From the primeval performances staged in December 1818 at Constitution Hall’s makeshift playhouse to the melange of one-acts performed in local bars and restaurants, the world dramaturgical has come our way in every shape and style.

One of the seemingly more recent groups, Theatre Huntsville (TH), is actually one of the oldest, the result of the 1997 merger of the 18-year-old Twickenham Repertory Company, Inc. (TRC), and the 47-year-old Huntsville Little Theatre (HLT).

TH bids you join us for an engaging promenade down Memory Lane:

"Twick" was founded in 1979, the beneficiary of a Comprehensive Employment Training Act (CETA) grant. Originally designed as a professional repertory troupe, its founders were Kim Crow (http://www.best-voice-actress.com), J. Donald Isaacs (http://www.rainrider.com),Byron and Glorialea [McGlinsey] Tidwell, Kathy Duncan, and Steve Chrisenberry. The rotating rep players alternated between evening shows and morning children’s matinées, and a great outreach was made to involve everyone, from students to seniors to visiting artists.

Once its grant expired, TRC transmogrified into a not-for-profit community theater organization among whose presidents one can find Linda (Wood) Boggs, John Fee, Jim Zielinski, Lorie Gill, Bob Baker, Lane Hosmer, Tom and Connie Voight, and Olivia Parker Wall, among others.

Over the years, productions ranged from The Rainmaker (TRC’s debut), As You Like It, and The Lion in Winter to the slightly askew The Secret Affairs of Mildred Wild and the frenetic The Nerd, with the occasional musical – Grease, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas among them – thrown in for good measure.

Twick boasted the only regional forum for aspiring authors, whom it featured via its "Local Playwright Series," sponsored by Humana Hospital. Area authors such as Tidwell, Martha Humphreys, Nancy Mitchell Nilsson (an HLT founder!), Fred Ashcraft, and Ron Harris saw their works brought to life in this manner.

Other unique performances included a One-Act Series (1984-86 and 1994); the WFIX on-air production of Sorry, Wrong Number (1981); and, briefly, a mime company...‘Nuff said.

In an interesting side note, Terry Beaver, "guest director" of Twick’s 1980 version of The Good Doctor, went on to be nominated for Outer Critics Circle and Tony awards for "Featured Actor" in Last Night In Ballyhoo (1997), winning a Theatre World Award for "Outstanding Debut Performer in NYC." He recently appeared with Nathan Lane in the revival of The Man Who Came to Dinner and Alec Baldwin and Anne Heche in the revival of Twentieth Century.

There were also unintentionally hysterical histrionics. Consider:

• A tense moment in The Good Doctor (1980), wherein actress-cum-heroine Kim Crow suffered a mid-performance hernia, yet completed her scenes before leaving to board a waiting ambulance;
• The now-legendary Countess Dracula (1982), during which the arm of a couch fell off and Dr. Bartolemew (Sam Marsh) kept his arm in mid-air, pretending said sofa was still intact; John Seward (Steven Todd Miller) who responded to the failure of his prop gun to fire by dying himself, whereupon Jonathan Harker (Anthony Argo) responded with, "Well, don’t just DIE!"; a Countess who was too disgusted to rise from her coffin for curtain call; and an audience member who turned around at the beginning of intermission and howled, "Let’s all go DRINK!";
• The mystery, Murder Among Friends (1982), wherein Angel Forrester (Vivian Avery) substituted the line "It would be very difficult for a dead man to blackmail anyone" with the fittingly mysterious "How could a black man murder anyone?";
• The central figure in Wait Until Dark (1985), "blind" girl Susi Hendrix (Toni Leo), who was required to ensure the lights came on in one scene and miraculously knew to continue trying when they didn’t;
• Rhonda Prentice (Come Back, Little Sheba; 1985), who was finally provided with actual sweet rolls on opening night, yet continued by rote to munch "imaginary" pastries despite co-star Dorothy Weems’ best attempts to truly feed her;
• Dave Woody as the Old Actor (The Fantasticks; 1988), who lost his dentures one night, mid-speech: "Friends, Romans, countrymen…GIVE ME MY TEETH!";
• Prop tart Lorie Gill running out of mayonnaise during a performance of Rough Crossing (1991), leaving the onstage Donny Becht to make and eat bologna and whipped cream sandwiches;
• The black humor of a Frankenstein (1993) preview at Madison Square Mall, wherein man-made monster Barry Ward was placed for the opening graveyard scene, while impatient mall managers, scorning the hold for a belated costar, rushed the next act on. Shoppers were thus treated to the somewhat macabre sight of two little girls from the Huntsville Youth Orchestra inexplicably playing the first movement of a Mazas violin duet over a shrouded corpse.

