Acadian Theatre Company
An amateur student-led collegiate theatre troupe specializing in productions in unconventional venues, primarily the small living room of an on-campus apartment. After directing the inaugural production in 2016, I served as president and artistic director of this “above-ground underground theatre company.”
A Wicked start…
The earliest iteration of ATC was the staging of a 2-page elementary school script for Cinderella in a dorm room freshman year of college. Heading into sophomore year, I saw the potential of our new more spacious venue: our on-campus apartment. We could surely take the leap from 5-minute plays to full-length musicals. After convincing my roommates and some new recruits that I wasn’t crazy, I began planning my directorial debut.
Wicked won the popular vote narrowly over The Pirates of Penzance, and two months of rehearsals later, our one-night-only premiere enchanted the audience of as many people as we could crowd onto a couch and a love seat.
Our heavily-parodied and gender-bent version of the Broadway hit was proof that the company had “unlimited” potential and was followed up by spring productions of The Sound of Music and High School Musical.
Attend the tale…
Going into our second season, I knew that we had to outdo ourselves and was confident in the troupe’s ability to tackle Lloyd Webber or Sondheim. Being the overly ambitious creative I am, a Halloween-season Sweeney Todd was the natural progression.
Inspired by the kill rooms in TV’s Dexter, I opted for a high concept staging, setting the action aesthetically in modern-day Miami. We covered the walls in plastic, the floor in canvas, and the audience in ponchos to protect from over a gallon of fake blood pumped out of a garden sprayer.
The big finale…
To celebrate and commemorate the end of the season, we decided to create our version of the Tony Awards, affectionately named The Danny’s after our exceedingly accommodating or blissfully unaware resident assistant. As creative director, I wrote and produced the show, coordinating performances, recruiting a guest host, and even penning an original opening number.
