50 years of making magic on stage
Story by Paul South
Submitted photos
For Shakespeare, “The play’s the thing.”
But for 50 years at Springville Community Theater – no matter if it’s iconic works like Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma, P.L. Travers Mary Poppins or the stage adaptation of E.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan – the people, not the play, matter most.
It’s been that way since June Mack founded the theater, where everyone who auditions gets a part – beginning with that inaugural play in 1976 – a one-night production of her work, Circus Magic, a joyous musical fantasy for kids of all ages.
Tucked away in a drawer in Mack’s Springville home are handwritten notes to the new cast at its first post-audition meeting.
Fifty years ago, she told them, “If this troupe continues in future summers – it has to be easier at any time than it will be for us this summer. But that’s half the fun of it – We’re the troupe that has a chance to make something out of nothing – absolutely thin air.”
The freedom and adventure continue.
In the beginning, sets were crafted from cardboard. Now, muslin stretched over wood framessets the scene. In 1976, Mack and two others crafted sets. Now a small volunteer army does the work.
Mack, a UAB professor, recalled the early days. The first cast had 18members, the next, 60, with ages ranging from 7 to 75.
“It was really fun, because I got to do everything. And when I needed help, I would send someone a handwritten note asking them to do this job. And I had in my head (that) I would never ask the same person to do the same job two shows in a row.”
After bursting out of the gate with four Mack-written shows, the company now produces a new show every three years.
“Now, there are so many people, directing the actors is more than a full-time job,” Mack said. “I really rely on people in all these other positions. They’re so brilliant. I can never say enough about the amazing creative power and devotion of the crew who handle the sets, art, sound and lights, costumes, props, box office… All of that has been a steady group of incredible people.”
What if someone had told her 50 years ago this thing would take off? “I can’t even think past tomorrow, so I couldn’t have fathomed 2026,” she said. “I probably would have said something crazy like that. But back then, it did cross my mind. If it did happen, what a birth moment we were experiencing.”
From the beginning, Mack, a graduate of Hollins College, Florida State University and Harvard University, had a simple mission – to make people feel appreciated.
“I made it clear from the very beginning that what we wanted to do was to give children, particularly, a chance for their parents to be proud of them and that might carry over to home life. That was the goal then and still is,” Mack said.
The actors and crew at the heart of Springville Community Theater are energized by the work, so much so that there’s talk of producing shows more often, like they did in the beginning. It’s all part of what has become after 50 years “an amazing thing.”
Mack sees the energy and excitement before, during and after every production as the cast navigates the treacherous waters of stage fright and fear, and the crew figures out how to create near-impossible stage magic. And after some time to recharge their batteries, they’re ready to roll again. Through it all, they bond.
“You get very nostalgic and retrospective on something like a 50th,” Mack said. “These crew people are saying, ‘People don’t understand, but we love the hard work’.”
She adds, “It makes you really proud of it when it’s over. I see the actors go through that. They learn how to work and memorize and come every day and do the hard work. At first they think, ‘We can squeeze this into our busy lives.’ Then, they realize they have to squeeze their busy lives into something smaller because this is really demanding. I think it’s because of that, when it’s over,that they are enormously proud of what they’ve done … That’s when they say they want to do this again.”
Longtime SCT performer Merle Dollar has known Mack since childhood at Springville Methodist Church. Dollar compares work to having a baby.
“You forget about the labor pains,” she said. “After two or three months, it’s ‘Let’s do another play.’”
For Mack, a Springville native, it’s all about opening doors for people to create and for the audience to watch their friends “do something really outrageous that I can’t imagine them doing. That’s a great feeling.
“To me, the entire thing is about making an opportunity for people to create,” she said. “We don’t get enough of that. It’s a sanity thing. People have to have self-expression somewhere in their lives or they’ll go crazy.”
Two of SCT’s seasoned performers, Dollar and Charline Harbison, credit Mack for SCT’s success. Dollar was in the cast for Oklahoma, South Pacific, The Wizard of Oz and others. Mack has a simple formula that has fueled the theater for all these years. That formula sometimes involves writing extra scenes to include more cast.
“She never turns anyone away,” Dollar said. “If you audition, whatever part you audition for, even if you don’t get the part you wanted, she will find a place for you in the play … She goes the extra mile to do that. It’s fun.”
A recent revival of that first play, Circus Magic, marked the theater’s landmark anniversary. Some of the original cast were in the audience.
What is it about Mack that keeps people coming back? “Boundless enthusiasm,” Dollar said. “It’s like she doesn’t age. She’s like this little pixie person. She has this enthusiasm and energy like Tinkerbelle. (It’s like) ‘Come play with me. Let’s have a good time. Let’s create this magical thing, this magical world.’ And once you are into the rehearsals, it never stops. She’s constantly uplifting.”
Dollar added, “She’s the ultimate teacher.”
Harbison has been part of the company since 2007. She’s performed in Beauty and the Beast, Oklahoma, South Pacific and other productions. She’s even served behind the scenes as assistant director and acted in another troupe, the Canoe Creek Players.
Why are theater and other arts organizations important, especially in a small town?
“It’s a way of bringing folks together,” Harbison said. “And maybe if they need a little escape from things that maybe aren’t so great in their life at a particular time, it gives them a moment of enjoyment and letting those cares and concerns go for a while. June’s plays are always fun.”
Now, 50 years on, the theater is attracting actors and crew from across St. Clair County and as far away as Birmingham. For Mack, that’s a daily surprise. For the theater group that performs mostly at Springville Middle School, a venue with no backstage and where classrooms are dressing rooms. The group also performed Oklahoma and Annie Get Your Gun outdoors at Homestead Hollow.
But wherever the venue, every type of person has a part to play on stage and behind the scenes in this complicated thing called a show.
“That’s why I talk about human nature, as opposed to ‘We’re doing this theater thing in Springville’,” she said. “Because we’re really not doing this theater thing in Springville … We do people. Theater is the vehicle. It works perfectly because there are so many facets. Every type of person can find a place where they belong.”
Mack recounts a story from a cast member in SCT’s 1981 production of Oklahoma that illustrates the point. The cast member – then a teenager – was faced with a tricky home life.
“She said, ‘That changed my life because that was when I could do something that I could be proud of, and my parents could see it, and everything changed.’ She stepped into a space where she could express herself and be valued.”
“All I do is set up a frame. I say all of you can step into it and see what happens,” Mack said. “People show up. They do stuff, and their lives change. It’s been that way for 50 years. We’re not doing theater. We’re just setting up an opportunity for people to come and play like we know what we’re doing, which is really fun.”
The fun continues after the final curtain. It’s a 50-year legacy of unbridled joy.
“That’s when the magic happens. (The actors) come off the stage, and people tell them how great they were, or how funny they were. They’re signing autographs. It’s so cute,” Mack said.
“This has just been a feel-good thing from the start.”
