The Actor’s Charitable Theatre will perform the musical “9 to 5” beginning this Friday, Jan. 11 through Monday, Jan. 14 at the Bama Theatre. The musical is based on the 1980 movie of the same name with a score written by Dolly Parton.
Joey Lay, director of the production, said “9 to 5” is a musical that will appeal to all audiences.
“I think fans of Dolly Parton will particularly enjoy the music from the production,” Lay said. “People in their thirties and forties will probably remember when the movie came out, so that will be great for them, but it’s a really fun show for everyone.”
The musical focuses on three women in the workplace in the seventies before today’s prominent rules and regulations regarding equality existed in office settings, Lay said.
“These women handle their lying, hypocritical boss in their own way,” Lay said. “It’s all about women taking control and taking care of business.”
Marilyn Miller plays the role of Violet Newstead, a single mom and an administrative secretary under the bigoted boss, Franklin Hart, Jr.
“Violet exists in a world where men rule, and women are submissive to them,” Miller said. “She’s a single parent doing her best to work under her awful boss, but you can’t keep a good woman down.”
Miller, who works in Rose Administration as an administrative secretary, got back into acting with “9 to 5” after a long break.
“I first did community theater back in the eighties,” Miller said. “It’s hard work, but [Actor’s Charitable Theatre] is a great group of people doing work for the community, and I have a lot of fun.”
A portion of all the money raised through productions by Actor’s Charitable Theatre goes to charity, Lay said. “9 to 5” proceeds will benefit United Way’s Success by Six initiative, which provides services to at-risk Pre-K students, including Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which sends books to children monthly from birth to five years old.
“We focus on being a community-based organization where everyone helps out,” Lay said. “Since our start in December 2008, we have worked with many different charities around Tuscaloosa like Eagle’s Wings and Tuscaloosa’s One Place.”
Lay said the theatre also reaches out to people in the community to audition for its numerous productions.
“We typically use fliers and events on Facebook to recruit actors for our shows,” Lay said. “After auditions are over and we are finished casting, we then rehearse for 4 to 10 weeks before it’s time to perform, depending on the difficulty of the show.”
Tickets for “9 to 5” can be purchased at theactonline.com. All evening shows start at 7:30 p.m. and afternoon shows on Saturday and Sunday begin at 2 p.m.
