It's one of the oldest community theaters in the nation, and its mainstage season is in full swing.

A visit to the Asheville Community Theatre will show you why their players have been delighting audiences since the 1940s.

[intriguing upbeat music] - Asheville Community Theatre has been in Western North Carolina since 1946, and we've performed hundreds of shows over the decades, and today is no different.

We have three different seasons here.

We have a mainstage season featuring five mainstage shows, mostly musicals.

We have an education season featuring six shows for kids 18 and under.

And we have a Autumn Player season, which is a reader's theater season comprised of six plays.

- And you'll see!

- All right.

- So our mainstage shows are open to audition for anybody in the community.

So anybody with any level of experience can come be a part of a mainstage show.

And if you're cast in the show, you get to start rehearsals.

Generally you start with a read-through or a sing-through.

You get to know everybody.

The costumes get designed, and you start your dress rehearsals.

Your other technicians come in.

They do prop design, scenic design, hair and makeup, and you get to see really wonderful things right here locally in Asheville.

- Community theaters are one of the great American inventions.

They've been around for nearly 100 years at this point, and it brings together artists of all walks.

It's a great way to bring the community together to provide entertainment and education.

35below is our 40-seat black box theater, which is home to The Autumn Players, our reader's theater troupe.

It's also home to our community-producing partnerships.

That's where we open up an application process to the community to submit works that they would like to do, and then they're able to present their own original works live in 35below.

♪ Deary, deary, I come ♪ - This place means family.

I've often said it's my second home.

Involvement, engagement.

It also means a place to celebrate, educate, and entertain people on both sides of the stage involved in theater.

In the 34 years I've been hanging around here, it has always seemed like a commitment to bringing all sorts of people in.

- It's really awesome to see such diversity here on the stage at ACT cast in ways that aren't stereotypical, ways that are more non-traditional and ways that are more inclusive of everyone.

So that's really great to see.

How they treat people here is even better to see.

Speaking of being a volunteer, they have volunteer appreciation days and activities, and it serves the community.

And anybody can come here and audition and expect to get a part in the play just as much as anybody else.

- Just like each one of those 309 chairs in the audience means Mom, Aunt Jane coming to see little Johnny do his bit in the show, there's also a couple of tourists who have never been to Asheville, heard about the theater or loved "The Sound of Music" and came to see it, as well as people who have bought subscriptions here, maybe even since 1972 when the building was created.

- I love the opportunities here.

Everyone can do this, anyone and everyone.

Even if you don't think that you can act, there are many classes, and I know a lot of people that came here for their very first shows.

- You get to experience the community.

It's not just the more touristy things.

It's getting to see who lives in Asheville, who's a part of this community, and it's just a lot of fun.

- There's been a lot of growth at Asheville Community Theatre.

We've recently renovated our basement to accommodate more studio space for rehearsals and to create more opportunities for our community, and we've also seen a lot of growth in our education department.

- One of my favorite offerings that the education program has is our youth classes.

We've got classes in acting, improvisation, musical theater.

That's dance and voice.

We've also got a class for our youngest performers.

That's Journey to Imaginationland.

So there are lots of options, ages four to 18.

And then we've also got adult classes.

So adults can experience acting, improvisation.

Whether they're a beginner or more advanced, everybody's got the opportunity to learn from the beginning.

No matter where they're at, there's an opportunity for them to get right involved.

I love ACT because we really take the community part seriously in our name.

We really mean it.

We wanna be a part of the community, and we want the community to be a part of us.

And I think that we've done a really nice job of that, and I think the community has done a beautiful job as well of getting involved and staying involved.

It feels really special to be a part of it.

- If you're thinking of coming to ACT, I say come on down.

Come check us out.

We'd love to have you here.

We've got all kinds of opportunities, whether it's seeing a show, whether it's volunteering or taking a class, and we encourage you to get involved because theater is for everyone.

- The Asheville Community Theatre is at 35 East Walnut Street in Asheville.

To buy tickets for their upcoming shows and to learn more, visit their website at ashevilletheatre.org.