It is with heavy hearts that ACT has to share the sad news that we lost one of our own to cancer this month. Bill Olds was an incredibly talented man who loved theatre whether he was acting, directing, or simply enjoying great performances. He worked at many theatres across the United States in his lifetime. At ACT, he was an incredibly moving Atticus in To Kill a Mockingbird, a hilarious playboy in Boeing, Boeing, and a hilarious, stuffy minister in Leading Ladies. He also directed the charming classic Philadelphia Story at ACT. He loved people, the arts, and a good story. He cared deeply about his friends and family. So many hearts were broken with his passing. Bill was set to direct our next show, Little Shop of Horrors which was to open our upcoming season. With his passing just a couple of weeks before the production was set to get underway, we had many decisions to make regarding this production. Anyone who has been involved in theatre knows the director does a tremendous about of preparatory work before a show ever gets underway. With his sudden death, we have made the difficult decision to pull Little Shop of Horrors from our next season. We have never had to do this before and although we struggled with the decision we feel it was the right one to make for our patrons and our theatre family. We plan to honor Bill Olds, Pete Mason, and Paul McKenzie (all of whom we lost to cancer in the past 12 months) at our annual Grahamie awards on September 30.

After we made the decision to pull Little Shop of Horrors, we had to decide what to put in its place. We wanted a show that our patrons would love and would fit perfectly into our season. After much deliberation we chose to present the very funny, classic mystery/comedy Arsenic and Old Lace. This show offers humor, suspense, and even a little romance. It will be directed by the talented Jonathan Dickson who our patrons will know from his roles in Crimes of the Heart, Philadelphia Story, and The Lion in Winter. He is stepping from the stage to behind the scenes to make his directing debut at ACT. It will run Oct 12 – 28, 2018. Please visit our website www.allenscommunitytheatre.net for more information or visit https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090a44aca92babfd0-auditions2 to audition.