The Colchester Theatre Company is a high school

High school

High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 Theatre troupe in Colchester

Colchester, Vermont

Colchester is a town in Chittenden County, Vermont, United States. The population was 17,067 at the 2010 census. It is the fourth-largest municipality and second-largest town in Vermont by population.-Geography:...

, Vermont

Vermont

Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...

, founded in 1977 by John Coon. It has been nominated for and presented with various awards for talent, effort, and commitment.

The Colchester Theatre Company has fallen into a tradition of performing three shows each year, one in the fall, one in the winter, and one in the spring.

While the Theatre Company does perform musicals, they tend to be performed in the fall, since many scheduling conflicts arise between the Theatre Company and the school's Music Department because of various local music festivals during the spring months. However, as no musicals had been performed between 2004 and 2006, an extra effort was made to perform two musicals in the 2006–2007 season: Footloose

Footloose (musical)

Footloose is a 1998 musical based on the 1984 film of the same name. The music is by Tom Snow , the lyrics by Dean Pitchford , and the book by Pitchford and Walter Bobbie.-Act 1:...

, and the hit Broadway musical, Grease

Grease (musical)

Grease is a 1971 musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The musical is named for the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as the greasers. The musical, set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School , follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of love,...

.

A concept that sits at the foundation of the Colchester Theatre Company's structure is that of ensemble

Ensemble cast

An ensemble cast is made up of cast members in which the principal actors and performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance and screen time in a dramatic production. This kind of casting became more popular in television series because it allows flexibility for writers to focus on...

. Casting is based on the way that people interact as the characters in the audition and not on the director's preference of one person over another. There is no distinguishing line between actors and technicians. Those who do not get parts are encouraged, but not required, to perform technical jobs, such as properties, costumes, lighting, sounds, special effects, or advertising, for the show being performed. It gives a good understanding to those participating of how important everyone in a theatre company is to a successful show.

The Colchester Theatre Company annually puts on a no-charge Haunted Forest on the night before Halloween

Halloween

Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...

 (commonly known as cabbage night,) sponsored by the Colchester Police Department. According to the police, the Haunted Forest has greatly reduced the number of cabbage night crimes.

Also, the Colchester Theatre Company puts on a dinner theatre performance for the Colchester Winter Carnival, usually a "whodunit" murder mystery with audience participation.

From 2001 to 2005, the Colchester Theatre Company hosted an annual non-competitive One-Act Festival called the Champlain Theatre Experience, under the joint guidance of John Coon of Colchester High School and Rod Ross of Winooski High School.

Performances (Incomplete)

