Keep your eye on Bruton Memorial Library over the next few months, because Library Director Tonda Morris is gearing up for some big things in the Plant City library’s future to make it even better.
First gear will be this year’s Mystery Dinner Theater, sponsored by the Friends of the Library. I was new in Plant City when Dr. Hal Brewer asked me to play a bit part in the Library’s Mystery Dinner Theater.
“Really, Felix,” he said with his engaging smile, “all you have to do is play yourself. Come to the Campus Auditorium and interrupt the play. Run down the aisle yelling and complaining about how much the Dinner Theater is interfering with a good education.”
How could I say no? Boy, did I have fun, and Hal had brought one more Plant City person into one of his labors of love.
In honor of Brewer, this year’s 20th Mystery Dinner is still being staged at the HCC Campus. “Wrangle at Red Mountain Ranch”, by Nancy Bond, will be performed at the Trinkle Center after a delicious dinner catered by 911 Catering on Aug. 16.
This year’s cast includes Jon Poppell, Steve Otto, Mike Floyd, Carmen Brownlee, Sharon Moody, Michelle Valdes, John Belcher, Robert McClelland, Jeremy Rhodes, Shanna Kennedy, and Amy Nizamoff. Billy Herold will host.
The Plant City Elks Club, Plant City Noon Rotary Club, and Unity in the Community will be sponsors. Tickets are $75 each and can be purchased at the library or Regions Bank on Thonotosassa Road. All proceeds benefit programs at the Bruton Memorial Library.
Rumors have been circulating around town about the second gear of Tonda’s engine, our new Bruton Memorial Library Foundation. The Foundation has been jump-started by a major request received by the city to support the library’s future growth.
Tonda’s third gear will be a special community event planned for the evening of Thursday, October 10, at the library.
Hosted by the Library Board, the Friends of the Library, and the new Foundation, the Open House will not only unveil the new Foundation, but will also be used to tell the community about all the good things going on at Bruton. Dessert will be served.
The nearly 14,000 patrons who come through our Library’s doors every month know about all the good things at Bruton, but they also know that its many services are delivered in a building that is almost 60 years old. The Library Board, the Friends, and the Foundation know that a building that old needs to create a fourth gear to overhaul the Library’s engine and make it new again.
Stay tuned to Bruton’s activities over the next few months, because you may just hear more details about that new fourth gear. And while you’re at it, buy tickets to the Mystery Dinner Theater at the library or Regions Bank and mark your calendar for the library’s October 10 Open House. We think you’ll be glad you did.