ACT’s Autumn Players to present “Any Wednesday”

Asheville Community Theatre’s Autumn Players will present Any Wednesday, a romance/comedy by American playwright and novelist Muriel Resnick on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 27 and 28, at 35below; Sunday, March 1, in the Manheimer Room at UNC Asheville’s Reuter Center. Curtain is at 2:30 p.m. and tickets are $6 (cash) at the door.

From Asheville Community Theatre press release:

Any Wednesday Presented by The Autumn Players

Any Wednesday, a romance/comedy by American playwright and novelist Muriel Resnick (1917-95), is scheduled for three matinee performances by The Autumn Players of Asheville Community Theatre (ACT): Friday and Saturday, February 27 and 28, at 35below; Sunday, March 1, in the Manheimer Room at UNC Asheville’s Reuter Center. Curtain is at 2:30 pm. Tickets are $6 cash at the door. Under the direction of Walter Goodrich and in partnership with Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UNC Asheville, this is the second of five productions of the 2014-15 season of The Autumn Players’ Readers Theatre Showcase series. Auditions are scheduled for 10:30 am – 2:30 pm on February 10 at ACT and are open to the community. Rehearsals are at the same time and place on February 12, 17, 19, 24 and 26.

Any Wednesday is a happy comedy with a giddy bubble of champagne, according to one reviewer, and features a quartet of contentious characters: John Cleves, a wealthy New York businessman who cheats on his wife; Dorothy, his loyal wife who’s kept in the dark about these shenanigans; Ellen Gordon, his young mistress who longs to settle down and marry; Cass Henderson, a business client who first assumes that the mistress must be a general offering for all those who do business with the firm. Finally, the games and deceptions are blown apart by the truth and the characters get their just rewards as the plot rolls merrily to its end.
Director Walter Goodrich’s favorite role as an actor was Roy, the card-playing buddy in ACT’s production of The Odd Couple. With The Autumn Players he coordinates school programming and has enjoyed roles in: Light Up the Sky; Come Back, Little Sheba; and Mary, Mary among others. A former teacher in Massachusetts and a specialist with the Department of Defense, he also served in the U. S. Army in Eritrea and Vietnam. He arrived in Asheville in 2011 and Any Wednesday is his debut as a director.

The Autumn Players is ACT’s volunteer outreach company consisting of over 100 seasoned actors, directors, writers and event organizers dedicated to taking theatre into the community. Since 1992, the company has provided entertainment, enrichment, and education for thousands of students, seniors, and in-betweens at venues within an hour or more from ACT.
For more information or for a full schedule of the Readers Theatre Showcase series, please visit www.ashevilletheatre.org.