access to utilize it. Mayor Ramage told her it would definitely be for public use perhaps for receptions and other community events.

Council Member Sherrell Tatom said he was concerned whether the building would be ready by the time the play was scheduled for. He suggested leaving the date open for the theater company’s use of the building.

The council voted to approve supplying the building with electricity and giving allowing the theater company to use the building for the play. They also agreed to have the floor packed as requested.