Abrams actors performing in ‘Anything Goes’

Eight actors with ties to Abrams are jumping county lines to perform in the Box in the Wood Theatre Guild’s latest show, “Anything Goes.” Long viewed as a popular show for school and community productions, the musical will debut July 18 at the Mielke Arts Center in Shawano. “Anything Goes” takes place aboard an ocean cruise liner leaving New York and heading to London. Faith Fuller, a performer with Abrams Spotlight Productions Inc., is one of the leads in the Shawano show, playing Reno Sweeny, an evangelist turned nightclub singer. She helps a young stowaway named Billy to win the heart of Hope, a young heiress on her way to London to meet her fiance, Sir Evelyn Oakleigh. Fuller has plenty of family support in this show. Her father, Early Fuller, will play the Right Rev. Henry Dobson, as well as one of the passengers, while her sister, Whitney Fuller, portrays a reporter and mother, Karen Fuller, is a photographer. Other Abrams thespians in the show include theater founder Brandon Byng, who plays Elisha Whitney and also serves as the show’s technical director; Elizabeth Jolly, who portrays Erma; Jerah Doxtator, in the role of a purser; and Preston Pelegrin, in the role of a sailor. Byng and Mary-Beth Kuester, producer of “Anything Goes,” have both said that Spotlight Productions and Box in the Wood are sister theater companies, offering support whenever possible. Byng also helped Box in the Wood as technical director for its last show, “Lombardi,” in May. The first melding of the two troupes goes back to July 2012, when Box in the Wood put on “Little Shop of Horrors.” Byng and Faith Fuller were both cast for the show, and that’s when Box in the Wood officials found out about Byng’s theater history. “We’re far enough apart so we’re not really competitors, so we can kind of share resources and ideas and stuff like that,” Byng said. The connection was a good thing for this show, as Box in the Wood came up short of actors for the show, so Abrams’ alum filled in the gaps, Byng said. Director Jake Schertz, a Shawano resident majoring in theater at Carroll University, is very familiar with “Anything Goes,” as he acted in the show at the Mielke 10 years ago, when his aunt directed that production. There are a few differences between the 2003 show and the revival version Schertz is directing. “Some of the songs are cut, such as ‘Ain’t Misbehavin,’” Schertz said. “The newer version opens with a bar scene, whereas the original didn’t.” The show will run through July 21.