Year	Season	Show	Dates
2011-2012	Spring		May
	Winter		March
	Fall	Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a 1936 British film produced and directed by George King.-Plot:The film features Tod Slaughter in one of his most famous roles as barber Sweeney Todd. Sweeney Todd was wrongly sentenced to life in prison. After his release 15 years later, he begins...	November 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th
2010-2011	Spring	The Glass Menagerie The Glass Menagerie The Glass Menagerie is a four-character memory play by Tennessee Williams. Williams worked on various drafts of the play prior to writing a version of it as a screenplay for MGM, to whom Williams was contracted...	May 12th, 13th, 14th
	Winter	A Night of Theatre Magic: Wiley and the Hairy Man, The Fisherman and His Wife The Fisherman and His Wife The Fisherman and His Wife is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale no. 19. It is Aarne-Thompson type 555, the fisherman and his wife. Its theme was used in The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish, a 1835 poem by Aleksandr Pushkin. Mrs Ramsey reads the story to James, her son in... , 15-Minute Hamlet 15-Minute Hamlet 15-Minute Hamlet is a comedic abridgement of William Shakespeare's Hamlet, written by Tom Stoppard.The play, an excerpt from Dogg's Hamlet, condenses the original Hamlet, including all the best-known scenes, into approximately 13 minutes of on-stage action...	March
	Fall	They're Playing Our Song They're Playing Our Song They're Playing Our Song is a musical with a book by Neil Simon, lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager, and music by Marvin Hamlisch.In a story based on the real-life relationship of Hamlisch and Sager, a wisecracking composer finds a new, offbeat lyricist, but initially the match is not one made in heaven...	November
2009-2010	Spring	The Monkey's Paw The Monkey's Paw "The Monkey's Paw" is a horror short story by author W. W. Jacobs. It was published in England in 1902.The story is based on the famous "setup" in which three wishes are granted. In the story, the paw of a dead monkey is a talisman that grants its possessor three wishes, but the wishes come with an... , Hello Out There, Selections from Glee	May
	Winter	The Foreigner The Foreigner (play) The Foreigner is a play by Larry Shue.Set in a resort-style fishing lodge in rural Georgia, the comedy revolves around two of its guests, Englishman Charlie Baker and Staff Sergeant Froggy LeSueur. Charlie is so pathologically shy that he is unable to speak...	March
	Fall	Godspell Godspell Godspell is a musical by Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak. It opened off Broadway on May 17, 1971, and has played in various touring companies and revivals many times since, including a 2011 revival now playing on Broadway...	November 19, 20, 21
2008-2009	Summer	Romance/Romance Romance/Romance Romance/Romance is a musical with a book and lyrics by Barry Harman and music by Keith Herrmann.The show is composed of two acts linked only by the common theme of love and one song performed in both acts...	July
	Spring	Baby (The Musical)	May
	Winter	The Night of January 16th	March 12, 13, 14
	Fall	Scapino!	November
2007-2008	Spring	Little Shop of Horrors Little Shop of Horrors (musical) Little Shop of Horrors is a rock musical, by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman, about a hapless florist shop worker who raises a plant that feeds on human blood. The musical is based on the low-budget 1960 black comedy film The Little Shop of Horrors, directed by Roger Corman...	May
	Winter	Lovers Lovers (play) Lovers is a 1967 play written by Northern Irish playwright Brian Friel.Lovers is a play broken in to two parts, Winners and Losers.-Winners:... , The Actor's Nightmare The Actor's Nightmare The Actor's Nightmare is a short comic play by Christopher Durang. It involves an accountant named George Spelvin, who is mistaken for an actor's understudy and forced to perform in a play for which he doesn't know any of the lines.-Inspiration:...	February
	Fall	Dracula Dracula Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...	November 15, 16, 17
2006-2007	Spring	Grease Grease (musical) Grease is a 1971 musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The musical is named for the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as the greasers. The musical, set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School , follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of love,...	May 17, 18, 19
	Winter	The Mousetrap The Mousetrap The Mousetrap is a murder mystery play by Agatha Christie. The Mousetrap opened in the West End of London in 1952, and has been running continuously since then. It has the longest initial run of any play in history, with over 24,500 performances so far. It is the longest running show of the modern...	February 15, 16, 17
	Fall	Footloose Footloose (musical) Footloose is a 1998 musical based on the 1984 film of the same name. The music is by Tom Snow , the lyrics by Dean Pitchford , and the book by Pitchford and Walter Bobbie.-Act 1:...	November 16, 17, 18
2005-2006	Spring	Story Theatre	May 18, 19, 20
	Winter	The Complete Works of Shakespeare : Abridged The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) The Complete Works of William Shakespeare is a parody of the plays written by William Shakespeare with all of them being performed during the show by only three actors. Typically, the actors use their real names and play themselves rather than certain characters...	February 23, 24, 25
	Fall	Blithe Spirit Blithe Spirit (play) Blithe Spirit is a comic play written by Noël Coward which takes its title from Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem "To a Skylark" . The play concerns socialite and novelist Charles Condomine, who invites the eccentric medium and clairvoyant, Madame Arcati, to his house to conduct a séance, hoping to...	December 8, 9
2004-2005	Spring	Barefoot in the Park Barefoot in the Park This article is about the Broadway production. For the film adaptation see Barefoot in the Park .Barefoot in the Park is a romantic comedy by Neil Simon. The original Broadway production, directed by Mike Nichols, opened October 23, 1963, with the four lead roles taken by actors Elizabeth Ashley ,...	May 19, 20, 21
	Winter	No Exit No Exit No Exit is a 1944 existentialist French play by Jean-Paul Sartre. The original French title is Huis Clos, the French equivalent of the legal term in camera, referring to a private discussion behind closed doors; English translations have also been performed under the titles In Camera, No Way Out...	March 19
	Fall	Midsummer Night's Dream	November 18, 19, 20
2003-2004	Spring	Dracula Dracula Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...	May 20, 21, 22
	Winter	Fifteen-Minute Hamlet
	Winter	Rumpelstiltskin Rumpelstiltskin Rumpelstiltskin is the eponymous character and protagonist of a fairy tale which originated in Germany . The tale was collected by the Brothers Grimm, who first published it in the 1812 edition of Children's and Household Tales...	February 7
	Fall	Godspell Godspell Godspell is a musical by Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak. It opened off Broadway on May 17, 1971, and has played in various touring companies and revivals many times since, including a 2011 revival now playing on Broadway...
2002-2003	Spring	The Crucible The Crucible The Crucible is a 1952 play by the American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatization of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Province of Massachusetts Bay during 1692 and 1693. Miller wrote the play as an allegory of McCarthyism, when the US government blacklisted accused communists...
	Winter	The Quiet Place The Quiet Place "The Quiet Place" is the first single by the Swedish melodic death metal band In Flames in 2004, from the album Soundtrack to Your Escape. The single makes it their third single overall in their career. It is the most successful In Flames single yet, peaking at #2 on the Singles Chart in the...
	Fall	Little Shop Of Horrors Little Shop of Horrors (musical) Little Shop of Horrors is a rock musical, by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman, about a hapless florist shop worker who raises a plant that feeds on human blood. The musical is based on the low-budget 1960 black comedy film The Little Shop of Horrors, directed by Roger Corman...