Through feast and famine, TRC emerged as a major player in the local drama scene, specializing in avant-garde, lesser-known, and short plays—essential outlets for both the experimental thespian and the adventurous theatergoer.

Way back in November 1949, Nancilee "Nancy" Mitchell (now Nilsson) presented the idea of a new, "official" area theater outlet to Clair Hardenstine; the two consulted with Dr. Tom Smith…and the concept of a "Little Theatre of Huntsville" was born. Locally, there had been no true community theater, per se, since the 1930’s. There had been scattered attempts at start-up groups, but none had survived more than a season or two.

The five charter members were Hardenstine, Mitchell, Smith (who allowed the troupe to rehearse in his office’s storage space), Martha Byrd Gates, and Christine Beiard.

During 1950, a constitution and bylaws were adopted, membership increased, and a playreading committee was formed. Although no plays were produced, the first true meeting of the fledgling organization took place that November.

Within a few years, Bob Schulenberg, a soldier who’d created costume displays for MGM studios, designed the HLT jester logo that would soon be christened "Hultee" – as was the group, itself.

Finally, on 22 February 1951, HLT debuted at the old Huntsville High School auditorium on Randolph Street, against sets constructed at nearby Lincoln Mill. Dear Ruth, Norman Krasna’s comedy loosely based on the family of Groucho Marx, brought out the best in an effusive Huntsville Times: "The show was real good. They all knew their lines." Sponsored by the Altrusa Club, the performance benefited the Fannie Lou Nicholson Educational Fund. The fellow shipmate for HLT’s maiden voyage was the verspertilian whodunit, The Bat.

Over the years, venues for HLT included such varied locales as the Russel Erskine Hotel ballroom, Calvary Hills Elementary, the Temporary Civic Arts Center (the old West Clinton Street school), the Annie Merts Center, Lee High School auditorium, and the Von Braun Civic Center, where it debuted as the first non-musical in the VBCC with Barefoot in the Park (see below).

Generally considered the more mainstream of Huntsville’s two primary theater groups, HLT featured such classics as Light up the Sky, Born Yesterday, and Inherit the Wind. However, experimentation and variety were welcomed, and resulted in such productions as Equus, Little Shop of Horrors, The Shadow Box, and the works of Tom Stoppard.

In its early days, HLT was also known for its children’s shows. It was from this desire that Fantasy Playhouse was created, as a sort of Hultee spin-off. To this day, Fantasy remains a major force in children’s theatre in North Alabama.

In 1976, the "Hultee Building" was constructed out on Herman Plummer Road, now known as Plummer Road (see http://www.theatrehsv.org/about.html). Other changes included a permanent, full second weekend of performances in the VBCC (added for the 1977-78 season), and a major addition/renovation to the rehearsal hall in August 1991.

The following is just a snippet from the cornucopia of HLT trivia:

