Theatre North of 60, a production of National Avenue Christian Church in Springfield, uses only actors older than 55, but all ages are involved in other aspects of its productions.
John Scroggins, NACC executive board member and “Annie” performer, said that one of the congregation’s main goals is justice work.
“And so we've realized that, as you hit a certain age, and we refer to it as the north of 60, you become somewhat invisible. You can become isolated because your peers are sometimes dying off," he said. "And people tend to not give you the opportunities that maybe they would have when you were in your 40s. And so equality and equity based on age is one of the things that we work on as a church,” said Scroggins.
This year’s run of “Annie” will be the second show that the performance group has put on.
“Last year we decided to bring theater into the church and did a play called "Quilters," (a) totally secular play about Appalachian women settlers. And it was a musical, too. And we just saw a real — it was embraced by the community. So we saw that we were able to reach out and engage with people in ways that we can't or don't, you know, just on Sunday,” Scroggins said.
Theatre North of 60 will have three more performances of “Annie” this weekend. Shows include evening performances and matinees on the following dates: Friday, September 19 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, September 20 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, September 21 at 2 p.m.
All showings will be performed inside a re-engineered space at National Avenue Christian Church, located at 1515 South National Avenue. All shows are free to the public, with donations accepted.