2002 production of Guys and Dolls
Next month, Artists of Christian Talent at Lake Highlands United Methodist Church will present Guys and Dolls and celebrate 50 years producing Broadway-style musicals with a special performance and reception for alumni. There’s just one question — with ACT alums numbering almost a thousand, including many who’ve performed Damon Runyon’s beloved classic over the years, how will organizers keep the entire audience from singing along throughout the show?
ACT was founded in 1976 by church member Jeri Johnston, who wanted to create an outlet for students who struggled to earn a role in Lake Highlands High School theater productions. She declared there’d be a spot in ACT’s cast or crew for every young person who wanted one. That’s still the case – 50 shows later.
“Everyone deserves a venue,” Johnston said in 2022 when Lake Highlands Advocate named her one of our magazine’s Fierce Females. “Everyone should be highlighted for the skills they have and made to know that they are special. Putting on the show is hard, but it’s important to tell kids how wonderful they’ve been and what a good job they’ve done. ACT does that, and the community does that. It’s important for them to know they can do anything they aspire to.”
“One sweet thing about ACT is that people keep coming back,” says Melissa Alloway, who’s been prop master since her own kids got involved twenty years ago. Daughter Meredith (LHHS Class of 2007) is now a filmmaker and son Garrett (Class of 2010) is a video editor. “People who began as ACTors return to volunteer.”
Technical Director Michael Willman (Class of 1984) has been at the sound and lighting board every year since seventh grade. Choreographer Hannah Willard Powers (Class of 2013) and Director Kathryn Williams (Class of 2002) were frequent cast members. Others, including Lindsay Holland (Class of 2002) and Claire Daniels (Class of 2008), have come back to direct or lead music.
“ACT is not just a performance, it’s an outreach,” says Alloway. “It’s a ministry of the church for church members, but we also welcome the greater community. Youth Minister Rocky Dwyer shares devotionals, and the kids pray before each performance. It’s a loving, accepting environment, and the cast really bonds in a unique way — not just as theater kids, but because they are in God’s house.”
LHUMC Discipleship Coordinator Gretel Roberts is organizing ACT’s 50th celebration, and she’s been combing through old photos, t-shirts, programs and posters from the first 49 shows.
“It’s just amazing and impressive that it’s lasted this long — this little idea that Jeri had all those years ago and all the lives it has touched. We’re here almost 50 years later still putting on amazing shows, and the alumni come back to either work on the show or see it again. There’s excitement to get back together with their cast. As a church, our number one goal is to honor the impact that this ministry has had on so many people. It’s been long-lasting, and people are still excited about it all these years later.”
Larry Engel began helping with set creation when son Austin (Class of 2003) joined the cast of Annie Get Your Gun his seventh-grade year. His first call was to Rick Holland, whose daughter was also participating. That was 1998. Engel still serves as set designer and Holland is house manager.
“I enjoy the creative process — trying to figure out how to put the set together,” says Engel, who recalls his own days on stage. He played Will Parker in his high school’s production of Oklahoma!, performing a solo of “Kansas City.” He learned the art of set design in high school, too, and he was happy to lend his talents where they are needed. His boys are now grown, but he’s still at it.
“Our stage is small and we have lots of kids participating, so it’s a challenge. We’ve got constraints, since the church has an entrance only on one side of the stage and kids have to enter from both sides. We’ve got to figure out how to make the scene changes go as smoothly as possible. We try to build the stage with multiple levels, so that the kids in the back can be seen. We don’t want anyone overshadowed by the performers out front.”
Engel admits his toughest assignment came one year when the director wanted a raked, or sloped, stage. The technique was effective in making the stage look deeper, but the legs on each item of furniture had to be custom cut, and rolling set pieces wanted to break away at inopportune moments. Then there was the other issue — the star of the show, the late Jennifer Wells (Class of 1999), was in a wheelchair. Somehow, he made it all work — to the delight of the audience.
Those who purchase a ticket for the show rarely see the small things gone wrong or the lifelong friendships made backstage. Holland says the cast and crew spend weeks working together toward a singular goal, and that can bring big life changes.
“I like to watch the kids mature and grow from seventh grade to twelfth. You find some who are early wallflowers, and by the time they’re juniors or seniors, they think they are Broadway stars. Those that don’t have a lot of friends suddenly have friends. Some that are a little bit full of themselves find humbling aspects by the end of the show.”
Engel and Holland wouldn’t name names, but they chuckle remembering aspects gone askew during productions.
“We could tell tales about kids disappearing in the middle of a show, mics left on backstage and props not coming out when they’re supposed to,” recalls Holland. “Everything that can happen in a theater happens in our theater.”
“What goes on backstage, stays backstage,” laughs Engel.
ACT’s decades of success have had a few drawbacks.
“If you go back to what Jeri (Johnston) said originally, ACT was an opportunity for the kids who might not make the high school musical. Through ACT, they found out they could do it. Many times, our kids earned big parts at the high school, and that became a conflict.”
Like many of today’s volunteers, Engel is now a grandfather and has gained a special appreciation for the benefits of participation.
“Being on stage builds self-confidence, and it’s easier to do if you’re part of a group up there,” says Engel. “It’s teamwork, whether it’s sports, theater, orchestra, choir — doing something as a group and making something beautiful in the process is very important for self-esteem, self-worth, belonging, community and all those values we hold so dear.”
Paula Davis served for many years as board member or producer, and daughter Meredith (Class of 2003) had starring roles while son Oz (Class of 2007) mastered technical aspects of the show.
