After spending three months preparing for opening night of “Bull in a China Shop” at the Hawkeye Community Theatre in March 2020, having to cancel the show just a week before its opening was a devastating blow for its director, Michael Shoopman.

“It was three months of work the cast, crew and myself put into this thing,” he said. “And having to stop just a week before when you’re going through dress rehearsals, it’s just an amazing blow.”

But a year and a half later, the theater curtains parted once again for “Bull in a China Shop,” which finally opened Oct. 6, 2021.

Because the actors in the community production have a “multitude of things going on in their own lives,” Shoopman said, not all of the original cast members were able to return for the rescheduled production — he had to recast three roles.

After 18 months without theater and performing arts, Shoopman called the return to the stage “freeing.”

“It’s just amazing that you’re finally going to give birth to a thing that you’ve nurtured along and the cast is excited to be back,” he said. “I think people will be excited to come to a show again, as shown by how much they’re going out through all these live events. And I think it’s just going to be wonderful.”

Shoopman has directed dozens of productions in Fort Dodge over the years and said many of the cast of “Bull in a China Shop” are veteran actors of local stages, and they’re all eager to perform again.

The Hawkeye Community Theatre’s season continued into the holidays with “Junie B. Jones in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells,” directed by Alyssa Sparks in December.