Cockpit in Court Summer Theatre is celebrating our 50^th Anniversary this year!

Fifty years of Cockpit adds up to more than 120 musicals produced, more than 100 plays, over 35 Court Jesters productions, and 25 classics in the courtyard! (Remember those?) Over fifty years of Cockpit, more than 5,000 of our friends have played roles on these stages, designed sets and lights and costumes, directed and choreographed and played in the orchestra pit. We’ve seen literally a thousand young people find their footing with the Court Jesters, and dozens of them have made their way to the Cabaret or the Mainstage. Cockpit has performed in at least six different venues on campus, and also taken the gift of theatre to Russia and Japan.

In recognition of these phenomenal numbers and the impact Cockpit has had on so many lives, we are asking you, our faithful Cockpit supporters, to make a gift of $50 in honor of our 50^th anniversary! It is our mission to present a diverse, well-balanced, quality theatrical season that promotes inclusion, embraces all cultures, experiences, and backgrounds, and fosters creativity among actors, artistic and production staff, the Board of Directors, and the community. Your support helps us keep this mission alive for years to come!

Night Watch opened February 1972 at the Morosco Theatre in New York City. It was written by Lucille Fletcher, best known for the radio play/stage play/film, Sorry, Wrong Number. Fletcher also wrote the libretto of Wuthering Heights: Opera in 4 Acts and a Prologue with her then husband, composer Bernard Herrmann. She wrote for radio in the 1940’s, with close to two dozen plays, including The Hitch-Hiker for The Orson Welles Show. Between 1948 and 1988 she wrote novels. With titles like Blindfold, And Presumed Dead and The Girl in Cabin B54 it’s obvious that Fletcher had a deep affection for mysteries … and she knew how to write them. 

Night Watch is a blend of Gaslight, Rear Window and The Sixth Sense. I’m not going to tell you which particular elements relate to the play. You will find out soon enough. 

Night Watch was brought to the Cockpit Board of Directors by Vice President Toby Hessenauer. Audiences tend to love mysteries in the Cabaret and Cockpit in Court has obliged them with a terrific one, but that isn’t the only reason Toby suggested it.

Cockpit in Court is celebrating its 50th Anniversary. Fifty years of summer theatre! What could be better than producing a play celebrating its 50th Anniversary?

The last Cockpit in Court Cabaret production was summer of 2019: The Unexpected Guest, a little known and rarely performed mystery by Agatha Christie. Audiences were enthusiastic, so when selecting plays for the following summer the CIC Board went for the biggest fish in the pond: Christie’s And Then There Were None, scheduled to open in the Cabaret in July of 2020. By early March of 2020, the show was cast, the designers were onboard, and it was full steam ahead. Then everything ground to a halt. A year passed with dark, empty theaters throughout
the country.

In March of 2021, cautious steps were taken to bring Cockpit in Court back in a safe and responsible way. Done and done. The ghost light came on again in the F. Scott Black Theatre and And Then There Were None and Moana, Jr. were presented on the Main Stage.

It would take another year for the Cabaret.

Summer of 2022. Cockpit in Court has a full slate of terrific shows upstairs and downstairs. The Cabaret is ready for its first audience since 2019! We’re serving up a mystery with all the twists and turns you could ask for. We are thrilled to have you celebrate the 50th anniversaries of Cockpit in Court and Lucille Fletcher’s Night Watch with us.

Welcome back to Cockpit in Court’s Cabaret Theatre!

Linda Chambers
Director