{"id":22791,"date":"2025-08-01T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T04:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/?post_type=essay&p=22791"},"modified":"2025-07-21T16:48:49","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T20:48:49","slug":"fifth-act-myrtle-beachs-long-bay-theatre-celebrates-its-fifth-anniversary-in-2025","status":"publish","type":"essay","link":"https:\/\/sasee.com\/ro\/essay\/fifth-act-myrtle-beachs-long-bay-theatre-celebrates-its-fifth-anniversary-in-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Fifth Act: Myrtle Beach\u2019s Long Bay Theatre celebrates its fifth anniversary in 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Ashley Daniels<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as any stage production, the local Long Bay Theatre has also gone through several acts in its lifespan since artistic director Greg London first raised the curtain at the former Palace Theatre in Myrtle Beach in 2007.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flash-forward to 2025, and Long Bay is celebrating its fifth anniversary \u2026 But there is more to the dramatic plot line between then and now, starting with the Palace Theatre shutting down thanks to Hurricane Matthew and continuing with the invasion of Covid in 2020 and an epic outdoor performance of \u201cGodspell.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was living in Atlanta, working at City Springs Theatre, and it was the first time in my 45 years in theater that I was completely booked as a director and an actor, and then Covid hit, which was when everybody started to shut down,\u201d says London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stir-crazy, forced to stop doing what he loves, and longing for home, London moved back to Myrtle Beach and began planning on how to bring theatre back to life. That plan ultimately led to his social-distanced version of \u201cGodspell.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI hired some actors from all over the country, got them to fly in, housed them separately, and rehearsed them 15 feet apart, which is crazy for a musical,\u201d says London with a laugh. \u201cWe built a huge outdoor stage in the parking lot behind the old IMAX theatre at Broadway at the Beach, and we sectioned off the parking lot with temporary spray chalk, so everybody was in a zone when they showed up for their tickets and could sit with their family and friends to enjoy the show. That was really the rebirth of Long Bay Theatre.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, the theatre calls the Dream House Theatre home inside the Myrtle Beach Mall, where they perform a full season of musicals and plays from August to May.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just grown and grown, and the community support has grown,\u201d says London. \u201cAnd we now sell season subscriptions, we pay our cast as a professional nonprofit theater, and we now have 70 kids from Coastal who are theater majors for their first job in the theater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe great thing for me is that I started that program at Coastal as a professor in 2001 and now I get to circle back after being head of that program for seven years,\u201d he continues. \u201cIt\u2019s just a joy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

London\u2019s first brush with theatre was as a double major in painting and studio art, and music education. He also served as an orchestra teacher at a high school in North Carolina and joined the Army, where he taught as well, and directed across the country and abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always had a love for teaching and theater, obviously, so to be able to combine the things in a place where I\u2019m around family and friends has been a long-term passion to get actors that I know and love in the community, whether it\u2019s the Broadway community or local community to come here and do work with us,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s been a dream.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long Bay Theatre also performs kids\u2019 shows, hosts a Shakespeare camp for kids (this year will be \u201cHamlet\u201d), and will have an unforgettable fifth anniversary season starting in August with \u201cA Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,\u201d and continuing with \u201cDisaster!\u201d, \u201cIt\u2019s a Wonderful Life\u201d over the holidays, Neil Simon\u2019s \u201cLaughter on the 23rd<\/sup> Floor,\u201d and concluding with the musical, \u201cSister Act.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCome and see us!\u201d says London. \u201cIf you haven\u2019t experienced it, come and see for yourself. We\u2019re growing, and we hope that the audience will grow with us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information or tickets, visit Longbaytheatre.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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