The Actors Cabaret of Eugene theater, or ACE, is unlike any community theater you’ve ever seen.
“The monkeys will wear their costumes for their baggy crotch dance,” director Joe Zingo tells the cast of “Seussical” before the Sept. 24 technical rehearsal.
A group of young men dressed as monkeys don highlighter-orange fuzzy sleeves. One of them wears a matching wig that hangs down like ’80s rocker hair. The cast listens attentively while getting ready for the rehearsal to begin. On stage, multicolored swirls engulf the set’s background and stuffed tropical animals peer down at the audience from the canopies of the theater.
ACE, which is running into its 29th season, puts on about 18 shows a year, often setting up for the next show a few days after one closes.
Zingo and Executive Director Jim Roberts founded the company, which was originally called the Performers Acquisition Company, in 1979 at Sheldon High School. They changed the name to Mainstage Theatre, then Mainstage Cabaret, before settling on Actors Cabaret of Eugene when they moved into their current location at 10th Ave. and Willamette St. in 1990.
The downtown location was originally a restaurant; ACE kept the restaurant setting and now serves homemade Italian dishes from Zingo’s family cookbook. For $35, audience members are treated to a sit-down dinner and show on most Friday and Saturday nights.
In the opening scene of “Seussical”, the entire cast bursts onto the stage and pours into the aisles crying “SEUSS!” and singing “All the things you can think, if you’re willing to try when you think about Seuss!”
Right away you realize this is not a musical you can sleep through.
“(‘Seussical’) takes you back to being little when you can learn things from Dr. Seuss and have everything rhyme,” said actress Erica Jean, who plays Gertrude McFuzz. She said “Seussical” is her favorite show.
“You can come in (to rehearsal) and have the worst day ever, and by the end of the day you’re like ‘I love everybody!’”
This cast of “Seussical” is made up of 48 Eugene-area residents who participate for the sheer enjoyment of being on stage. Because ACE is a non-profit organization, actors are not paid.
“All these people have other jobs, families, responsibilities and lives,” said actor Gaylord Walker. “And they all consider this theater a high enough priority to make room for it.”
Recent University law graduate student Brett Landis, who is in the “Seussical” ensemble, said she studied for class during rehearsals. She said she benefits from the community feel of ACE and how it connects her with people off-campus.
“(ACE) helps me get outside from being a law student,” Landis said. “I become more of a real person… People refer to it as a second family.”
ACE actors span many generations. Cast members include 7-year-old Maggie Clark (she turns eight next week) and eight-year-old Nikolas Johnson and several cast members are in their 70s and 80s. Roberts said many high school actors began at ACE in elementary school and some of the adult actors were Zingo’s students at Sheldon High.
“We’re starting to get some grandkids now, which starts making you feel a little old,” Roberts said. “No matter where on the (age) chain they are, they help the younger actors develop good habits.”
The younger actors are treated as peers.
“If you’re a kid here, you get away with nothing,” Walker assured. “There are always 30 aunts and uncles watching you.”
After the sold-out success of the Oregon premiere in 2004, the Actors Cabaret is reprising “Seussical” for the second time, and ticket sales are already “picking up,” Roberts said. Twenty-five percent of the company’s budget comes from customers who buy dinner as well as show tickets.
“ACE runs almost entirely on ticket sales, unlike most theaters, which rely on grants. Every show we performed this year, except one, has completely sold out.”
In December, ACE will be doing the Broadway musical version of “A Christmas Carol” for the third year in a row. However, Roberts believes ACE also has the unique ability to perform new, relatively unknown musicals that most other theaters have trouble selling.
“We’ve trained our audiences to enjoy any show we do so we can do new shows, unlike traditional theater companies,” Roberts explained, using “The Great American Trailer Park Musical” as an example, which sold out in its Northwest premiere at ACE the weekend of Sept. 21-22.
Roberts said ACE plans to put on “Ring of Fire,” a new musical with a Johnny Cash repertoire between Jan. 18 and Feb. 16. Auditions will be in November. Visit the Actors Cabaret of Eugene, www.actorscabaret.org, for more information.
ACE both brings back favorite such as “Seussical” as well as takes chances on new musicals.
“There’s always the anticipation of projects in the future,” Walker said. “My favorite parts are the ones I haven’t done yet; those are the ones with most promise and the most risk, the most intrigue, because it’s stepping off into the unknown.”
“Seussical” opens Friday at the Actors Cabaret theater and runs until Nov. 3. It will also be at the Hult Center from Nov. 9 to Nov. 10.