By Megan Cullins, contributor
After the regional arts group said in December it could no longer afford to keep operating Court Square Theater, the phones belonging to leaders of the Harrisonburg theater group ACT ONE Theater Company began buzzing.
ACT ONE, which provides theater training and experiences for groups of all ages, had signed a contract with Court Square Theater to put on a children’s production of “The Little Mermaid Jr.” from Feb. 19-March 1.
That production involved a lot of people. In fact, “The Little Mermaid Jr.” had so many students join, that the program has two rotating casts. Some of the children will perform with the A cast while another night others will perform with the B cast.
“I was getting inundated with messages from community, friends, and partners and people that are very much art groups,” said J.P. Gulla, one of the founding members of ACT ONE.
So, in the spirit of the show must go on, ACT ONE decided to act. The theater group’s leaders spoke with Michael Wong, the executive director of the Harrisonburg Redevelopment and Housing Authority, the community development agency that owns the Court Square Theater space.
ACT ONE signed a one year lease for the space with Harrisonburg Redevelopment and Housing Authority for all of 2026. ACT ONE, which started as a way to give children experience in theater, expanded to offer masters workshops to adults as well as offer a summer theater camp for first graders through ninth graders.That not only allowed a space for ACT ONE to continue providing a space for the group’s productions but also to take over the management of the theater for the year.
“It was also decided that ACT ONE would take the lead in leasing the space so that we could keep it running instead of the space kind of sitting there,” Gulla said.
ACT ONE is now managing all programs previously scheduled with Court Square Theater for 2026 after the Arts Council of the Valley pulled away from the theater at the end of December. The theater troupe is working to confirm all of the previously agreed upon contracts.
Because the Harrisonburg Redevelopment and Housing Authority is a public agency, it is holding community input meetings to help determine if the lease with ACT ONE should be extended beyond 2026.
The meetings will be Feb. 5 from 6-8 p.m., Feb. 7 from 2-4 p.m. and Feb. 9 from 6-8 p.m.
Gulla is familiar with the theater’s operations having served as the theater and managing director for Court Square Theater from 2021 to 2024. It’s also not the first time Gulla has been part of efforts to revive the performing arts space.
When the theater shut down for 18 months amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Gulla was a part of the Arts Council of the Valley task force that determined when the theater should be reopened. The council voted to reopen the theater in August 2021. But a money crunch, compounded by federal cuts to arts organizations, prompted the Arts Council of the Valley to decide to close Court Square Theater at the end of 2025 until the Housing and Redevelopment Authority stepped in.
Court Square theater was originally a part of the Rockingham Motor Company — a Ford dealership in the 1970s. The building was converted into a theater in 1998 in the city’s effort to increase economic development. In 2001 the Arts Council of the Valley signed the lease with Harrisonburg Redevelopment and Housing Authority to operate the theater.
“We signed a lease with the Arts Council of the Valley to continue with the theater activity as part of the funding that we received from the city [$600,00]. Still we are paying the city back that money. We paid that to the Arts Council…and subsidize the theater for a ten year period of time,” Wong said.
Courtney Entsminger, the secretary and administrative assistant for ACT ONE,said the group is aimed at making art that’s accessible and engaging for all.
“Their passion is to make the arts, specifically performing arts, accessible and available for anyone, no matter your color, creed, background or what’s in the bank account,” Entsminger said. “We really are so blessed to have such a community that comes together for the kids. Sometimes the kids don’t see all the things that parents do, but they also get to learn some responsibility.”
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