Valhalla’s "Joint Chiefs" Coming to LTCC’s Duke Theatre

October 30, 2017

The 2016 Word Wave One-Act Play award winner Joint Chiefs is coming to the stage as a full-length production at Lake Tahoe Community College this November, produced and performed by Valhalla Tahoe as part of their Valhalla Art, Music & Theatre Festival. This theatrical event is the result of a new partnership between LTCC and Valhalla Tahoe that will keep the college’s Duke Theatre full of enriching entertainment year-round for the entire community to enjoy.

Performances of Joint Chiefs will all take place at 7:30pm in LTCC’s Duke Theatre, located in the Fine Arts building on campus. Performance dates are: Thursday Nov. 9, Friday Nov. 10, Saturday Nov. 11, Sunday Nov. 12, Thursday Nov. 16, Friday Nov. 17, Saturday Nov. 18, and Sunday Nov. 19. General admission tickets are $20, and they can be purchased online.

Joint Chiefs is the funny, heart-felt story of four veterans, one from each branch of the United States armed services. They meet regularly at the "The Joint," a local diner owned by one of their own, Mike Riggio, a former U.S. Navy cook. Every day, the men tell stories, share jokes, and give each other grief, until one day, Mike seems to be acting rather strangely. The other three suspect he might have to sell "The Joint." A perfect way to celebrate Veterans Day weekend!

The partnership between Valhalla Tahoe and LTCC is just one positive outcome of the Theatre Task Force, a group assembled to discuss how to best utilize LTCC’s Duke Theatre by bringing a mix of events to the space made possible through community partnerships. The task force group was first put together in 2016 to continue a college discussion about the vitality of LTCC’s Theatre Arts department.

The Theatre Task Force includes local theatre practitioners, interested community members who are in support of local arts, and LTCC faculty, staff, and students. The group has made a series of recommendations that center around the need to create partnerships to keep theatrical productions alive in South Lake Tahoe while also allowing the academic program to continue. The partnership with Valhalla Tahoe is the first in this model and is serving as a testing ground that will lay the groundwork for a community/college partnership model going forward.