About ACT

It all started on June 12, 1946 with a small notice in the local paper. The notice in the Social News called for all persons interested in forming a community theatre to meet the following night.

1946
In August of 1946 the new group made its debut at the old city auditorium. The first play was Dark of the Moon, the first amateur production of this Appalachian tale.

1947
Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie closes in New York and opens at ACT under the direction of young actors/directors Charlton Heston & his wife Lydia Clarke.

1948
November 2, 1948, ACT presents its first musical, Of Thee I Sing.

1952
May 17, 1952, ACT co-sponsors first annual "Beaux Arts Ball " at the Vanderbilt Hotel.

1953
October 1953, ACT begins its 13-year residency at the William Randolph School Auditorium.

1954
January 1954, ACT membership reaches 2,000 and the theatre is featured in Theatre Arts Magazine.

1957
September 25, 1957, ACT receives its status as a tax-exempt educational organization.

1960
ACT moves next door to the old Paramount Theatre on College Street for combined rehearsal, office, shop and storage.

1962
May 1962, ACT begins the annual tradition of producing a major musical with South Pacific.

1966
ACT takes over direction of the Tanglewood Children's Theatrre.

1967
A former beer warehouse on Biltmore Avenue becomes ACT's Thomas Wolfe Playhouse.

1970
The City of Asheville condemns the aging Wolf Playhouse and ACT launches a capital campaign to build a new facility.

1972
August 4, 1972, ACT celebrates the opening night of Camelot and the Grand Opening of its permanent home, 35 Walnut Street.

1980
ACT gives the Tanglewood Children's Theatre program over to UNC-Asheville.

1982
August 13, 1982, ACT retires the $100,000 mortgage on the building fifteen years early.

1985
ACT's programming expands to include the Second Stage, a reader's theatre forum for new and challenging works.

1992
Spring of 1992, ACT revitalizes the children's wing with the creation of Youtheatre. August 15 of that year, Charlton & Lydia Heston return to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the building with Love Letters. In November, Second Stage expands to include a performing group for area seniors called The Autumn Players.

1993
March 1993, ACT's The Boys Next Door represents North Carolina at the Southeastern Theatre Conference in Washington, DC.

1997
ACT invites guest artists to direct main stage productions.

2000
Staff and board prepare for a season of plays to celebrate the millennium.

2002
ACT opens 35below, a black box theatre space, with David Sedaris' "The Santaland Diaries." Also, the Tanglewood Youth Theatre program returns to ACT.