I’ve been writing about Jeff Casey, one-half of the founding forces of Towle Theater in Hammond, for the better part of two decades. Casey has served as the managing director of the 80-seat stage space, while his co-founding partner Kevin Bellamy has handled administrative and production duties.
It was a year ago when this dynamic duo announced they would be retiring from their positions and dividing time between Northwest Indiana and a planned move of what will likely be relocating to Portugal to begin new adventures.
Earlier this year, Emily Nelson, formerly the head of Beverly Arts Center south of downtown Chicago, was selected by the Towle Theater board of directors for the new position of executive director of Towle Theater while Casey and Bellamy, now carrying the titles of artistic associates for Towle Theatre, will still complete their duties for this 21st season of stage programming for Towle in 2024 to help with the staffing transition.
At 7 p.m. on Friday, June 7, I’ve been asked to be the guest griller on stage at the Towle Theater for a special charity one-on-one program with myself as the on-stage host interviewing Jeff Casey about his highlights, infamous moments, and all those favorite memories (onstage and behind the curtain) during his Towle two-decade reign.
The program is billed as “Exit Interview: Phil Potempa Chats with Jeff Casey,” and tickets are $25 at www.toweltheater.org or call the box office at 219-937-8780.
Over the years, names like Mike Douglas, Merv Griffin, Edward R. Murrow, David Frost, Tom Snyder, Geraldo Rivera, Dinah Shore, Dick Cavett and David Brinkley have shared the same honors list of favored and iconic interviewers.
I’ve been asked by more than a few folks which tactic or style I plan to emulate for my Jeff Casey interview.
Anyone who has ever heard me interview guests on my weekly Thursday arts and culture radio show Of Notoriety (named as a companion to this weekly print column) on WJOB 1230 AM will know the answer since I often reference it.
I plan to be a blend of the pepper questioning styles “of the late Larry King and Joan Rivers, with just a bit of Phil Donahue’s approach added for good measure.”
One of my first times interviewing Jeff Casey was during my previous 24-year stretch as a columnist at The Times of Northwest Indiana.
Casey and Bellamy collaborated to create what is now the Towle’s signature holiday stage show “A Fabulous 50’s Christmas,” which has been transporting audiences to the holidays of yesteryear since it launched in 2003, just a few months after the Towle was first unveiled in September 2003.
The Towle produced their first full season in 2004, always located at 5205 Hohman Ave. in Hammond. The Towle Theater building occupies two former storefronts. During Hammond’s heyday of the 1940s through 1960s, that building housed retail businesses, with many readers likely remembering the storefront signs of Manlie Jewelry and R&S Shoes.
The “Towle Theater” name is in honor of Marcus Towle, who was the first mayor of Hammond, and he built what was once the Towle Opera House on this same site in 1903. The Hammond Times two-story newspaper building and printing press was the neighbor across the way, originally located along Fayette Street behind Jack Fox & Sons store.
Casey is still hard at work (as is Bellamy) as they prepare for the splashy Towle production debut of a newly imagined telling of the classic musical “Pippin,” opening July 12 and running through July 28, with Casey directing and Bellamy creating the set and costumes.
This fall, Casey will direct “Slow Food,” the stage comedy by Wendy MacLeod, for a Sept. 6-22 run. For a final bow, the team of Casey and Bellamy will complete their sunset Towle duties for the popular return of “A Fabulous 50’s Christmas” Nov. 30-Dec. 15.
Money raised from the June 7 “Exit Interview: Phil Potempa Chats with Jeff Casey” will be used to support the Towle Theater Youth Ensemble.
Philip Potempa is a journalist, published author and the director of marketing at Theatre at the Center. He can be reached at pmpotempa@comhs.org.
