HCT Stories

Here’s what Playing a Role with us has meant to some of our HCT Family

“I loved the entire experience! Two hours of non-stop laughter!!! Max was great as was Julia! This was my first time going to a play here in Hendricks County and I’ve lived here for 18 years. Such a wonderful night of entertainment!!”

Anonymous Patron After seeing “Lend Me A Tenor”

“The performance of The King and I surpassed our expectations by leaps and bounds!! It was a wonderful production and the cast was such an incredibly talented group of entertainers. Kudos to the entire team of individuals (both behind the scenes and on stage) who were responsible for providing such a CLASS ACT!! Thank you…we look forward to seeing future productions!”

Anonymous Patron After seeing “The King & I”

Being part of HCT gave me opportunities I never had. It gave me a whole new theater experience and a theater family filled with SO MANY new friends that hopefully I’ll keep for the rest of my life.

Alex Adkins

My wife had been telling me for a while that I needed a hobby, and I’d acted a lot in college. So on a whim, I searched for this theatre that a friend had told me about. They had auditions the next week so I went and got a part. I didn’t realize how much I missed acting until I was back on the stage. I’ve also really enjoyed the new friendships I’ve made by being in a show. Now a member of HCT’s Board of Directors, I get to be involved the business side of a theatre as well as act, something I find even more rewarding. If only my wife had known just how much time my new “hobby” would take!

Matt Roberts

Everyone in the show was just so friendly. Everybody got to just be themselves, without anyone else making fun of them. Even people who might have disabilities are included – so it’s really open to everybody! The directors are great at finding everybody a place in the show. Being a part of HCT has given me greater confidence in myself!

Summer Adkins

HCT was a place where I could work on my craft while also having a BLAST performing with my friends and family! Some of my best friends to this day were from HCT shows, and I wouldn’t trade that for anything!!

Alex Van Paris

Having our daughters involved in HCT’s The Music Man production a few years ago was such a great experience – but not just from the standpoint of watching our kids perform (which was wonderful). We got involved behind the scenes helping coordinate the hunt for props as well as helping build and paint sets. We made some great new friends and truly felt like we were a part of the show – and part of the HCT family.

Todd Adkins

We miss HCT as much as we miss our church up there. Seriously. HCT is an amazing community of folks that easily became like family to us. There is nothing even remotely like it here, which is frustrating & heartbreaking for the girls & I. Keep up the great work!!

Kelly Johnson

I was involved with HCT starting in the mid-80s as a young teen. (back then it was “HCCT” – with an extra “C”). I performed in the “Bit O’ Broadway” Musical revue’s, in “My Fair Lady”, a non-musical production of “Phantom of the Opera”, as Anne in “The Diary of Anne Frank” and Liesl in “The Sound of Music”. I have nothing but wonderful memories, and considered the people I encountered a second family to me. In fact, some of my dearest friends then remain my dearest still today though we’re separated by a couple thousand miles. My foundation in community theatre opened up opportunities to later work professionally in regional theatre, Internationally, on cruise ships, in NYC, and lead me to today to my current career as a voice over actress in commercials and animation in Los Angeles.

Cassie Boyd Baker

My name is Michelle Victoria Papandria. I moved to Indiana from New Jersey with my family a little over a year ago. From around 14 years old, I always knew I’d leave New Jersey but Indiana was one of the least likely places I imagined I’d land up. I had likened Indiana to Kansas or Saskatchewan or some remote place people don’t really live in. I knew no one (except for my inlaws) upon making the choice to come to here and it was a very lonely first 6 months. I joined the Indy Actors Academy where I met some great people including John Carver who tried hard to push me into auditioning for To Kill A Mockingbird. Now I knew of the production happening in Noblesville but I was still new to the area and had no idea there was one in Danville (wherever that was). Coincidentally, they showcased the same show a month apart. Well John told me he was going to drive us both to the audition and to ‘get in the truck’. I had NO idea where he was taking me but I knew I’d never find it again! The audition was the first one I had where I was completely comfortable and I was not the least bit nervous. I owe the thanks to Theresa Jamison Pottratz for that one!

After I found out I landed the part of Miss Stephanie Crawford, I was beyond thrilled… until I did the first drive out there. Coming from Greenwood, it’s a 45 minute drive one way. The first week I cursed myself up and down the whole drive over for why I decided to do this. Was I insane or desperate enough for something to do to want to do this drive everyday to sit in a 50 degree room for the next 6 or 8 weeks? After the first week, I completely forgot about the drive. In fact, I started to enjoy it!! It was relaxing and what made it completely enjoyable the most? The people! I fell in love with the cast, the crew, the director, the kids… everyone! The people of HCT are what made it worth the drive, the cold, the new found gas bills I was accumulating and I am looking forward to doing it again! I found friends and people to enjoy the company of, people I can talk to and do things with outside of the shows and when we see each other, it’s like the show never ended and we never left. THAT is what made HCT worth it and as far as I’m concerned, when I audition for shows, I value the schedule and productions that HCT puts on before the others in the area.

Thank you all for giving me what I needed most… something to be a part of

Michelle Victoria Papandria

Regarding the “mockingbird” experience, I can say this, “Seldom, at this point in our history, do regular people, not on TV or driven by some local event or tragedy, have an opportunity to make such a thorough and effective statement about race, equality, fairness and the human condition. Sharing this production with our black brothers and sisters was a warming chapter. Initially, I could see many of our white actors, particularly the younger kids, were very uncomfortable with the open and repetitive use of the “N” word. I was glad they weren’t comfortable with it. No one should be. But shining a light on this very unjust and discriminatory time in our history is something, as actors we CAN do. I grew up in inner city Indy in the 60’s and 70’s in very integrated neighborhoods/schools. My exposure to racil issues was not something I was burdened by. Ironically, people who aren’t exposed to racial issues seem not to have too much baggage either. Hendricks County residents often fall in this group, at least the younger ones do.

But this story, so wonderfully and accurately portrayed, was beautiful food for our minds to consume. My hope, most of all, is that through this play, our cast was able to show those things that were wrong then and will always be wrong, even if hidden. Our freedom to think and speak our mind is a uniquely American right. But remaining captive to the falsehood of bigotry, leave’s one a slave to their own ignorance. I could not have been more pleased with the message I think “To Kill a Mockingbird” speaks. I hope for the day when the “N word” isn’t used by anyone. When it no longer has the power to offend, or when it is no longer necessary in stand up comedy or to make cultural or social distinctions and so is not used because people of all colors find it ignorant. When that day arrives, we’ll have made some very nice progress in race relations. When the day comes that skin color (black, brown or white) carries no weight, that will be a very good day.