Our History
Theatre III was established in 1955 in the lovely former West Acton Universalist Church building at 250 Central Street, next to the West Acton fire house. It is Acton’s foremost and oldest community theatre.
The church occupied the building from 1868 to 1925, when it was taken over by the West Acton Women’s Club. In 1955, the Women’s Club sold the building to a new organization named the Acton Community Center. The Center sponsored various activities, including a nursery school and dog-training classes, and a fledgling drama group called The Little Theatre Workshop, founded by Bob Darling.
The Little Theatre Workshop (or LTW, as it came to be known) soon staged its first production, “The Curious Savage”; followed in the fall of 1956 by “The Tender Trap”. From then on, LTW staged three productions each year. In November, 1964, after much debate among its members, and six months of rehearsal and pre-production work, LTW staged its first musical production, “Oklahoma!” The show was so well received, that a musical quickly became a standard entry in each LTW season.
At roughly the same time, The Community Dance Theatre was formed by Marilyn Abbott to put on dance programs for children (choreographed by company members) and musical revues for adults. Soon after, a third performance group, The Acton Community Chorus, was formed, further increasing the demand for stage time for rehearsals and productions. In 1968, the Community Center board put an end to the ‘competition’ by combining the groups into a single organization, naming it Theatre III to acknowledge the three source groups.