A/C Theatre Company touts alternative musicals
The Valley’s newest theater troupe aims to do for musicals what Stray Cat Theatre has done for plays. That is, to produce cutting-edge works that wouldn’t otherwise be performed in a fairly conservative theater scene.
The just-announced A/C Theatre Company will debut late this summer with “Murder Ballad,” the tale of a bloody love triangle set to a pop-rock score. First produced by New York’s Manhattan Theater Club in 2012, it will be staged Aug. 7-22 at Phoenix Theatre.
A/C Theatre is the brainchild of four Valley actors with plenty of stage credits: artistic director Kim Richard, operations director Thomas Strawser, business director Cassie Chilton and production director Tim Shawver. According to the company’s website, the A/C can stand for “Accessibly Cool,” “Alternative Commercial” or “Artistically Collaborative.”
With the recent closures of companies such as Actors Theatre, times are tough for the non-profit arts sector, but Richard believes there’s a market for the kind of shows A/C plans to produce.
“The state of Phoenix as a city is one that’s developing and turning into a destination for artists, and with theater companies dying all around us, it’s not a time to back down from providing this community with more artistic outlets,” she says. The company plans to sell tickets in the $20-$25 range, which means it will need to develop a strong donor base to thrive.
“Musicals are difficult to produce because there’s so much more that goes into them, and we are committed to live music, because that also gives the musicians in the Valley an opportunity to be a part of this,” Richard says. “And we want to be able to pay all the artists who participate in our production with a stipend of some sort.”
A/C joins an alternative theater scene that includes Stray Cat and Nearly Na- ked Theatre Company. The latter has produced edgy tuners such as “Debbie Does Dallas” and “Bat Boy: The Musical” but stages more plays than musicals.
Meanwhile Stray Cat, in a first for the Tempe-based troupe, has two musicals on the marquee for 2015: Green Day’s “American Idiot” and “Heathers,” based on the cult-hit movie starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater.
actheatrecompany.org. Reach the reporter at kerry.lengel@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4896.