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Towngate Theatre’s 2021-22 main stage season is dedicated to Wheeling playwright Tom Stobart, who died in 2020. The season has celebrated his life and legacy by staging some of his plays and introducing new audiences to his works.

Stobart’s “Under the Bridge to the Stars” will be staged for two weekends—May 6, 7, 8 & May 13 and 14.

The play centers on Tucker, a man who has lost nearly everything because of his alcoholism and rents a room above a bar where he plans to drink himself to death. He forms a relationship with Dee, a fellow alcoholic, but it is uncertain whether this relationship will lead to salvation or spiraling to rock bottom.

About Tom Stobart

Stobart was a longtime community theater actor, appearing in more than 100 local plays and musicals. He was also well-known in the community as the proprietor of the Paradox, an eclectic used bookstore in Centre Wheeling. Stobart authored 17 one-act and six full-length plays.

Most of his works are thinly veiled autobiographies, including “Under the Bridge to the Stars.” Stobart was an alcoholic and was upfront about his addiction and how it ravaged his life and health.

Playing the Role of Tucker

Oglebay Institute director of performing arts Tim Thompson was a longtime friend and collaborator of Stobart. Thompson is playing the role of Tucker in Towngate’s production.

“This is a story that many of us can identify with. I know I do because Tom was one of my best friends,” Thompson said. “He fought his addiction most of his life, and was a brilliant, talented, compassionate, and stubborn soul who just couldn’t find a way.”

Thompson added, “One of the main reasons we do theatre is to raise questions about what it is to be a human being. And addiction is, for many of us, a part of being a human being. So, what I want for our audiences is to learn from this story.”

While the story centers on serious subject matter, Thompson said, there are many comic moments along the way.

Thompson said playing the role of Tucker has been an honor and a challenge because, like Stobart, the character is complex.

He recalls Stobart discussing “Under the Bridge to the Stars” with him as he wrote it.

“It is a true honor to say these lines that Tom wrote during the years we were very close friends. It was difficult at first. Made me sad. Then, it turned into pride and joy because I am revisiting my friend in spirit. And we get to share his beautifully written play and this important message with our community.”

Talented Cast & Director

P.D. Gregg directs the production and a talented cast of actors. In addition to Thompson, cast members include Amanda Leigh, Dee Gregg, Charles Griffith, Brian Jefferies, Brendan Sheehan, Moira Hamilton, CJ Farnsworth.

Get Tickets

Evening performances of “Under the Bridge to the Stars” take place at 8pm May 6, 7, 13 and 14. A matinee performance takes place at 3pm Sunday, May 8.

The production is part of Towngate’s main stage season, which is sponsored by Unified Bank.

Purchase tickets online or call 304-242-7700. Tickets can also be purchased at the door, if available. Box office opens one hour prior to curtain.

Towngate Theatre is in Wheeling’s historic Centre Market District. This church-turned-theater is one of several Wheeling venues operated by the non-profit Oglebay Institute. Other OI facilities include: The Stifel Fine Arts Center and School of Dance on National Road, the Mansion Museum, Glass Museum and Schrader Environmental Education Center in Oglebay.

In addition to community theater, Towngate offers children’s theater, ballet, improvisational comedy, and live music. Towngate is also a single screen cinema, offering movies on select evenings and features changing art exhibitions in The Gallery at Towngate. Theater classes are also offered year-round.

The Raising the Roof Art Auction May 7 at Oglebay Institute’s Stifel Fine Arts Center gives attendees a chance to take home a piece of Wheeling history.

More than 50 artists, both working professionals and emerging artists from the tri-state area, have created art using original ceramic roof tiles from the restoration of the iconic 110-year-old Edemar Mansion.

Edemar Mansion

A Neoclassical Revival Style mansion along National Road in Wheeling, Edemar was built in 1912 as the private residence of Edward W. Stifel, Sr. and his wife Emily Pollock Stifel. It was named for their three children—Edward, Emily and Mary. Stifel was president and chairman of J. L. Stifel & Sons, a textile manufacturing firm known for quality, indigo-dyed cotton calicoes. In its peak years, the Stifel calico works produced 3.5 million yards of cloth per month.

In 1976, the Stifel family donated Edemar to the non-profit Oglebay Institute for use as a public art center. Now known as the Stifel Fine Arts Center, the building houses galleries, classrooms, and performance space and serves as a gathering place for artists, emerging artists, art lovers, students, educators, and families.

Raising the Roof

More than a century after it was finished, the historic structure remains sound. Built of steel-reinforced concrete, it was designed to stand the test of time. However, despite routine care and maintenance, roof replacement is now necessary to preserve the historic building as a place for the community to create and connect for generations to come.

Construction of a new, watertight, terra cotta tile roof is underway and expected to conclude this summer.

Supporting the Artists Who Support Our Community

The Raising the Roof Art Auction will help fund the Stifel restoration project as well as support participating artists, who will receive fifty percent of the proceeds from work sold.

“Supporting artists is a central part of OI’s mission. We do this in a variety of ways, including exhibition and learning opportunities, as well as venues for selling their work. For this fundraiser, we asked artists to commit time and materials to creating a specific work. We felt it was important to share the proceeds because we could not have done this event without their contributions,” said Oglebay Institute development director Micah Underwood.

The artist response has been enthusiastic.

“For our local artists, the Stifel is an essential part of the creative community so there’s a natural interest in creating work for this event. For artists outside the area, the “canvas” of the roof tile provided a unique challenge.”

Diversity of Works

The diversity of artists, media, subjects, and styles will please a wide range of tastes among seasoned and novice collectors, Underwood said.

“Their work includes acrylic, oil, and watercolor painting, metalwork, sculpture, photography, printmaking, and pastel. Their pieces, which may be one or more tiles, are figural and abstract and include such subjects as florals, koi and Boots, the pig sculpture in the Stifel garden. Several of the tiles depict animals and landscapes. One piece is a functional fountain incorporating multiple tiles.”

Bid on a Piece to Take Home

Works will be for sale via silent and live auctions and participants can place bids in person or online through the auction website. Online bidding for the silent auction opens Sunday, May 1 at auctria.events/OIRaisingtheRoof. Selected items will be sold in the live auction from 6-8pm Saturday, May 7.

Admission to the on-site auction is $15 and includes hors d’oeuvres and drinks. Tickets can be purchased at www.oionline.com or by calling 304-242-4200.

“This event is a celebration of our artists and a place where so many of them explore and share their creativity. It’s an opportunity to add a unique piece of art to a collection and to support artists and OI,” Underwood said.  “Because people can support the auction from anywhere, it also embodies a central idea of OI—what we do doesn’t only happen under our roofs. It happens wherever people have an enthusiasm for art.”