Swing with the Roaring '20s gala

Break out your Brilliantine and flapper duds. Even if you can't do the Charleston, get set to swing.

The League of Charleston Theatres' inaugural "Gin & Jazz: A Roaring '20s Party at Pepper Plantation" kicks out the jams to celebrate the upcoming theater season with a 1920s-theme bash showcasing live jazz from Charlton Singleton and Jazz Artists of Charleston, "speakeasies," flappers, molls, gangsters and cigarette girls. The whole schmear. Now ain't that the bee's knees?

The "curtain" rises at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 8 at the Pavilion at 1145 Chandler Road in Mount Pleasant. Period attire is encouraged (or "casual summer cocktail"). Doesn't matter if you're a Big Cheese or a small fry, a dewdropper or the Cat's Meow.

"All 12 of our member theaters have come together to celebrate their upcoming 2010-11 theater seasons with the community," says Emily Wilhoit, executive director of the league (aka Theatre Charleston), "and we're thrilled to be working with so many entertainers, restaurants and vendors to put on a really exciting event."

If the youthquake of the 1960s was an eruption of counterculture, the 1920s were liberating across the board, setting trends for all age groups.

And how! It was the decade in which women first shed the constricting fashions of the Victorian era and began to wear more comfortable clothes. Men also took a pass on starchy, overly formal garb and made sports clothes the new standard of ease.

Jazz was coming into its own, art deco was in full flower and the great silent films were revolutionizing visual storytelling. Optimism and energy flourished, a radical reaction to glum uncertainties of the post-World War I years.

Theater companies participating in "Gin & Jazz" include Pure Theatre, the Footlight Players, the Village Playhouse, Actors' Theatre of South Carolina, the

Robert Ivey Ballet, Midtown/Sheri Grace Productions, the Flowertown Players, Deuce Theatre, Creative Spark, the Company Company, Art Forms and Theatre Concepts and the College of Charleston Department of Theatre.

The lawn overlooking the lake at the Pavilion at Pepper Plantation will be the scene of games, prize giveaways and the popular music of the era, with such jazz stalwarts as Leah Suarez, Ron Wiltrout and Richard White joining Singleton, not to mention plenty of dancing for floor flushers. An open bar with signature gin fizz cocktails and culinary offerings from Mount Pleasant restaurants also top the bill.

"For the past couple of years the league's events committee has been brainstorming, wanting to do something like this," says Wilhoit, who defines the new season as running from September through May. "It was a matter of figuring out what the best time and place would be. We wanted an event that would celebrate local theater while also serving as a fundraiser. Finally, we were able to carve out a time in everyone's schedule and decided it was now or never.

"We're hoping that a great mix of the whole theater community will join the party: actors, directors, producers and patrons all at once. We do hope it will be an annual event."

The mission of the league, now in its fifth year, is "to promote, support and advocate theater in the Greater Charleston area and in the Lowcountry" and to "provide services that strengthen the operations of both the member theaters and performing arts organizations in general." Membership is open to any theater company (or dance company doing theatrical productions) within the area.

The association was born when the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, which has offices in Chicago and the Lowcountry, sponsored a trip for five local theater company representatives to a conference in Chicago.

"They came back from that meeting inspired and started getting together for monthly meetings, looking for a way to help us all work together," Wilhoit says.

Attendees also will be able to get information on the theater companies' latest season ticket packages.

So don your glad rags and hit on all sixes, but no high-hattin' -- savvy?

Tickets for "Gin & Jazz" are 40 clams ... er, dollars ... for singles and $70 for couples and can be purchased online at www.theatrecharleston.com or by calling 813-8578.

Reach Bill Thompson at bthompson@postandcourier.com or 937-5707.