Announcing our BARK! Pet Portrait Contest Winners

Let us just preface this: We have been choosing Mainstage seasons for 67 years. For each of those 67 years, there have been at least 6 shows per season. So at bare minimum, there have been 402 casts throughout the theatre's history. And, let's say, there's an average of 15 roles available per show. That's over 6,000 roles we've had to cast. So we don't say this lightly:

We think that choosing the dog that will grace the postcard and poster for BARK! The Musical has been the hardest casting decision that has been made in the history of Asheville Community Theatre. But it has been done. And here he is!

Rusty! Photo by Kristi Hedberg

Meet Rusty.  He lives near a lake in Saluda, NC. His person Kay drove a long way to get his picture taken and will be thrilled to find out he's won the contest (says her husband - Kay was at work when we called).

We think Rusty is definitely trying to tell us something - we imagined him panting up to the back door of the house saying "Guess what? Guess what? Guess what?" We could see him telling us excitedly about a new musical that he just heard about that's ALL. ABOUT. DOGS. "Can we go? Can we go? Can we go?"

Maybe Rusty is the type of dog who would drop a slightly slobbery postcard of BARK! in our laps and then look at us with those jubilant brown eyes, begging us to go see the show so that we could come back and sing him all the new songs we learned.  Hopefully while on a long walk together. Maybe by that lake!

In no particular order, 20 more dogs were chosen to have their portraits displayed in the theatre's lobby.  We've had a lot of requests to share all the portraits in a slideshow - and we're working on that!  Check back or follow us on Facebook to see that announced.

All of us at Asheville Community Theatre want to thank the participants of the portrait contest, the photographers Caren Harris, Carly Deyton, Pam Burgess, Kristi Hedberg, and Sandra Stambaugh, and the staffs and volunteers of Animal Compassion Network, Asheville Humane Society, and Brother Wolf Animal Rescue for an incredible event. Hope to see all of you at the show next month!