BC3 has been stage for stars
From its earliest days in the 1960s, Butler County Community College has expanded the area's idea of what community means. From famous speakers such as Dick Cavett and Jane Fonda, to dance companies, plays and wildlife programs, the college has brought the world home.
"We have the students in mind but we are a community college and we take our commitment to the community very seriously," said former student and current BC3 employee Steve Catt.
He remembers big names coming to campus. "Dick Gregory and Jane Fonda were both very political at the time there was the Vietnam War and the Nixon administration. Very controversial," said Catt, who served as director of student life for 12 years before beginning his current job as executive director of planning and external relations eight years ago. He was a student at the college from 1973-75.
Actors were popular, as the standing-room-only crowds proved.
"Vincent Price talked about horror in the movies, behind-the-scenes stuff and stories," Catt said. "Leonard Nimoy came here in the fall of 1986, I believe, right before one of the 'Star Trek' movies came out. He talked about the Vulcan hand sign, that he got it from a sign Jewish rabbis use in a blessing. He said he had the "Vulcan pinch" because Spock was so passive he couldn't go around punching people. I remember 700 people crowding into the convocation center for that."
When Catt directed activities, he brought in less well-known acts, too. "When I was activities director, I brought in various educators on animals. I brought in a reptile guy. He had snakes, iguanas and a yellow cobra. I remember he told everyone to be very quiet when he brought out the cobra. A 5-year-old in front broke away from his mother, so from the side of the stage I grabbed him."
Catt heard the audience gasp, but, at the time, didn't know it was because the cobra had struck at him. Fortunately, the reptile wrangler had stopped it with his hook.
Another time, audience members remained respectfully hushed during a program called Mission Wolf, which dispelled myths about wolves. The program featured a large black wolf named Shaman.
"The guy said it weighed about 115 pounds and if it wanted to leave it would pull him right back out so everyone had to be really quiet. Over 600 people, scouts, families, everyone was so quiet. I remember the wolf was walking around the room. That wolf was so impressive," Catt recalled.
Catt said a cultural committee of students, faculty and community members under former Dean of Students Penny Bloom gave great support to the multi-cultural programs.
"There was this one guy, Jack Gladstone, a Native American, who sang songs similar to Gordon Lightfoot, with a multi-media presentation. He was very popular."
At one time the programs were arranged through the student government, Catt said, but the funding structure has changed.
"One of the things I do now is write grant (applications). We would get Heinz grants to bring these groups in.
"Our goal was always to provide the community with educational experiences they would not have anywhere else," Catt said.
BC3's convocation center, built in 1971, could hold up to 700 people, but the college's ability to host a greater variety of shows expanded with the opening of the Succop Theater in the Cultural Center in 2002. The convocation center has been renamed Founders Hall and will be dedicated during 40th anniversary festivities on Tuesday."The Succop Theater started a whole new adventure for our campus," said Larry Stock, director of the Cultural Center. "It has the latest lighting and sound equipment, a full stage," Stock said. "It's the most well-equipped theater in the Butler area."The state-of-the-art theater has attracted some community groups that use the space for their own productions. "Musical Theatre Guild considers this theater their home," Stock said. "Summer Dramatics has moved here, and the Blazing Star and Butler Notables groups perform here."In addition to one-time shows, Stock has developed the performing arts series, starting its fifth season this fall."I'm able to bring in world-class entertainment that the area wouldn't get to see otherwise. We have 442 seats, so you get a closer look at the artists and performers, for half of what you would pay in Pittsburgh."The River City Brass Band just played at the Succop Theater on Saturday. Tickets were $17. Students pay just $10 for any show, and that goes for any student, not just those from BC3. When the RCBB plays at Heinz Hall, capacity 2,600, tickets range from $17 to $42.Stock had students specifically in mind for the upcoming productions of Shakespeare's "Othello" and Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest.""We're still building, growing audiences," Stock said. "As anyone will tell you, ticket sales do not cover costs. We also get community donations, and college has been very supportive. Our goal is to be fiscally self-supporting. The theater is really possible because Tom and JoAnn Succop started endowment fund for the theater so we can be self-sustaining."With groups from inside and outside the college making use of the theater, rarely a weekend goes by without something going on there, Stock said. The free summer concert series on campus now uses the air-conditioned theater, too.Word has spread that the theater is a good place to see a show, or put one on."We've gotten a good reputation with performers," Stock said. "I'm a stickler about making sure they have a pleasant experience. Entertainers talk to each other and say it's a great place to play. We're trying to put on the best face, do the best thing for the college, the community."After four decades, BC3's cultural programs continue to expand the minds of the students and community of Butler County, fulfilling, as Catt said, "our place as the higher education light on the hill."
