first select decade > Queen Anne: 1960s| 1970s| 1980s| 1990s   Downtown: 1990s| 2000s| 2010s| 2020s
next select year > 1996| 1997| 1998| 1999 2000| 2001| 2002| 2003| 2004| 2005| 2006| 2007| 2008| 2009 2010| 2011| 2012| 2013| 2014| 2015| 2016| 2017| 2018| 2019 2022| 2023| 2024 1965| 1966| 1967| 1968| 1969 1970| 1971| 1972| 1973| 1974| 1975| 1976| 1977| 1978| 1979 1980| 1981| 1982| 1983| 1984| 1985| 1986| 1987| 1988| 1989 1990| 1991| 1992| 1993| 1994| 1995| 1996
About the 2020s
The decade of the 2020s started with ACT being dark for the entire 2020 mainstage season. While closed for the pandemic, there was a change in leadership as Anita Shah moved in as Managing Director. The first play after the pandemic closure was Hotter Than Egypt, written by Core Company member Yussef el Guindi - a world premiere.


productions
1981 icon
Custer (1981)
General Armstrong Custer. He was America’s youngest general at age 25? Was he also a genius? An insufferable egoist? A failure? Hero? Perhaps a victim of tragedy for events beyond his control. You must see this play.
About the Play
Written By: Robert E. Ingham
About the Production
Run Dates: 5/7/1981 - 5/30/1981
Program: Program (.pdf)
Venue: Queen Anne
Directed By: John Kauffman
Cast: Nesbitt Blaisdell - Marcus A. Reno
Ted D'Arms - Frederick William Benteen
Richard (R.A.) Farrell - First Man; Understudy
William Ferriter - George Armstrong Custer
Brenda Hubbard - First Woman
Suzy Hunt - Elizabeth Bacon Custer
David Hunter Koch - Fourth Man
Allen Nause - Second Man
Rod Pilloud - Third Man
Elizabeth Rukavina - Second Woman
Behind the Scenes: Louise Campion Cummings - Administrative Manager
Gregory A. Falls - Producing Director
Julie James - Costume Designer
David Hunter Koch - Music Director
Eileen MacRae Murphy - Production Stage Manager
Phil Schermer - Lighting Designer; Production Manager; Technical Director
Shelley Henze Schermer - Property Designer; Set Designer
Michael Weholt - Stage Manager
Getting Out (1981)
A courageous woman discovers the toughest prison of all may be the one that has no walls. She wants love and hope after a childhood filled with rebellion.

GETTING OUT is the first produced play by Marsha Norman. Her other plays are THIRD AND OAK ('78), CIRCUS VALENTINE ('79), and THE HOLDUP ('80). She also has written for television and films and is currently work-ing on the book and lyrics for a musical, ORPHAN TRAIN, to be produced this fall.

GETTING OUT won both the Newsday George Oppenheimer Award and the American Theatre Critics Association Award for Best Play of 1979, was selected for Otis Guernsey's "Best Plays: 1978/79," and judged Runner-Up for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Ms. Norman won the 1979 Outer Circle Critics Best Playwright Award for this script.

GETTING OUT was first presented in 1977 at the Actors Theatre of Louisville. Its New York premiere, at the Phoenix Theatre, was in November of 1978. It then ran at the Theatre de Lys for eight months in 1979. In the fall of 1980, it was sent by the U.S. State Department to the Dublin Festival, the Belgrade Festival, and on tour in Israel. It has been performed in Chinese, German, Dutch, Polish, and Swedish.

Ms. Norman wrote: "The idea (for GETTING OUT) came to me while working with disturbed children at the Ken-tucky Central State Hospital. I was determined it would be truthful about prison...they're built for us all in one form or another."

"To find a way to state the theme of the play is one of the problems of the craft. How exactly do you say to an audience, to yourself, to the character, to the cast and director, to everybody, 'This is what the play is about -- Somebody let me out of here!' -- and say it in a way everybody will understand that she is speaking for everybody who has ever been imprisoned by anything."