“Every year during weeks of rehearsal I remember wondering, ‘How is this going to come together?’ But it did. A prop might not show up, a chair might get put in the wrong place, someone might not come on stage when they were supposed to, but the audience didn’t know it, because they hadn’t seen it every night. Like the year we did Li’l Abner and they brought the Jubilation T. Cornpone statue out backwards. It was fun seeing how the students adapted.”
“I love that kids who started with two left feet in seventh grade would have a big role by the time they were in high school because they’d learned what to do,” Davis continues. “Kids who began helping with tech or makeup behind the scenes would say they wanted to be onstage, and performers would ask to help with tech. I have always loved that it’s inclusive from seventh to twelfth grade, and, for the most part, the older children were so welcoming to the younger ones.”
Lindsay Holland now works as a special education teacher at Lake Highlands Elementary, but she performed in many ACT roles over the years, including Miss Adelaide in 2002’s Guys and Dolls.
“My singing voice was never going to be the caliber that would get me cast as the lead in the high school show,” she admits, “so ACT gave me a chance to be the lead in a musical and have fun with that, despite my shortcomings as a singer. My core memories as a teenager are from those months putting the shows together. It was an experience of community. You had all these different ages of young people working in unison and learning what it takes to put a theatrical production together. If you just go to a show, you don’t know all the behind-the-scenes work, but we left with an appreciation that we were part of putting it all together — the set movements, the lights, the props. It was an incredible experience.”
The cast and crew sacrificed hours after school and on the weekends at rehearsals, but Holland never had FOMO — fear of missing out.
“It was so much fun, that’s exactly where I wanted to be. We did have to learn to budget our time, get our schoolwork done, study for tests, stay awake in class and keep commitments at home. We had to memorize our lines and music and dance moves. You learn how to make a commitment and see it through, even when it’s hard.”
The payoff came when the curtains came up.
“For me, the thrill is the feedback you get from the audience. There’s nothing like being on stage when the lights are on. I haven’t acted as a professional, but making people laugh — I just absolutely ate it up. Even as a chorus member, I loved taking little moments to steal a scene. When friends and family came to see it — that was icing on the cake.”
Holland returned three times to direct ACT shows and says she gained a new perspective helping young people see their own potential.
“I think that might be where my skills ultimately lie — to help build the confidence of these actors and show them they’re building a character and entertaining people. They’re telling a story. There were kids I worried about — will they get their lines down? But as soon as the audience was there and they got that first hit of laughter, they came to life, and we got see what was in them the whole time.”
Kathryn Williams teaches theater at Lake Highlands Middle School and Forest Meadow Middle School and serves as middle school theater director for the Lake Highlands Learning Community. Her first show was Into the Woods in 1997, and she starred as Sister Sarah Brown in ACT’s 2002 production of Guys and Dolls, among other roles.
“ACT was my introduction to theater. I always liked to sing and dance, but it wasn’t until I did ACT in the seventh grade that I knew theater was something I wanted to make part of my life. One of my favorite things about ACT is that the kids are not only creating this incredible storytelling experience, but they’re also forming lifelong bonds of friendship. We’ve got kids that are involved in so many different organizations from all walks of school life that come together for eight weeks to create something pretty magical.”
Williams says ACT draws students not initially interested in the performing arts. Some are invited by friends to join. Many surprise themselves when they love it.
“Kids try to find their home. They need to find their people,” she says. “I’ve had students discover theater as their path, and now they’re looking at colleges for theater. Students who are not involved in theater or choir at school will get up on that ACT stage and sing and dance and put on costumes and just blow my mind. They are some of my favorite people to watch, because this is their yearly opportunity to put themselves out there and have fun.”
The special alumni show will be held Saturday, Feb. 8 at 7:30 p.m., and the reception is at 6 p.m. Tickets are $30 and permit entrance to both events. They may be purchased online here. Additional performances will be held Feb. 7, 13 and 14 at 7:30 p.m. and Feb. 9 and 16 at 2 p.m. Those tickets may be purchased here. You can check out old photos on the LHUMC ACT Alumni Facebook page here.
Lindsay Holland as Guys and Dolls’ Miss Adelaide (in white fur stole) with the Hot Box Girls
Kathryn Williams (right) as Sister Sarah Brown and in 2002’s Guys and Dolls
Guys and Dolls 1982
Wizard of Oz 1992
Me and My Girl 1993
Little Mary Sunshine 1985
50 years of ACT:
2025 Guys and Dolls
2024 Mary Poppins
2023 Cinderella
2022 The Music Man
2021 ACT Radio Hour
2020 Annie
2019 Bye Bye Birdie
2018 Beauty and the Beast
2017 Fiddler on the Roof
2016 Bells are Ringing
2015 High School Musical
2014 Guys and Dolls
2013 Footloose
2012 Crazy for You
2011 Breaking Up is Hard to Do
2010 Seussical the Musical
2009 The Pajama Game
2008 Bye Bye Birdie
2007 Thoroughly Modern Millie
2006 Anything Goes
2005 Li’l Abner
2004 Babes in Arms
2003 State Fair
2002 Guys and Dolls
2001 Oklahoma!
2000 The Music Man
1999 Crazy for You
1998 Annie Get Your Gun
1997 Into the Woods
1996 Fiddler on the Roof
1995 Godspell
1994 Oliver!
1993 Me and My Girl
1992 The Wizard of Oz
1991 Annie
1990 George M!
1989 Bye Bye Birdie
1988 Once Upon a Mattress
1987 Anything Goes
1987 The Apple Tree
1986 Oklahoma!
1985 Little Mary Sunshine
1984 The Boy Friend
1983 Li’l Abner
1982 Guys and Dolls
1981 Hello, Dolly!
1980 The Music Man
1979 Bye Bye Birdie
1978 You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown
1977 Jesus is Coming
1976 Godspell
