About Us

Old Alabama Road Company – A Brief History

By: Jim “Duke” Deuschle

It was sometime during the end-of-the-year holidays of 2003, that I looked up during church service and once again noticed the bars attached to the rafters of the sanctuary ceiling and thought “those would be perfect to hang lights.”  Wheels started turning and by early January I had proposed the idea to the Pastor of using the church as a venue for a new community theater.  After spreading the word and doing some fast recruiting, we had our first planning meeting on February 4, 2004 with 6 people in attendance.

More people joined over the next several months and helped with our 2 fund raising events.  In the meantime, we also created our board and by-laws, officially became a non-profit organization and chose our first season’s slate of 3 shows.  In August 2004 we put on our first production, “I Hate Hamlet” under the direction of Jeff Shrader.  After that, we produced 5 more plays in less than 2 years, ending with our last show, “The Dining Room”, directed by Kent Igleheart, in May 2006.

According to our by-laws, which have a forced rotation of leadership to keep us fresh and representative of the current community, I stepped down as Charter President last fall and passed the reins (via unanimous election) to David Beaudry.  Dave has great energy, drive and ability, which is good because he was immediately faced with some of the greatest challenges our troop has encountered.  Included in those was the need to find a new venue to host our productions.  After much searching we are glad to have found a home at the Cumming Playhouse.

The first play we produced at the Cumming Playhouse was “The Boys Next Door” in June.  This thought-provoking comedy by Tom Griffin was directed by Jim Daley, who may be recognized from his dynamic performance as the lead in our production of “Butterflies Are Free” last year.  Although this was the only play we were able to schedule for 2007, we have already begun plans for 2008.  This includes securing the rights to be one of the very first theaters to bring the outstanding play “Beached Wails”, by burgeoning regional playwright Topher Payne, to our audience.  We are looking forward to bringing these great shows and many more quality, intelligent, entertaining theatrical events to the Cumming community in the years to come.