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community. It was agreed by all: The show must go on! It is now a 501( c) 3 organization managed and operated by an all-volunteer board, the Brown County Playhouse Management, Inc. To be a Performing Arts Center, the Brown County Playhouse provides diverse year-round entertainment: live theater, concerts, movies, dance, variety acts, and special events.
In the midst of the pandemic, Amanda Webb took the helm as the Executive Director in August of 2021 when Hannah Estabrook stepped down from that role. It’ s a match made in Hoosier heaven.
Brown County has been home to Amanda since marrying Brian Webb after graduating from the IU School of Music( Voice and French). Amanda has taught private voice and piano lessons for 20 years, has led worship in many local churches, as well as being the office manager at the family business, Webb and Sons Auto Restoration. She is also a bandleader, singer, and songwriter.
Amanda’ s creative talents, business expertise, and insights into the community enhance her leadership for the Playhouse. It’ s bolstered by conversations around the family dinner table. Her oldest son, Billy, works for the Water and Sewer of the town of Nashville; Henry, 18 years old, is a junior at Brown County High School and is active in tech theater, especially set design and construction; Charlie, 16 years old, runs cross-country and has his Eagle Scout in sight; Robert, 12 years old, is active in theater and choir; George, 10 years old, is interested in all the world offers— basketball, guitar, and samplings of his older brothers’ activities.
Amanda speaks of an intangible magic of the Brown County Playhouse that is felt by everyone. The schedule of programs will coincide with interests of multi-generation audiences. Watch community calendars and public media for upcoming offerings. Their website is < browncountyplayhouse. org > and you can find them on Facebook. • because, while most other bands have crashed and burned, the Tower has been standing as a funk icon for over five decades. Although the band’ s lineup has changed somewhat over the years, with Castillo and Kupka steering the ship( Prestia passed away in 2020), there’ s been a steady stream of albums, mostly of new material— and no let-up in playing live.
“ It’ s like clockwork,” Castillo says of his touring schedule.“ At least 200 days of shows a year. My bag is always packed.” With his band no longer in the same city( Castillo’ s lived in Arizona for over twentyfive years now), touring can be a bit of a logistical struggle. But they make it work: rehearsing as a full group is often done on tour at soundchecks, or in Los Angeles when they can all meet there.
All the hard work is more than worth it.“ Any night can be a great night,” Castillo says.“ Most of the time, it’ s not work. It’ s just enjoyment.” And the band, he relates, has become his family.“ I’ m tighter with these guys than I am with my own brothers. I need to lean on them for their help, and they’ re always there for me.”
On this tour, the group welcomes a new member of the ToP family that you may recognize. Mike Jerel, a contestant on The Voice, signed on recently as the new lead vocalist, and Castillo’ s excited.“ I heard him sing‘ It’ s a Man’ s World’ by James Brown, and we reached out. We’ ve been talking to him for two years because we were looking for a singer, and then the pandemic happened.”
Tower of Power may have played for huge crowds, but Castillo doesn’ t expect the show in Brown County to lack any of the energy they’ re known for. It’ s exciting to play a smaller venue, he says, because the crowd is so close to the performers.“ From an audience perspective, it’ s nice to be in there with the group. There’ s nothing like seeing ten guys just blowing right in your face.”
For more information on the Tower of Power concert, contact the Brown County Music Center box office at 812-988-5323, or visit their website at < browncountymusiccenter. com >.•
30 Our Brown County March / April 2022