Amherst Leisure Services Community Theater, celebrating its 20th year, received a grant to support its Access Program, which provides free tickets to human service agencies through the United Way and to students from low-income families in local schools. 

This grant to ALSCT, awarded in December 2012, allowed dozens of children and their families who otherwise could not have afforded it to see the theater’s 20th production, “Fiddler on the Roof,” in January.  

The ALSCT Board of Directors describes the theater as “truly a labor of love.”  Each production involves “dozens and dozens of men and women, boys and girls, all working together to bring our audience big, bright musicals.” 

Volunteers make up the cast and crew, spending their time  rehearsing, sewing costumes, building sets, styling hair, baking cookies and ushering, among myriad other tasks.

Emily appeared in seven ALSCT shows, starting with her turn as an orphan in “Annie” in 1994 through Eliza, the maid, in “Peter Pan” in 2003.   We awarded this grant to celebrate the untold hours Emily spent on the ALSCT stage and the fact that she loved every single minute of it.