Artists Collaborative Theatre in Elkhorn City, Kentucky Presents Little Women

Elkhorn City, KY. now has an indoor theatre in operation. The Artists Collaborative Theatre of Elkhorn City, KY. opened it doors for its first season in the fall of 2008. It is located on Patti Lovelace Drive just before one crosses the Russell Fork River in what is known as downtown Elkhorn City. It was made possible due to a coal severance tax allocation and is very welcome to the townspeople. Since this little mountain town is the "Gateway of the Breaks", a world famous interstate park that is known as the "Grand Canyon of the South", it has received a national reputation as an adventure and cultural tourism hotspot. The ACT Theatre serves to increase this reputation. Until it opened, the nearest theatre for stage productions was the Jenny Wiley Theatre in Floyd county.

Productions already staged this season were "Always... Patsy Cline", "Still Life With Iris", and "Best Christmas Pageant Ever". Currently showing is "Little Women" which will be staged March 12- April 5, 2009 and will be followed by "Godspell" from April 30- May 24, 2009 and "Dearly Departed" from July 2- July 26, 2009.

Showtimes are Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30 PM and Sundays at 3:00 PM. Tickets are $8 for one mainstage ticket. Season and group passes are available. Artists Collaborative Theatre, Inc. also offers something fantastic: if one buys a ticket for a showing, they can use the same ticket for admittance into all future performances of that particular show. It is hoped that a person taking advantage of this offer brings a couple people with them who must purchase tickets, but this is not required. Also, those with season tickets are allowed in first for the best pick of seats.

Other services offered by the ACT Theatre are the ACT Educational Program which works to enhance the appreciation of youth for their cultural heritage and for the arts. This takes place after school hours, on Saturday, and also has Summer Camp classes. Then there is the ACT Second Stage Program which "second stages" contemporary plays, provides emerging authors with their debuts, and produces world premieres by respected playwrights. Audiences are an essential factor in this program's development by encouraging their participation in the cultural life of Central Appalachia. Thirdly, there is the ACT Music Nights Program: on Sunday nights from 6 PM to 8 PM the theatre stage is turned over to musicians. You may hear anything from Bluegrass to Gospel to Old Tyme Mountain music to Rock-n-Roll to High School Talent.

Since this theatre opened its mainstage season in mid-September, I have longed to go. I enjoy theatre as much or more than the cinema and nearly as much as a music concert, but since the nearest theatre was about two hours away, the opportunity to enjoy a production was a special occasion indeed. Well, I finally found a breath of a moment to spare and went for this season's final presentation of "Little Women".

The theatre in Elkhorn City is a very small, intimate affair. For this showing, the stage was angled into a corner at one end of the room and the seats were in rows at angles that effectively circled the stage. We sat in the front row to the left so that we felt very much a part of the show. All positions at the theatre are on a volunteer basis and many of those involved are local people and children. Auditions for "Godspell" were announced prior to the presentation for afterschool hours so that local students could try out. The building is small, the production is small, but there is nothing small about the actual performances. More than once, the audience was moved to tears and the actors also were emotional at the closing. It is clear that everyone involved is thankful for the opportunity and loves what they do immensely. It is certainly worth its ticket price and more.

If you are looking for an authentic theatre experience at lesser cost, ACT Theatre in Elkhorn City is the way to go. It is sure to be a tourist favorite.