One of Monroe County’s acting groups recently established a home for themselves just to the north in Dupo, where it hopes to provide even more opportunities for theatre lovers young and old to spend time on stage and learn about what goes into a production.

The Actors’ Attic announced last month it had purchased the former First Congregational Church in Dupo and will be calling it the Village Theatre, using it as a space for shows, rehearsals, costume and prop storage and even more.

The group hosted an open house Thursday, showeing off plans for the building. Actors’ Attic Founder and Artistic Director Marybeth Scherr-Babcock offered thoughts on her past and future dramatic contributions to the community.

She recalled how Actors’ Attic started as a nonprofit in 2009 largely because theatre groups need to have an established organization in order to purchase the rights for plays.

Prior to the company’s establishment, Scherr-Babcock had organized a production of “The Music Man” with many Columbia residents. She also played a major role in a production celebrating the city’s sesquicentennial.

“After those things, I guess I decided, ‘If I wanna produce plays, I have to be an entity,’ so we did the Actors’ Attic,” Scherr-Babcock said. “I had also started teaching classes, and it was called the Actors Attic because our first space was literally in the attic of 221 South Metter (in Columbia), which is my sister’s building where she has a counseling business.”

Scherr-Babcock also discussed the development and growth of the company. It began with a Musical-in-a-Week program, a summer camp where students at different age levels come together to audition and rehearse for shows that ultimately come together over the course of a week.

The program began with just two camps – the younger group doing “101 Dalmations” and the older group “Alice in Wonderland” – but large attendance quickly saw Actors’ Attic add a third camp.

Another camp has been added in recent years, with everyone from first grade students to recent high school graduates being able to participate.

Scherr-Babcock noted how early Actors’ Attic largely consisted of her as the adult in the room. Though she received some help, much of the work in those early years was done in collaboration with students.

“I was the only adult in the day-to-day,” Scherr-Babcock said. “It was really just me and some older high school students running that camp for little kids, and then the camp that involved the high school students, they sorta just became the tech team as well.”

The adult involvement in Actors’ Attic has since grown quite a bit, with most of that growth stemming from former theatre kids wanting to contribute to the program they themselves participated in.

Another program the group has been known for is the Repertory Festival in Columbia, a collection of shows featuring adult rather than student performances.

Scherr-Babcock spoke about how rewarding and exhausting summers could be in the years dominated by both the summer camps and RepFest.

She also discussed how Actors’ Attic received a great deal of support from local schools as they had to find a home for their programs each summer.

“We were graciously given space by Gibault for many years, and we were always able to rent from CMS,” Scherr-Babcock said. “Of course, ICS was always great, and then they built that new space and that space was great.”

While she expressed gratitude for the space they were provided, Scherr-Babcock noted there were always difficulties to be had here and there, whether it was having to build their own stage, grapple with minimal room in the wings or contend with sharing space alongside other events and groups.

Those struggles are what prompted her to begin the search that ultimately led her to the Village Theatre.

“That led me to start looking for a space, and this became available,” Scherr-Babcock said. “We have some limitations, clearly. It’s a very small space as far as the footprint of the stage itself and the seating capacity… There’s no wing space, so get out that door and produce things that are unit sets and don’t need much stuff coming on and going off. Those are gonna be challenges.”

While Scherr-Babcock and her band will continue to face their share of theatrical hurdles, she expressed a great deal of positivity about the space during the open house.

Along with the former chapel being used as the main space for stage performances, she highlighted the costume storage, multiple rooms for rehearsals and the dining space – with full kitchen – that she emphasized will work quite well for cabaret performances.

With the Village Theatre serving as the new home for all things Actors’ Attic, Scherr-Babcock also spoke about some of her plans for future programs and activities.

Among her biggest aspirations is establishing a pre-professional high school company, consisting of about 20 young actors who can really decide what they want to do on stage.

The group might opt for a monologue show, improv performance or something else, putting in the sort of legwork to produce a show in much the same way as a professional troupe.

Along with this, Scherr-Babcock placed a heavy emphasis on theatre education, talking about reaching out to theatre professionals to teach students about various aspects of production, be it improv, stage combat or diction.

“My intention is to employ professionals so that these kids in this area… they can get some really quality education,” Scherr-Babcock said. “And simultaneously they’re working toward a performance, which we all know is what everybody loves, but it’s nice when you have a real solid base of how to do the things you’re dying to do instead of just learning on the fly.”

Scherr-Babcock additionally had fond words for Dupo and the warm welcome Actors’ Attic has received over the past few weeks.

She noted how she’s observed that community members seem to generally appreciate that the much-loved church is being put to good use since services ended last year.

“The community of Dupo has been amazing,” Scherr-Babcock said. “They’ve been so welcoming and so excited to have theatre in their community like that. I’ve been told that the theatre department at Dupo High School is very active and thriving and good, so that’s exciting.”

Along with Scherr-Babcock, Actors’ Attic students who have been working with the group since they themselves participated are also excited for what’s to come.

Annie Dent, who works as a teacher at Columbia Middle School while also serving as CUSD drama sponsor, noted the opportunities that the new space will afford the Actors’ Attic in terms of expanding offerings for students and other community members.

“Overall, I’m enthusiastic about what this space offers us,” Dent said. “It will allow us the chance to do community shows and involve folks who are not part of the school systems anymore, who have graduated or are senior citizens looking for something creative to do. It will also allow us the chance to educate students on theatre practices both on-stage and off. I’m very excited for everything that we have  been chatting about and all the plans that Marybeth has.”

Emily Holland serves as the music teacher in the Valmeyer School District, having had her interest in music truly awakened during her time participating in the first Musical-in-a-Week camp.

Still working with Actors’ Attic, she also emphasized how the Village Theatre will provide new theatrical experiences for many, including “long-timers” like herself.

“It’s just an amazing inspiration, and that’s what I see this new home doing for us even more, allowing a year-round place where people can learn from local professionals who are simply amazing, and people can kind of make their own dreams come true,” Holland said.

As the Actors’ Attic has plenty of possibilities in store with a new home, Scherr-Babcock remarked on the real purpose behind the group.

As she said, she’s long had a passion for inspiring a love of theatre, particularly in the youth.

“The thing that compels me is the idea of creating theatre lovers in terms of the youth,” Scherr-Babcock said. “I love the idea of taking a young person who doesn’t really know anything about theatre and turning them into a theatre lover in whatever capacity rings their bell.”

Musical-in-a-Week camps will soon be underway. Grades 1-5 will be performing “Lion King, Kids” June 12-13, grades 5-7 will be performing “Junie B Jones, Jr.” June 19-20,  grades 7-9 will be performing “Drowsy Chaperone, Jr.” June 26-27 and grades 9-13 will be performing “Singin’ in the Rain, Jr.” July 2-3.

The next big performance at the Village Theatre will be “Every Brilliant Thing” in August, a one-person show starring Scherr-Babcock herself.

For more information, check out the Actors’ Attic Facebook page or actorsattic.square.site.