DAVE SHEPPARD

Executive Director

David is the Executive Director of Acme Theater Productions and provides the group with vision, creative energy and a commitment to quality. A Maynard resident, Dave has been very active in Community Theater for over 36 years, having performed, directed, designed and produced for groups from all over New England. In 1976 he helped form Bolton Backstage, Bolton's first community theater group since the 1940's. Dave served in many different positions with the group and produced several shows before attending the University of Massachusetts. While at UMASS Dave designed the sets for some of their larger musicals, appeared in many different productions and earned a BA in Theater Management with a minor in Acting.

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Dave returned to his passion in 1992 to start Acme Theater Productions, which has gone on to become one of the highest award winning community theatre groups in all of New England. In 1995 he received the highly prestigious Best Director Award for his direction of Maggie and the Bird Go Fishing at the EMACT Festival, and also received nominations for Best Actor, Best Costume Designer and Best Set Designer for the same show. In May 1996, Dave directed Jerry Finnegan's Sister which won the EMACT Best Production Award and in August of 1996 Dave was named Best Director at the New England Theater Festival for this same show. In 1998 Dave directed Acme's production, Stiff Cuffs which won the Best Production Awards at both the EMACT and the New England Theater Festival and won Dave Best Director Awards at both. Stiff Cuffs went on to perform at the National Theater Festival in Memphis and was asked to represent the United States at the Liverpool, Nova Scotia International Theater Festival in May of 2000. In 2004 Dave directed Acme's production of Lonely Planet, which was the American entry at the 2004 Liverpool, Nova Scotia International Theatre Festival, subsequently won the Best Production Awards at the Massachusetts and New England Regional Festivals, and was the Region 1 entry at AACT Fest '05 in Kalamazoo. Under Dave's guidance Acme Theater has participated in 11 preliminary level festivals and been a finalist in 9 of them, winning three times. They have won the New England Regional Festival twice and performed in both a National and International Festival twice. In 14 Festival appearances (preliminary and regional) the group has received 72 award nominations. Dave has been named Best Director for Massachusetts 3 times and 3 times for New England. In 1999 he received a Special Adjudicator's Award for Directorial Concept and in 2003 he received a Special Adjudicator's Award for Production Integration of Lights, Sound, Set, Costumes and Props. He has also received nominations for Best Production, Best Sound Design, Best Set Design, and Best Costume Design a total of 20+ times in the last 11 years.

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Dave has served on the Eastern Massachusetts Association of Community Theatres (EMACT) BOD and was instrumental in spearheading initiatives designed to encourage and promote new theatre in Massachusetts. In 2004 Dave was asked to serve on the American Association of Community Theatres (AACT) National BOD. AACT is the governing body for community theaters across the country, and promotes and advocates for the success of community theater. Since joining the AACT Board he has served with distinction, designing and implementing a new protocol and system regarding the acquisition of music rights, serving on the committee for the City selection of the 2007 AACT National Festival, and introducing a new sound mix computer program designed for community theaters. In 2005 Dave was asked to serve as AACT's Senior Technical Representative for the US, acting as an ombudsman for theatre tech questions and ruling on technical issues at all festival levels.