Ms. Norman and her husband have left their native Kentucky and are now living in New York City.
About the Play
Written By: Marsha Norman
On the Screen: IMDB Details
Wikipedia: Read Wikipedia Article
About the Production
Run Dates: 6/4/1981 - 6/27/1981
Program: Program (.pdf)
Venue: Queen Anne
Directed By: Gregory A. Falls
Cast: Nesbitt Blaisdell - Bennie
Elaine Bromka - Arlene
Jeffrey Covell - Ronnie
Sheila Crofut - Mother
Daniel Daily - Guard Evans
Cynthia Darlow - Arlie
Richard (R.A.) Farrell - Doctor
David Hunter Koch - Carl
David Mong - Guard Caldwell
Hersha Parady - Ruby
Rod Pilloud - Warden
Laurel Watt - School Principal
Behind the Scenes: Jody Briggs - Lighting Designer
Nanrose Buchman - Costume Designer
Louise Campion Cummings - Administrative Manager
Gregory A. Falls - Producing Director
Eileen MacRae Murphy - Production Stage Manager
Phil Schermer - Technical Director; Production Manager
Shelley Henze Schermer - Properties
Scott Weldin - Set Designer
Billy Bishop Goes to War (1981)
About the Play
Written By: John Gray
Eric Peterson
On Broadway: IBDB Details
On the Screen: IMDB Details
Wikipedia: Read Wikipedia Article
About the Production
Run Dates: 7/2/1981 - 7/25/1981
Program: Program (.pdf)
Venue: Queen Anne
Directed By: Robert Loper
Cast: David Colacci - Piano Player
Thomas Hill - all parts
Behind the Scenes: Nanrose Buchman - Costume Designer
Louise Campion Cummings - Administrative Manager
Gregory A. Falls - Producing Director
Donna Grout - Lighting Designer
Phil Schermer - Production Manager; Technical Director
Michael Weholt - Stage Manager
Scott Weldin - Set Designer
Night and Day (1981)
Vivacious, witty, intelligent drama about personal values, professional pressures in politics, journalism, business of a mythical African nation. The hit of the 1980 London theatre season.
About the Play
Written By: Tom Stoppard
On Broadway: IBDB Details
Wikipedia: Read Wikipedia Article
About the Production
Run Dates: 7/30/1981 - 8/22/1981
Program: Program (.pdf)
Venue: Queen Anne
Directed By: Robert Egan
Cast: John Aylward - George Guthrie
William Cain - Geoffrey Carson
Katherine Ferrand - Ruth Carson
Neil Fitzpatrick - Dick Wagner
William Jay - President Mageeba
Maureen Kilmurry - Double for Ruth
Christopher Marks - Alastair Carson
Ben Prager - Jacob Milne
Steve Sneed - Francis
Behind the Scenes: Nanrose Buchman - Costume Designer
Randal G. Chiarelli - Lighting Designer
Louise Campion Cummings - Administrative Manager
Gregory A. Falls - Producing Director
Eileen MacRae Murphy - Production Stage Manager
William (Bill) Raoul - Set Designer
Phil Schermer - Production Manager; Technical Director
Loose Ends (1981)
Dramatic spokesperson for a generation, Weller wrote the screenplay for Hair and the hugely successful play MOONCHILDREN. Now he chronicles that group roaming through the 70’s in search of maturity and success.
About the Play
Written By: Michael Weller
On Broadway: IBDB Details
About the Production
Run Dates: 8/27/1981 - 9/19/1981
Program: Program (.pdf)
Venue: Queen Anne
Directed By: Richard Edwards
Cast: Nicholai Beck - Baby Jake; Baby Matty
David Colacci - Phil
Heidi Helen Davis - Susan
Richard (R.A.) Farrell - Russell
Maureen Kilmurry - Janice
Daniel Mahar - Ben
Allen Nause - Doug
Clare Nono - Selina
John Procaccino - Paul
Steven Rose - Lawrence
Diane Schenker - Maraya
Christopher Wong - Balinese Fisherman
Behind the Scenes: Louise Campion Cummings - Administrative Manager
Gregory A. Falls - Producing Director
Susan Min - Costume Designer
Phil Schermer - Lighting Designer; Production Manager; Technical Director
Shelley Henze Schermer - Property Designer; Set Designer
Michael Weholt - Stage Manager
Whose Life Is It, Anyway? (1981)
Brilliant international success, honored in 1979 as London’s Best Play on the West End. It premiered in Washington DC and Louisville, then on to cheers from Broadway audiences.
About the Play
Written By: Brian Clark
On Broadway: IBDB Details
On the Screen: IMDB Details
Wikipedia: Read Wikipedia Article
About the Production
Run Dates: 9/24/1981 - 10/17/1981
Program: Program (.pdf)
Venue: Queen Anne
Directed By: Clayton Corzatte
Cast: J. Kenneth Campbell - Ken Harrison
Cameron Dokey - Kay Sadler
Richard (R.A.) Farrell - Dr. Paul Travers
Jerry Harper - Dr. Emerson
Maureen Kilmurry - Dr. Scott
Zoaunne LeRoy - Sister Anderson
Robert Loper - Mr. Justice Millhouse
Daniel Mahar - Peter Kershaw
Allen Nause - Philip Hill
Rod Pilloud - Andrew Eden
Jeffrey L. Prather - Dr. Barr
Sally Pritchard - Mrs. Boyle
Steve Sneed - John
Behind the Scenes: Jody Briggs - Lighting Designer
Louise Campion Cummings - Administrative Manager
Gregory A. Falls - Producing Director
Bill Forrester - Set Designer
Peter Gantt - Technical Director
Julie James - Costume Designer
Eileen MacRae Murphy - Production Stage Manager
Phil Schermer - Production Manager
Michael Weholt - Assistant Stage Manager