When Denton Community Theatre board members were in talks over its summer gala, officials wanted a good mix of newcomers to the company, well-known local performers and some of the longstanding members of Denton’s performing arts scene, said Bill Kirkley, director of the fundraiser.

The company decided that Betty Ann Barrow, a longtime member of Denton Community Theater, and Bob Rogers, pianist for Trammell Group performances and a former University of North Texas music professor, would be worthy additions to a cast of notable players.

DRC/Lucinda Breeding

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

View larger More photos Photo store

“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.”

Barrow will play the part of a costumer in the show. 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.”

Bob Rogers has been the man behind the piano at more Denton performances than he can count. In Encore II, he 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. Barrow was among the earliest volunteers with the community theater, after it was founded by the late Carolyn Silvernale. Rogers has been performing at the Denton Benefit League annual charity ball for years, and has played piano for every performance by the Trammell Group, which assembles a small cast around musical spoofs written by Denton parodist Donna Trammell.

Barrow and Rogers 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.”

The musical picks up where last summer’s theme left off. The summer gala fundraisers began when director Michael Bolen staged Bravo for Broadway, revue-style concerts that put together some of the best-known Broadway music and some of the newer blockbusters.

Kirkley changed things a bit last summer with Encore. He borrowed Bolen’s idea of collecting Broadway favorites, but set the performers backstage with a simple script.

“Michael Bolen’s shows were lengthy,” Kirkley said. “He really wanted to put a lot of songs in them, and people were really receptive to it. These shows are shorter, but we kept the music in it. In this show, we’re bringing people back for the callback auditions. Last year, we were backstage, with dressing room doors, arrows, equipment and lights, and an upright piano.”

This year, Kirkley puts the action on the stage. The director is heard from the back of the house, and the audience will see the characters normally at a callback audition — stage manager, assistant director and crew members.

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.”

‘ENCORE II: CALLBACKS’ CAST

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

ENCORE II: CALLBACKS

What: A fundraiser for Denton Community Theatre

When: Shows are at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. June 28. Gala performance starts at 6 p.m. Friday.

Where: Campus Theatre, 214 W. Hickory St.

Details: Show-only tickets are $10. Gala tickets are $50. For tickets or for more information, call 940-382-1915.

On the Web: www.campustheatre.com