• Blast from the past: The 1956 poster for Oh Men, Oh Women lists the staggering ticket prices as ranging from 60 cents all the way up to a whole dollar! Zounds!
• On Valentine’s Day 1959, a joint HLT—Huntsville Community Chorus Association—Civic Chorus project presented Gilbert and Sullivan’s Trial by Jury, conducted by Kenneth Turvey. Said the next day’s Huntsville Times, "one would like to have the chance to see Turvey at work as a conductor again…" They got their wish: in 1997, Ken would retire after a 35-year stint as HCCA’s principal conductor;
• In 1960, Hultee brought the touring The World of Carl Sandburg to Lee "then-Junior High School," starring Barry Sullivan and... Bette Davis! (As she was feted about, Bette had surprisingly little negative to say about home-towner Tallulah Bankhead, reserving her vitriol for former co-star Miriam Hopkins, who would likewise be hitting the Rocket City a few months later);
• The HLT-renovated auditorium at the Temporary Civic Arts Center seated about 300 but had no flies or wings to speak of. Sets were raised through a trapdoor and actors frequently waited outdoors for their entrances. At one point, the chorus for Auntie Mame (1966), tramping from the basement by way of outside stairs for their entrance, was deluged with sleet!;
• During Anne of the Thousand Days (1967), John Hofus (King Henry) was queried as to why he bared his head prior to each scene; whereupon he revealed that he’d written each scene’s opening line on the inside of his crown;
• Barefoot in the Park (1975) which has the distinction of being the first play performed in the Von Braun formerly Civic Center, also has the distinction of having toured, playing in nearby Scottsboro;
• Opening night of The Real Inspector Hound (1987) found – surprise! – someone forgetting their lines, which were a response to a query by the good Inspector (Fred Griswold). Attempting to save the day, actress Dorothy Weems piped up with, "Inspector, is that my question?"…whereupon a desperate Griswold knelt down and replied, "ANYBODY’S question!"
• As regards the three "doo-wops" in Little Shop of Horrors (1988): Sharon Hicks would be the first Opera major grad from Alabama A&M; Janette Smith would sally forth to anchor the news and host morning talk shows in Cincinnati, Dallas, and Atlanta; and Sonya Leslie (now Shepherd) would perform in the Original Broadway Cast of the The Lion King, indie films, and various other pro productions.
• The quest for an original Al Hirschfeld caricature for Moss Hart’s Light Up the Sky (1995), resulted in two novelties – an accidental phone interview with Hirschfeld, himself, and the centerpiece of the lobby display: a letter of well wishes from Hart’s wife, actress Kitty Carlisle... whose telephone number was also happened upon by the director during the search.

The impact of Hultee is still felt today, even by those of us in Theatre Huntsville, who have to remind patrons that we are no longer Huntsville Little Theatre!

In 1997, in the face of mounting production costs, a dwindling volunteer base, and a marked decrease in media public service coverage, a motion was brought before the members of both TRC and HLT – to merge, or not to merge?

The vote was in the affirmative, forming "Theatre Huntsville" and closing the book on two organizations professional in all but name.

Hultee completed its final season with I Remember Mama; its next season roster would instead become the inaugural slate for the new company. Twick’s last production, somewhat ironically, was God’s Favorite.

Practices and tech work for TH typically take place at the old "Hultee Building"; in 2001, a new office was opened on the corner of Church Street and University Drive (http://www.theatrehsv.org/about.html) to deal with ticketing and other inquiries and to give us a greater, more accessible presence in the community.

An all-volunteer, not-for-profit organization, TH strives to foster, encourage, strengthen, and perpetuate member and civic interest in the legitimate theater and the dramatic arts, primarily through the production of theatrical performances. Furthermore, Theatre Huntsville endeavors to educate and train its Members, students and other interested members of the community in the areas of acting, directing, sets, lights, sound, make-up, costumes, properties, all other areas of stagecraft, and administrative management of community theater, through discussions, lectures, meetings, workshops, apprenticeships, tutorials, and on-the-job training conducted by members and other qualified personnel.

We typically present six live theatrical performances at the Von Braun Center Playhouse, as well as smaller programs at various venues in the surrounding area. This includes our popular season extra, "Shakespeare on the Mountain," which allows an al fresco outlet for performing works of, or selections from, the Bard as well as other classical authors. By means of our performances and community outreach, we enhance the quality of life, the socioeconomic viability, and the overall allure of the beautiful Tennessee Valley.

For information on tickets, special events, auditions, volunteer opportunities, and all other aspects of TH, check out the rest of our website, or call the office at (256) 536-0807.

Theatre Huntsville, formed in 1997 by a merger of The Huntsville Little Theatre (1950-1997) and The Twickenham Repertory Company, Inc. (1979-1997), is a voluntary association, organized under the laws of the State of Alabama as a corporation not for profit. The purpose of Theatre Huntsville is to foster, encourage, strengthen and perpetuate Member and civic interest in the legitimate theater and the dramatic arts, primarily through the production of theatrical performances. We typically present six live theatrical performances at the Von Braun Center Playhouse, as well as smaller programs at various venues in the city and surrounding areas. This includes our popular season extra, Shakespeare on the Mountain, which allows an al fresco outlet for performing works of, or selections from, the Bard as well as other classical authors. Furthermore, Theatre Huntsville endeavors to educate and train its Members, students and other interested members of the community in the areas of acting, direction, sets, lights, sound, make-up, costumes, properties, all other areas of stagecraft, and administrative management of community theater, through discussions, lectures, meetings, workshops, apprenticeships, tutorials, and on-the-job training conducted by members and other qualified personnel.