Branching Out with Acacia
Spring 2010

A Note from the Business Manager…

Last fall, my grandpa wasn’t doing very well. He was very sick, and had to stay in the hospital for several weeks. Afterwards he was moved into a nursing home to live. The one thing he kept saying was that he wanted to go home, back to the town where he had grown up. Fortunately, my dad and uncle were able to get him moved into a nursing home back in the little town where he had spent his high school years. Soon after the move “back home”, Grandpa began to rally. He became interested in life again, and is now looking for an apartment somewhere so he can get out of the nursing home.

Isn’t it amazing what a trip home can do for your spirits? I don’t know if it is remembering the simpler times when you were younger, or just being back in familiar surroundings. Or maybe our memories just grow softer edges with age.

Acacia’s current production, The Trip to Bountiful, is all about going home. Carrie Watts desperately wants to go home one more time. She is getting older and isn’t happy living with her son and daughter-in-law. Carrie believes that everything will be fine again if she could only go home to Bountiful.

This season we have been focusing our thoughts on our true Home in Heaven. A return to Bountiful may or may not make everything right for Carrie, but I know that when we finally go Home ourselves, everything will be right again. Especially since we will be home with our Father.

Melinda Rhodebeck

Digging Deeper…

For Carrie Watts, the central character in The Trip to Bountiful, Bountiful, Texas is more than just her hometown. It’s the place that, if she can somehow get back there, will help her regain her strength, dignity and peace of mind.
Acacia Theatre Company will perform Horton Foote’s poignant play May 7-16 in Concordia University Wisconsin’s Todd Wehr Auditorium, 12800 North Lake Shore Drive in Mequon, Wis.

Through laughter and tears, this Pulitzer Prize- and Academy Award®-winning American playwright explores the inevitable need to assert independence and reawaken the memories of yesterday. An aging widow, Mrs. Watts is living with her son, Ludie, and daughter-in-law, Jessie Mae, in their small, three-room Houston apartment. An ongoing feud with the petty Jessie Mae makes life in the cramped quarters uncomfortable to say the least.

Mrs. Watts yearns to return one final time to her roots and the rural community where she grew up, married and raised her son. She makes a last-ditch effort to escape and finally arrives with results that are both touching and brilliantly life-affirming. En route, she meets a lovely young woman, Thelma, to whom she pours out her heart.

Elaine Wyler is directing the production.

“The Trip to Bountiful is rich in Southern living,” Wyler said. “It carries a powerful statement about one woman’s inner strength and determination against all odds. It has some great comic moments as well, so there may be some tears, but there are loads of laughs, too.”

The Trip to Bountiful was first performed in a production for television in 1953 and opened on Broadway later that year. Foote’s adaptation of the script for the big screen in 1985 earned him an Academy Award nomination. Lillian Gish starred in the original television and stage productions and Geraldine Page took home the Oscar® for her portrayal of Mrs. Watts in the film.

Foote is best known for his Oscar-winning screenplays for To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) and Tender Mercies (1983). He won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1995 for The Young Man from Atlanta.

-- Jennifer Neighbors

Lending a hand...

Support Acacia Theatre Company with a gift of time! Our needs are many and various; perhaps there is something you would enjoy doing. Please email () or call (414-744-5995) us if you would like to be part of the group of generous people who help us.

• Ushers for shows
  
• House managers for performances
  
• Office volunteer – help with tickets, filing, mailing lists, etc.
  
• Concession volunteers to help set up and take down concessions during productions
  
• Preparing mailings
  
• Organizing the storage area
  
• Carpenters & Painters
  
• Bakers for concessions during productions

Wishing for…

• Plastic bins for costume storage.
  
• Volunteers to help with load-in (building/painting the set).
  
• Volunteers to help sort/arrange our costumes this summer.

Prayer Requests...

• That God would continue to guide us in all decisions that need to be made.
  
• For the health and safety of the cast and crew of The Trip to Bountiful.
  
• That God would continue to provide our theatre company a place to rehearse and perform.
  
• For those of our Acacia family who are out of jobs and looking for work.
  
• That our casts, crews, and audiences would be blessed by the work at Acacia.
  
• That God would provide the people that Acacia needs so that we may continue serving Him.
  
• That our financial needs would continue to be met.
  
• For all our Acacia family who are struggling.

Members of Acacia meet monthly to pray, at which time we lay your requests before the Lord. Please take the time to share your prayer requests and praises with us by emailing us at .

Praise and Thanksgiving

• We thank God for all those who are working so hard on our current production, The Trip to Bountiful.
  
• We continue to praise God for all those who have donated countless hours volunteering to keep Acacia alive.
  
• We thank God for all those who have donated financially to Acacia Theatre.
  
• We thank God that many who were struggling with health issues are on the road to recovery.
  
• We praise God for Concordia University and their willingness to let us rent their space.
  
• We thank God for the generosity of Church In The City in allowing us to rehearse in their basement.
  
• We praise God for the response to our production, The Secret Garden.

More opportunities to support Acacia Theatre Company...

• Subscribe so that you can attend all our shows and save money in the process!

   
• Consider bringing a group to our next production. This is a wonderful way to use our ministry to enhance yours or to just get together with friends. Descriptions of these shows are available on our website, www.acaciatheatre.com.

   
• If you can't bring a group to a show, consider bringing us to your group! We have a variety of touring dramas available. Please visit our website, www.acaciatheatre.com, to see a listing and description of the shows. We also have brochures available in the lobby.

   
• Although Acacia Theatre Company has been serving the Milwaukee community for twenty-five years, there are still many people that don't know about us! We have brochures and flyers on the lobby table for you to take and pass on to family, friends, pastors and neighbors. Please spread the word.
• Save money AND have a percentage of your on-line purchases go to Acacia. You can even renew your magazine subscriptions at reduced rates. When shopping on the Internet, simply go through the www.iGive.com site or  www.BuyForCharity.com and a percentage of your purchases will be donated to Acacia Theatre Company! 
• Add Acacia Theatre Company (#012900) to your "We Care" card at Pick N' Save and a percentage of your purchases will be donated to Acacia.
• Donate financially. All donations are tax-deductible. Consider donating money or stocks in honor of or in memory of someone special. A truly unique birthday or anniversary gift to the person who already has everything!
• Pray for Acacia, all those who are involved with us and all who attend our productions.