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Our History

In the middle of the 1960's a group of people dedicated to the theater and with the mission of bringing quality entertainment to the fledgling community of Bowie founded the Belair Community Theatre.

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Sets were painted and stored in members' garages, rehearsals were held in still-empty stores in the small Belair Shopping Center, and sound and light boards were transported back and forth to the venues for every performance.


Performing first in local Bowie elementary schools and later in the multipurpose room of the (then) newly-constructed Bowie High School, the troupe quickly won a following in the community. Subsequently, we made a favorable arrangement to perform at the D.A.V. Hall on Rt. 197 - we were now performing cabaret style!

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However, the Belair Community Theatre still needed a home of its own. And so it was that the "Arts Center," after many years of consideration, was constructed by the City of Bowie. Completed November 19, 1976, the Center was dedicated by Mayor Audrey Scott, a former member of the Prince George's County Council.

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Musicomedy Productions of Bowie inaugurated the new facility with a concert performance of "Carousel." The Belair Community Theatre's production of "Lysistrata" was performed the following summer. The Belair Community Theatre was incorporated on February 16, 1967. On October 5, the name was changed to the Bowie Community Theatre to give the organization a 'Bowie identity'.


The Arts Center later became known as the Theater in the Woods because of its bucolic setting. However, after years of answering the question "where do you perform in inclement weather?" the BCT Board of Directors in conjunction with the other companies sharing the venue petitioned the Bowie City Council to change the theatre's name to "The Bowie Playhouse."

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Over the years Bowie Community Theatre, or BCT, has expanded its repertoire considerably, recently expanding offerings past the traditional dramas, comedies and murder mysteries to include more contemporary and thought-provoking works, which have been recognized by the WATCH awards and the British Embassy's prestigious Ruby Griffith awards.

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We look forward to continuing to build our story with you - our audiences and volunteers - and we thank you for your support of BCT over the years. 

Past Seasons

2024-2025

  • Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring

  • Witness for the Prosecution by Agatha Christie

  • The Odd Couple by Neil Simon

2023-2024

  • Absence of a Cello by Ira Wallach

  • The Old Settler by John Henry Redwood

  • Shadow Hour by Ralph Tropf

2022-2023

  • One Slight Hitch by Lewis Black

  • Wait Until Dark by Frederick Knott

  • All My Sons by Arthur Miller

2022

  • Fences by August Wilson
    (Productions were put on hiatus from March 2020 - March 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic)

2019-2020

  • Absolutely Dead by Michael Walker

  • The Last Night of Ballyhoo by Alfed Uhry

2018-2019

  • Becky's New Car by Steven Dietz

  • A Piece of My Heart by Shirley Lauro

  • The Women of Lockerbie by Deborah Brevoort

2017-2018

  • Hairspray, JR! presented by the Bowie Community Theatre Youth Theatre. Book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan, Music by Mark Shaiman, Lyrics by Mark Shaiman and Scott Wittman, Based on the film written and directed by John Waters

