ACTC's 2010-2011 Season

For a recap of what ACTC's community theatre is tackling this year, let's turn this space over to a story by my pal Angela Henderson-Bentley:

The 2010-11 Ashland Community and Technical College Theatre season is bringing something new to the stage.

ACTC begins its 54th year of community theater with Nosferatu: The Vampire, and ends with another production based on a novel, Wuthering Heights: The Musical. Both were written by Bernard J. Taylor.

Edward Figgins, ACTC Director of Theatre and Assistant Professor, is excited about featuring Taylor's works this year. He first discovered Taylor when he found the Wuthering Heights CD 10 years ago.

"I couldn't find who controlled the rights so I put it on the backburner until last year when I found the website," Figgins said.

Taylor, who lives in Columbus, will be assisting with the productions.

Nosferatu is a musical based on Bram Stoker's Dracula. Figgins described the production as a rock opera. "I knew the students would be pretty excited about that," he said.

"Heights," which is based on the Emily Bronte novel, is the only musical approved by the Bronte Society.

"Wuthering Heights is a very dramatic, beautiful story," Figgins said. "It's a very challenging piece."

ACTC Theatre will also present the children's production, Once Upon a Mattress, and the annual staging of A Christmas Carol.

Figgins said there are several things to consider when choosing what plays to produce.

"We have an educational theatre program. So each year we try to choose shows that are educational but also entertaining," he said. "And it has to be things students want to do. If I choose one they don't like, I wouldn't have a cast."

Figgins is excited about this year's selections, which a play selection committee helped him choose.

"The audience is going to see theatre a little differently. It's something so fresh that they've never seen before," he said. "They won't come in with an ability to prejudge based on a previous performance."

But the audience won't be the only group experiencing something different. "It's brand new to the students. It's going to be a real challenge for them," Figgins said.

Figgins is looking forward to seeing the productions on the stage and how the audience reacts to them.

"I'm always really excited to see the audience response to what we're doing," he said. "We're doing this not for ourselves, but for the enjoyment and education of the audience."

Nosferatu: The Vampire will be presented at 8 p.m. Oct. 15-16, and Oct. 22-23, and at 2:30 p.m. Oct. 17 and 24. A special Halloween performance is scheduled for midnight on Oct. 23.

The remaining performances are A Christmas Carol, Dec. 2-5; Once Upon a Mattress, Feb. 18-20; Wuthering Heights: The Musical, April 15-17 and April 22-24.

All performances are in the J.B. Sowards Theatre at the ACTC campus. Season tickets are now available for $25 for adults and $15 for students and seniors. For season ticket information, contact the theatre office at 606-326-2073. More information is also available on the ACTC website at www.ashland.kctcs.edu.