By Mary Owen
Members of the Aumsville Community Theatre invite people to kick up their heels to help kick off its next play.
“The Sweet Heart Dance is our first big fundraiser,” said Shannon Rempel, a founder of the local theater company. “This fundraiser will help us to finish up our up and coming production of Bus Stop by William Inge and boost us for the next show, Deadwood Dick and the Game of Gold, a very funny melodrama.”
The Sweet Heart Dance, with its Valentine’s theme, will offer live music from the duo, “Out of Compliance,” hailing from Dallas and accompanied by singer Lara Taylor.
“Lara recently sang in Salem’s Got Talent,” Rempel said.
Dessert will be served, and attendees will have an opportunity to have a prom-style photo taken with their sweethearts, alone or as Rempel said, “even with a friend.”
“We will also have raffle baskets of wonderful things to romance someone special,” she added.
Aumsville Community Theatre was recently awarded its nonprofit status by the state of Oregon, and an added bonus was the donation of lighting by the Pentacle Theatre of Salem, Rempel said.
ACT is currently in the middle of its third season, having produced seven plays since its inception in 2011, including Nunsense, Arsenic and Old Lace, and next up, Bus Stop. The renowned drama will run 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. Sundays, Feb. 22-24 and March 1-3 at the Macleay Grange Hall.
Directed by Kevin Crawford, the play includes: Aletha Kindle as diner owner Grace Hoyland; Meagan Allenby as waitress Elma Duckworth; Craig Kalepp as town sheriff Will Masters; Edward Stiner as professor, Dr. Gerald Lyman; Anna Lulay as nightclub singer Cherie; Drew Wright as brash cowboy Bo Decker; Gary Rogers as older cowboy and father figure to Bo, Virgil Blessing; and Bryon Morris as bus driver Carl.
The play is set in a diner about 25 miles west of Kansas City in early March 1955. A freak snowstorm has halted the progress of the bus, and the eight characters interact during a weather-enforced, quasi-romance-filled, afternoon layover in the diner.
Tickets for the play are adults, $12, seniors, $10, and children, $6. Tickets for The Sweet Heart Dance are $25 per couple or $15 per single. Either can be purchased by credit card by phoning 503-302-0936 or by logging on to .
For more information about Aumsville Community Theatre, call 503-302-0936 or visit www.aumsvillecommunitytheatre.org.