  • Nana's Naughty Knickers by Katherine DiSavino

  • A Tuna Christmas by Jaston Williams, Joe Sears, and Ed Howard

  • Frankenstein by Victor Gialanella and adapted from the novel by Mary Shelley

2016-2017

  • A Tomb with a View by Norman Robbins

  • Foxfire by Susan Cooper/Hume Cronyn

  • Night Watch by Lucille Fletcher

2015-2016

  • Whose Wives Are They Anyway? by Michael Parker

  • Christmas Belles by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten

  • An Act of the Imagination by Bernard Slade

2014-2015

  • Sex Please We're Sixty by Michael Parker and Susan Parker

  • The Murder Room by Jack Sharkey

  • Flyin' West by Pearl Cleage

2013-2014

  • The Tale of the Allergist's Wife by Charles Busch

  • The Cover of Life by R. T. Robinson

  • Dark Passages by Shannon Michal Dow, Jan Henson Dow and Robert Shroeder

2012-2013

  • Love, Sex, and the I. R. S. by Billy Van Zandt and Jane Milmore

  • Dracula by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston

  • Daddy's Dyin', Who's Got the Will? by Del Shores

  • John Ball's In the Heat of the Night Adapted by Matt Pelfrey

2011-2012

  • Art by Yasmina Reza

  • Murder by Misadventure by Edward Taylor

  • Grace & Glorie by Tom Ziegler

  • Language of Angels by Naomi Iizuka

2010-2011

  • The Cocktail Hour by A. R. Gurney

  • Sordid Lives by Del Shores

  • Who Dunit? by C. B. Gilford

  • Same Time, Next Year by Bernard Slade

2009-2010

  • The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams

  • Daddy's Girl by Gary Ray Strapp

  • Kitchen Witches by Caroline Smith

2008-2009

  • Inspecting Carol by Daniel Sullivan

  • Out of Order by Ray Cooney

  • A Little Murder Never Hurt Anybody by Ronald Jay

2007-2008

  • Social Security by Andrew Bergman

  • Dearly Beloved by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, and Jamie Wooten

  • The Nerd by Larry Shue

2006-2007

  • Proposals by Neil Simon

  • Not Now, Darling by Ray Cooney and John Chapman

  • Rumors by Neil Simon

2005-2006

  • Dearly Departed by David Bottrell & Jesse Jones

  • Catch Me If You Can by Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert

  • Anatomy of a Murder by Elihu Winer

2004-2005

  • An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley

2003-2004

  • The Heiress by Ruth & Augustus Goetz

  • Rehearsal for Murder adapted by D.D. Brooke from the Television Play by Richard Levinson & William Link

  • The Seven Year Itch by George Axelrod

2002-2003

  • The Octette Bridge Club by P.J. Barry

  • You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water is Running! by Robert Anderson

  • Dial 'M ' For Murder by Frederick Knott

2001-2002

  • Black Coffee by Agatha Christie

  • Saving Grace by Jack Sharkey

  • The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

2000-2001

  • Forty Carats by Jay Allen

  • Bus Stop by William Inge

  • The Boys Next Door by Tom Griffen

1999-2000

  • The Philadelphia Story by Philip Barry

  • Night Watch by Lucille Fletcher

  • On Golden Pond by Ernest Thompson

1998-1999

  • Sylvia by A. R. Gurney

  • Amicable Parting by George S. Kaufman and Leueen McGrath

  • Exeunt O'Brien and Krasnov by Hindi Brooks

  • The Trip to Bountiful by Horton Foote

  • Marvin's Room by Scott McPherson

1997-1998

  • The Butler Did It by Walter Marks and Peter Marks

  • Sure Thing by David Ives

  • Haiku by Katherine Snodgrass

  • Harvey by Lucille Fletcher

  • Someone Who'll Watch Over Me by Ernest Thompson

1996-1997

  • Shadow Box by Michael Cristofer

  • You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown by Clark Gesner

  • Steel Magnolias by Robert Harling

  • Weekend Comedy by Lucille Fletcher

1995-1996

  • Nuts by Tom Topor

  • Fools by Neil Simon

  • The Wizard of Oz by Anne C. Martens

1994-1995

  • Dracula by Steven Dietz

  • Lost in Yonkers by Neil Simon

  • The Curious Savage by John Patrick

1993-1994

  • Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams

  • Light Up The Sky by Moss Hart

  • The Emperor's New Clothes by Greg Atkins, adapted from the book by Hans Christian Anderson

