It’s been two years since Northampton Community College’s Summer Theatre has been able to have a season and William Mutimer, artistic producing director, is excited to be back on stage.

“It’s been a long while since we could say this, but we are actively gearing up for our summer season,” Mutimer says.

The NCC summer season was not held in 2021 and 2020 because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic shutdown.

Opening up the season at the Bethlehem Township college campus is “Footloose: The Musical,” June 1 - 12, Lipkin Theatre.

Mutimer directs the musical about Ren, a high school student who moves to a small town that has banned dancing in the wake of a local tragedy.

“It is an interesting story about grief and loss and how it alters peoples’ perceptions,” Mutimer says.

The story is inspired by the true tale of the small rural town of Elmore City, OK, which had an 80-year-old ban on dancing. When students asked the school board to hold a prom, a local pentecostal pastor opposed the request on the grounds that it would lead to drinking and sex. The ban was finally lifted in 1979.

After reading the news story, actor and songwriter Dean Pitchford, who played “Pippin” on Broadway, wrote the screenplay for the movie “Footloose.” With music by Pitchford, Kenny Loggins, Tom Snow and others, “Footloose,” starring Kevin Bacon, was a hit in 1984.

The musical version of the film opened on Broadway in 1998.

“This is a show about rights being challenged and who has the right to say what we can and cannot do,” Mutimer says.

The score includes the hits, “Let’s Hear It for the Boy” and the title song, nominated for Academy Awards.

“It’s a really fun show. We guarantee you’ll be dancing in the aisles,” Mutimer says.

The cast includes Equity actors from across the country as well as college students and budding local actors, Mutimer says.

Chase Fontenot, a musical theater student at Montclair State University, plays Ren McCormack.

Lehigh Valley actor Jarrod Yuskauskas, head of the Moravian Academy drama department, is Rev. Shaw Moore, a role he was cast in in 2019.

New York City actors Emma Flynn and Nancy Barry play the roles of Ariel Moore and Vi Moore, respectively.

The cast includes Beth Marquardt, Trish Steele, Juanita Shockley-Grey, Madeline Gambone, Charlie Leonard, Noah Deter, Daniel J. Hurt, Jadon Lopez, Geri Kerry, Harrison Sakai, Maxwell J. Wetherhold, Michael Mottram, Nathan Angelo, Josh Crowley, Cade Kocher, Connor Sternberg, Deja Breitfeller, Katie Gilhooley, Sienna Rahatt, Brandon Costanzo, Andy Van Antwerp and Michael Sheridan.

Lucille Kincaid is musical director. Tina Williams is choreographer. Brett Oliveira doing scenic and lighting design.

Performances are 7:30 p.m. June 1 - 4, 8 - 11, and 2 p.m. June 5 and 12.

The NCC summer season includes:

“Jeffrey,” Paul Rudnick’s play about a gay man living in New York City who falls in love after swearing off relationships., June 15 - 26, Norman Roberts Lab Theatre

“Something Rotten!,” the musical comedy set in 1595 follows the Bottom brothers, Nick and Nigel, who struggle to find success in the theatrical world as they compete with the wild popularity of their contemporary William Shakespeare, June 29 - July 17, Lipkin Theatre

“Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,” based on Judith Viorst’s classic book of the same title, July 13 - Aug. 6, Norman Roberts Lab Theatre

“Rent,” Jonathan Larson’s Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning rock musical loosely based on Puccini’s 1896 opera La Boheme, follows a group of impoverished young artists in Lower Manhattan’s East Village under the shadow of HIV-AIDS, July 27 - Aug, 7, Lipkin Theatre.

The wearing of face masks is optional.

Tickets: ncctix.org

“Curtain Rises” is a column about the theater, stage shows, the actors in them and the directors and artists who make them happen. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com.