Acts Theatre Society Prepares for Ninth Season

Acts Theatre Society presents both secular and religious dramas.

ACTS is celebrating its ninth year of ministry in Pictou County, Nova Scotia, Canada reflecting on its past presentations while planning its new season.

Although ACTS was not officially organized into a theatre company until 1996, its roots were laid when some of its members staged the original two-act drama, The Mystery of Faith, at the deCoste Entertainment Centre in 1990. ACTS is an inter-denominational ministry with members from a wide variety of Christian traditions. The theatre company combines drama and ministry,education and entertainment, religious and secular resentations.            

The presentations can be in various genres: musical drama, dinner theatre, dessert theatre. Original music is an ingredient common to all presentations.

The theatre company has a unique approach to script writing. All scripts are written by Acts Theatres artistic director, George R. Henaut. When planning a dramatic presentation, all members of the theatre company are contacted to see if they are available for the production. Based upon the number of members available, the specific venue, and the established theme, the script is written.    

After nine sold out dinner/dessert theatre productions, Pictou County audiences have discovered that ACTS can produce successful comedies as well as more serious fare! Acts has raised over $30,000 for various charities and organizations. The largest attendance for any production was A Dickens Christmas with an audience of over 2000 seeing parts of that production.

In its Fall 2002 season, Acts had three sold out performances of its dinner theatre, Barbara Bonkers Live at the Pictou Lodge Resort, a spoof on the British television comedies. Members of the theatre company provided a nativity scene for the annual Christmas tour of homes and a special guest appearance at the Daybreak Prison Ministry Christmas banquet. Several community and school organizations borrowed costumes and props from Acts. The Spring 2003 season featured a successful dinner theatre experience, The Barbara Bonkers Farewell Tour.

Acts typically has two seasons, spring and fall, attempting to combine a focus on secular and religious dramas. Because ACTS has concentrated heavily on dinner/dessert theatres for the past few seasons, it has not been able to fulfill church requests, especially for presentations during Holy Week. After this Springs dinner theatre, ACTS will take a break from staging dinner theatres to focus on its church ministry. ACTS is also anxious to return to the deCoste Entertainment Centre for another production, possibly a stage adaptation of the novel, With Love, With Connie.

ACTS is always looking for new members as actors or for behind the scenes positions.