West Deptford Little Theatre Back for 38th Summer of Entertainment

People of all ages will be taking the stage this summer to show off their talents as part of West Deptford Little Theatre’s (WDLT) annual program, now in its 38th year, for a slew of shows for the summer season.

“It’s like a family here,” said Sue Schramm, founder of WDLT. “The community and others are supportive of theatre, which has caused the program to grow.”

And grow it has. The program originally started in the fall of 1973 with about 60 participants, which were divided in half for two different shows. Since then, WDLT has fielded casts and crews of anywhere between 150 to 250 participants per year.

“One year, we had close to 300 take part in the program,” Schramm said.

Schramm and her husband were both teachers who came up with the idea for WDLT.

Along with West Deptford High School students, the couple approached Bob Oldt of the West Deptford Recreation Commission and asked for his assistance with getting the program up and running. The township approved the program, and granted the Schramms $1,000 to get started and the use of the high school to perform their shows.

Since no rehearsal space was available for WDLT to use, the budding theater troupe went to Mike Cassabian, who would open his home up to the program for practices.

Once the program got started, the township was able to provide WDLT with a building to use as storage and rehearsal space.

While the program has been provided a space to work in, with the number of participants growing, they need to find other places to have rehearsals for multiple shows. The program has been shuffled around from Deptford High School–with no air-conditioning–to West Deptford High School, and now to Holy Angels Parish Family Center in Woodbury, with performances being held at St. Matt’s Hall on Hessian Avenue.

“These spaces have worked out well, and we hope to be able to use them for a while,” said Schramm.

With the growth of the program, WDLT has been able to do traveling performances throughout New Jersey, and also to Atlanta, GA, participating in major theatre competitions sponsored by Music Theatre International, where they received multiple awards including Best All Around Actress and Best All Around Production.

“We have wonderful memories of going to Georgia and competing,” said Schramm. “We’d love to go back, but financially right now, we just can’t afford it.”

Instead, they’re focusing on putting on great shows and getting as many kids involved in theater as possible.

“Since we allow anyone to participate, it is not required for someone to audition,” said Schramm. She added that they have even written in lines just to make sure everyone feels like they are a part of the show.

Shows are picked based on how many participants join the program. Directors are then chosen–typically, they write letters requesting to be on staff, and student directors are sometimes chosen if there’s interest–and choose the show they would like to direct.

Student directors work alongside the directors and can be offered a scholarship ranging from $500 to $1,000 to use toward college.

The Little Theatre has also done many community events, including the annual Woodbury Fall Festival Parade and West Deptford Day.

Tickets for all shows are available at the Holy Angels Parish Family Center, formerly known as St. Pat’s School, in Woodbury, between 9 a.m and noon Monday through Friday. All shows will take place at St. Matt’s Hall on Hessian Avenue in West Deptford. All shows will start at 7:30 p.m, dates are as follows:

Children's shows:

• Sleeping Beauty Jr., and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – July 13 and 14th
• The Wizard of Oz–July 27 and 28

Community show:

• Back to the '80s–July 21 and 22

If you would like more information, or to find out how you can get involved with the program, you can visit wdltproductions.com.