Last summer, when Denton Community Theatre staged Encore, director Bill Kirkley got a few questions about the upright piano on the stage.

DRC/Lucinda Breeding

Bob Rogers and Betty Ann Barrow join the cast of Encore II: Callbacks, the summer fundraising gala for Denton Community Theatre.

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“A bunch of people asked me, ‘Why are you using an upright piano, of all things?’ And some people asked me why we weren’t using the perfectly good Steinway in the Campus Theatre,” Kirkley said. “I just told everybody, ‘How many auditions have you gone to where they used a concert grand to accompany people?’”

Encore was a summer fundraiser for Denton Community Theatre last year in which Kirkley patched beloved songs from famous musicals together in a show of his own invention.

Kirkley cast some of the company’s favorite performers — and some of its best singers, to boot — as actors and actresses hoping to land a part. He set the show backstage, where the audience could see the dressing room doors, scenery and equipment as performers sang for the company’s upcoming season.

This weekend, the company presents Encore II: Callbacks. This time, Kirkley said, the performers are on center stage. They’re also still hoping to land a role in an imaginary musical. Dennis Welch will be heard but not seen as the director, taking notes on the performances at the back of the house.

This summer, the Steinway replaces the upright piano.

The company cast the best person possible to play it: Bob Rogers, a pianist who followed up a distinguished career with the University of North Texas College of Music with a full schedule of volunteering with the Trammell Group. The Denton troupe has raised bundles performing lighthearted parodies by Donna Trammell.

He’s not the only theater icon the company brought back to the stage. Betty Ann Barrow, one of the early members of the company, will appear as the costumer in the show. It’s not a huge stretch; Barrow is heading up the costumes for the upcoming show Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

“There was a committee that got together to organize the show,” Kirkley said. “We started talking about it, and I had this idea that maybe we ought to celebrate the volunteers. It’s the volunteers who spend hours and hours going through bolts of fabric, like Betty Ann, to pull costumes together. And then there’s Bob, who’s really an icon in Denton, but who also has done a lot of really nice things for all the arts groups in Denton.”

Barrow and Rogers accepted the invitations to join the cast of Encore II: Callbacks.

“I thought I was almost retired,” said Barrow, “but I’ve costumed Bill’s show [Don’t Dress for Dinner] and I’m working on the costuming for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. I keep jumping back into it and I enjoy it so much.”

She won’t be singing, though.

“I can’t sing. I’m a monotone,” she said.

She has written a song as a tribute to performers: “Button up your overcoat/straighten up your tie/but don’t go out onto the stage/with an open fly.”

In Encore II, Rogers plays a janitor who sweeps the stage and then sits down for a quick interlude with the piano. Kirkley and the committee gave Rogers leave to play whatever he wanted.

“My favorite time of year is spring, and I’m really going to put some things around the song ‘Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most,’” he said.

He accepted the invitation for a simple reason.

“We have the best community theater in the country,” Rogers said, referring to the company’s championship at the 2007 American Association of Community Theatre festival. “But when you realize that the people up there are doing this because it’s the love of their life, they aren’t getting paid — well, I think it’s important to support them.”

Barrow and Rogers have been in Denton for decades. They were freshmen together at UNT.

“I remember standing against the wall in one of the campus buildings one day, watching you play,” Barrow said. “I didn’t speak to you then, but I remember thinking, ‘My goodness, this boy can play.’”

“I know where we were,” Rogers said. “Mary Arden Lodge. I came to Denton on a string scholarship. I played the cello. But there was a teaching position open for string bass, and I got that position. In my third year, I really came through as a pianist.”

Kirkley said he was pleased to see two icons of Denton theater accept the invitation to join the show. The rest of the cast agreed quickly, he said.

“People want to come back and help us out,” he said. “I think part of the appeal is that they know who they are going to be working with, and they know everyone will do their homework and come in prepared. You can’t always guarantee that in every show. They knew they weren’t signing on for six weeks of rehearsal. This would be a short rehearsal period and they are working with some of the best performers we have.”

LUCINDA BREEDING can be reached at 940-566-6877. Her e-mail address is cbreeding@dentonrc.com .

What: Denton Community Theatre’s summer fundraiser

When: Gala performance with begins with a reception at 6 p.m. Friday, followed by the show at 8 p.m. Performances are at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.

Where: Friday gala reception will be at DATCU, 225 W. Mulberry St. All performances are at the Campus Theatre, 214 W. Hickory St.

Details: Gala performance is $50. Saturday and Sunday performances are $10. For reservations, call 940-382-1915.

On the Web: www.dentoncommunitytheatre.com

At Friday’s gala, guests can bid in live auction for “Dinner Under the Dome,” a gourmet meal for eight served in the new Access 1st Capital Bank building with entertainment by Encore II performers with Bob Rogers at the piano. Gala catering is by the Reata Restaurant in Fort Worth, Morris Salerno ofSalerno’s and The Grotto, Dr. David Price, Ben E. Keith Co. and Vigne Wine Shop and Delicatessen.

Actors: Dennis Welch, Amber Bryant, Jason Joos, Bob Rogers, Betty Ann Barrow and Lindsay Keffer

Singers: Jenny Tucker, Johnny Bryant, Sean Frith, Jim Laney, John Evarts, Michael Rausch, Jennifer Calfee, Kay Lamb, Cindy Maloney, Eric Ryan, Mandy Rausch, Melvin MacFarland, Pat Sherman, Bunny Hodges and Mike Barrow