No one disputes that Courtney Piccoli knows her way around the Pinewood Bowl stage, but every now and then she likes to prove it.
She recently stood on the back wall of the Pioneers Park amphitheater, put on a blindfold and told the cast of "Newsies," which raises the curtain Thursday on Pinewood Performing Arts' 72nd annual production, that she could walk to center stage.
A handful of confident strides later, Piccoli, who is directing her 14th show in the series after acting, dancing, singing and serving as the choreographer in 11 others, not surprisingly found herself in the middle of the stage. Just as promised.
"I have spent so much time out there," said Piccoli, the 54-year-old owner of Piccoli Dance Theatre. "I know that stage like the back of my hand. … I've spent so much time out there, it’s become kind of a part of me."
People are also reading…
She remembers her early days — back when she was a theater kid at Lincoln Southeast High School — when the sound system consisted of a couple of microphones set on stands in the front of the stage.Â
"You projected your voice over the (orchestra) pit to the crowd," she said with equal parts nostalgia and lament because the orchestra pit was one of the casualties in this year's Pinewood Bowl renovations.
Piccoli's longevity makes her as big a part of Lincoln's summer theater tradition as there's ever been. Being involved in 25 summer productions puts her in select company. No one has directed more summer shows at Pinewood Bowl.
Anyone who has been a part of Pinewood Performing Arts is keenly aware of Piccoli's contributions to this enduring tradition.
"She is definitely the anchor that holds everything at Pinewood together," said Emily Maldavs, who acted under Piccoli's direction and is serving as the artistic producer for "Newsies" this year, her second straight year in that role. "Other people may come and go, but Courtney is really the constant."
Piccoli is known for her choreography. Her elaborate dance routines "are unrivaled," Maldavs said. "People in the cast love working with her."
It's been a lifetime commitment for Piccoli, who went to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln before moving to Kansas City. She then spent some time in Arizona before returning to Lincoln to eventually open her dance studio in 2016.
That time away gave her a newfound appreciation for her hometown and revitalized the creativity to her craft. And Pinewood Performing Arts was the benefactor. She spent her teen and college years auditioning and getting cast into various summertime musicals at Pinewood, but her focus gradually evolved.
With time, "my role morphed into directing and choreography," she said.
It's part of the maturation process. Just like ballplayers become coaches and columnists become editors, actors tend to gravitate toward directing. It's a way of taking learned experiences and passing that knowledge on to generations to come.
It's a pay-it-forward commitment to the craft. She's now a wealth of advice and information, and Piccoli hasn't hesitated in dropping knowledge on the cast of "Newsies," which she said might be as physically demanding a show as she has directed at Pinewood.
Given that, her most common bit of advice to them is a simple one: Drink plenty of water.
There is no air conditioning at the bowl, which has a tendency to absorb the July heat. Before the first rehearsal was held, Piccoli told the young performers to get ready to sweat.
"This show is so athletic, so we started having talks about hydrating," she said. "We sent out an email saying they might want to do some jogging and sing along to their ear pods just to get that physical activity going. We’re affected by the heat as much as the audience is. We wanted them to get acclimated to it."
Performing on cue during what could be severe heat is just one of the challenges presented by the Pinewood Bowl.Â
However, what awaits those who fight through the adversity is a product that is not only embraced by a community — and has been for 72 years — but is also performed in a venue that is unlike any other they will ever experience.
Pinewood Bowl itself is what keeps Piccoli coming back.
"There's a kind of a freedom about it," she said. "It just kind of feels magical when you’re out there and it’s 11:30 or 12 o’clock at night and you're giving final notes. If you’re quiet, you hear the crickets and the wind through the trees.
"You don’t get that anywhere else. You can not get that anywhere else. It’s just a different experience."