Tucker’s Main Street Theatre: Uniting the Community with Entertainment

Tucker’s Main Street Theatre

Ray Ganga, Jason Garrett and Bill Hines in MST’s first production of “Harvey.”

Tucker’s Main Street Theatre returned to a live audience in October with its first in-person performance in over eighteen months. The company presented Katherine DiSavino’s lighthearted comedy, “Things My Mother Taught Me,” in sold-out shows over three consecutive weekends.

Founded in 2014 by nine Tucker residents, MST promotes itself as “a community theatre run by the community,” according to the company’s president, Sabrina Chambers. “We incorporated in June 2014, before Tucker was even a city.” (Tucker was settled in the 1820s but did not incorporate as a city until 2015.) As a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, MST relies solely on the support of the community to help

Uniting the produce high-quality and entertaining productions, most staged at Tucker Recreation Center. Chambers graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree Community with in industrial and systems engineering, and in 2014 was working at Delta Air Lines as a design engineer. An amateur stage actor in high school and college, she wanted to get Entertainment back on stage as an adult but felt intimidated by the more well-established theatre companies around Atlanta. When a co-worker asked her about starting a community theater in Tucker, she at first thought it was a ridiculous notion. But with L.A. Dison growing interest in cityhood by Tucker residents, Chambers thought maybe this would be a good time to gauge support

for a community theatre group. She posted on Facebook group page Tucker Town Talk, to ask, “Would Tucker support a community theater?”

“I hoped that someone else would decide to start up a community theater,” said Chambers. “The response was overwhelming, and then one person asked ‘When is the first meeting?’ I hyperventilated for a few moments because I really didn’t want to start or run a theater. But at the first meeting in March 2014, about twenty people showed up. We decided to try to produce one show in one year. It quickly snowballed from there with no stopping in sight.”

The founding MST board members were Chambers, Bill Hines, Lola Jones, Linda Hughes, Maria Dangerfield, Merle Westbrook, Ray Ganga, Wayne Kelley and Gary Goettling, with many other Tucker residents stepping up to help the company get started. One year after that first meeting, on May 15, 2015, the company staged its first production: “Harvey,” by Mary Chase, which ran for just one weekend. That November, MST produced Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple (Female Version),” which included a pre-show of “A Fairy Tale Dating Game” with an all-youth cast. The company also staged a “Holiday on Main Street” skit in December.

In 2016, MST began staging Murder Mystery Dinners each season at local restaurant Shorty’s, and in its 20182019 season, moved to three full-length productions. The company also performed various smaller skits and shows “whenever the opportunity, ask, or inspiration comes,” as well as a small Christmas-themed skit at “Holiday on Main” in Tucker each year.

Tucker Recreation Center has served as the home for MST since its founding. “They have supported us from the beginning,” said Chambers. “With their support and generous donations from the community, we have been able to provide enhancements to the space to make it more like a true theater - like adding permanent retractable shades, upgrading the electrical, and creating a backstage entrance.” The company recently dedicated the auditorium to founding member Bill Hines, who passed away in 2018. “We wanted to honor him and the important role he played in getting the theatre started.”

The company was in the middle of rehearsals for “Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming,” its second show of the 2019-2020 season, when COVID forced the shutdown of all live performances worldwide. MST cancelled all in-person shows starting in March 2020 – a shutdown that would last for eighteen months. “We wanted to keep everyone safe,” explained Chambers. “Each time we would discuss opening back up, we just didn’t feel the risk was worth it.” Not owning its own theatre was a blessing; the company did not have to produce shows to keep the lights on or pay the bills. The company CONTINUED on page 12

just didn’t feel it could stop working, however; its management, board, cast and crew, as well as Tucker residents, felt the entertainment they provided was important in relieving the stress and uncertainty brought on by the ongoing pandemic. MST produced some “socially distant” shows and broadcast them on YouTube, including a “Tucker Talent Showcase.” “Even though they were fun, and we may do them again, there just isn’t a comparison to being on that stage, live!” exclaimed Chambers. When MST came back for its first live performance in October, the excitement from the production volunteers to the audience members was so electric, it was almost palpable. At each of the nine sold-out performances, when director Carrie Harris walked out on stage to give the curtain speech, the room exploded in applause and cheers as MST 2019 Holiday on Main skit: (left to right) Holden Chambers, Sabrina Chambers, Drew Crecente, Mia Trocchi, Madeline Westbrook, Carly Sharec and Ray Ganga. she announced, “Welcome back to live theatre in Tucker!” What does MST have planned for the post-pandemic season? “One of our founding members said at that first meeting that Tucker could be a destination for live theater,” said Chambers. “We’ve started to see a little of that as we see patrons traveling from all over Atlanta to see our shows.” Chambers says that there are many “firsts” for patrons to look forward to in upcoming seasons. In Winter 2022, MST will present its first full “all-youth” show, mainly in response to continuing requests for children’s programming. The company is considering some small stage or “black box” shows which would allow the actors to stretch their legs and reach a new audience. “Mostly, though, we will focus on getting better in everything we do, by looking at ourselves in the mirror and seeing what we need to change. One of our long-standing goals is to be more representative of our community by meeting folks where they are.” For the remainder of the 2021-2022 season, MST has scheduled two more fullMST current board of directors: (back left to right) Carrie Harris, Sabrina length productions: “Laughing Stock,” by Chambers, Ray Ganga, Christa Sfameni, Ellen Clay, Jonn McDaniel; (front Charles Morey, a hilarious backstage farce and left to right) Merle Westbrook, David Lukens, Wayne Kelley, Dawn Hines. genuinely affectionate look into the world of the theatre, scheduled for April 2022; and “Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming,” by Connie Ray and conceived by Alan Bailey, a gospel-filled story of family and community relations in postWWII Appalachia, scheduled for August 2022. (MST was in rehearsals for “Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming,” when it had to close everything down in spring 2020.) MST will once again produce a skit for this year’s Holiday on Main Street. If live performances can continue safely, MST plans to produce a Murder Mystery Dinner early next year. The company is also partnering with Tucker High School to form a drama club there; there isn’t any funding yet, but Chambers is confident that the community will show up to support the club and the students.