  • The Liberated Cinderella by R. Rex Stephenson and Ginny Smith Conrad

1992 

  • The Cemetery Club by Ivan Menchell

  • Rumors by Neil Simon

1991 

  • All My Sons by Arthur Miller

  • Bell, Book and Candle by John van Druten

1990 

  • Crossing Delancey by Susan Sandler

1989 

  • The Dining Room by A. R. Gurney

  • Move Over Mrs. Markham by Ray Cooney and John Chapman

  • The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie

1988 

  • God's Favorite by Neil Simon

  • One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Dale Wasserman

1987 

  • If Love Were All by Noel Coward

  • The Odd Couple (female version) by Neil Simon

  • The Little Sister by Jan Egleson

1986 

  • Lovers and Other Strangers by Joseph Bologna

  • Differing Perspectives by Edward J. Ormond

1985 

  • Cat On a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams

1984 

  • Hay Fever by Noel Coward

  • Love From a Stranger by Agatha Christie

1983 

  • Broadway by Philip Dunning & George Abbot

  • You Can't Take It With You by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart

  • Not Now Darling by Ray Cooney and John Chapman

1982 

  • If Love Were All by Noel Coward

1981 

  • Plaza Suite by Neil Simon

  • The Lion In Winter by James Goldman

1980 

  • California Suite by Neil Simon

1979 

  • God's Favorite by Neil Simon

  • Barefoot in the Park by Neil Simon

  • Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee

1978 

  • The Girl in the Freudian Slip by William F. Brown

  • The Lion In Winter by James Goldman

  • The Odd Couple by Neil Simon

1977 

  • A Pleasing Shape by Edward J. Ormond

  • Butterflies Are Free by Leonard Gershe

  • The Rainmaker by N. Richard Nash

1976 

  • The Prisoner of Second Avenue by Neil Simon

  • Six Rms Riv Vu by Bob Randall

  • Differing Perspectives by Edward J. Ormond

  • Count Dracula by Steven Dietz

1975 

  • Lysistrata by Aristophanes

  • Solid Gold Cadillac by Abe Burrows

  • The Rainmaker by N. Richard Nash

1974 

  • Cactus Flower by Abe Burrows

  • Come Blow Your Horn by Neil Simon

  • Star Spangled Girl by Neil Simon

1973 

  • Light Up The Sky by Moss Hart

  • Last of the Red Hot Lovers by Neil Simon

  • And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little by Paul Zindel

1972 

  • If Love Were All by Noel Coward

  • Plaza Suite by Neil Simon

  • Play It Again Sam by Woody Allen

1971 

  • Wait Until Dark by Frederick Knott

  • Critics Choice by Ira Levin

  • The Odd Couple by Neil Simon

1970 

  • Oklahoma by Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein

  • Night Watch by Lucille Fletcher

  • The 90 Day Mistress by J.J. Coyle

1969 

  • Any Wednesday by Julius J. Epstein

  • You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running by Robert Anderson

  • Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee

1968 

  • The Best Man by Gore Vidal

  • Pajama Game Book by George Abbott & Richard Bissell, Music and Lyrics by Richard Adler & Jerry Ross

  • Guys and Dolls Book by Jo Swerling & Abe Burrows, Music and Lyrics by Frank Loesser

1967 

  • Night of January 16th by Ayn Rand

  • The Time of the Cuckoo by Arthur Laurents

  • My Three Angels by Samuel Spewack and Bella Spewack, based on La Cuisine Des Anges by Albert Husson

1966 

  • You Can't Take It With You by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart

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Contact Us

​Bowie Community Theatre

P.O. Box 604
Bowie, MD 20718
(301) 805-0219

Performances

The ​Bowie Playhouse
16500 White Marsh Park Dr.
Bowie, MD 20715

Bowie Community Theatre (BCT) is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit, all volunteer organization. No monetary compensation is offered. BCT does not and shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, in any of its activities or operations.

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BCT is supported by grants from the Maryland State Arts Council.

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Land Acknowledgment: We rehearse and perform on Piscataway lands. Both the Piscataway Conoy Tribe and the Piscataway Indian Nation are still here, and both are recognized by the State of Maryland. The Piscataway Conoy Tribe is pushing for federal recognition. Learn more at https://www.piscatawaytribe.org/.

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Bowie Community Theatre | bctheatre.com

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