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The Marshalltown Community Theatre’s 2025-26 season will consist of four diverse plays, sure to offer something for everyone, and all staged at the historic Miller Middle School Auditorium.

“We don’t select our shows around a certain theme,” said MCT Board Member Hobz Hooley. “The way we do it is, if somebody wants to direct the show, they submit an application, and then we go through and we review them individually.”

“The Diary of Anne Frank” will run Oct. 17-19 and 24-25 and will be directed by Lisa Naig.

“We all kind of felt like that (show) is relevant right now, with the political climate and with all the immigration reforms that are going on,” he said. “So we felt like that was relevant to the current situation. It’s also a really great show that we thought people could relate to.”

The true story takes place in a small attic above an office building, with eight frightened immigrants hiding due to Nazi invasion of Amsterdam. “Over the course of two years in hiding, Anne will come of age, laugh, quarrel with her family, experience her first love, and somehow continue to believe that, ‘in spite of everything, people are truly good at heart.’ Her story is as inspirational and relevant today as the day it was written,” the show is described as being.

Auditions will take place at Miller from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 18 and 19. Scripts will soon be available to check out at Lowe’s Flowers.

“Three Sips of Saki” will be staged Dec. 5-7 and 12-13 and directed by Pete Grady.

“The title for that one has caused a little bit of confusion, because there is no actual sake in it. It’s three short stories by the writer H. H. ‘Saki’ Munro,” Hooley said. “Pete has taken three of his stories and adapted them to the stage.”

They are all comedic.

“Depending on casting, how many people turn up, it could either be performed by a different cast for each story, or we could have the same actors playing multiple parts in different plays, which is kind of a fun way to do that,” he said.

“Space Princess Wars,” directed by Regina Gill, will run Feb. 20-22 and 27-28. Described as quirky and weird, the show is a mash up of “Star Wars” and “The Princess Bride.”

A girl named Archer is home sick from school and her father tries to read her his manuscript, inspired by a mix of those two stories.

“It’s got, like, people doing sound effects on stage, special effects of the spaceship. It’s fun and goofy, and I think it’ll be good for several laughs,” Hooley said. “It is the zaniest and most comedic of the four options.”

“5 Women Wearing the Same Dress” will be put on April 17-19 and 24-25 and directed by Rick Gooding.

Five bridesmaids hide out in an upstairs bedroom to avoid the wedding reception below. They seem like opposites, but as the show progresses, find they have more in common than they thought.

Tickets are $15 each, cash or card.

After a seven year hiatus, the MCT’s Kids’ Acting Academy will return Aug. 4-9, directed by Vanessa Engel. Participants will put on the show “Finding Nemo, Jr.” at the Marshalltown Performing Art Center at the high school.

“I think it’ll be a beautiful space, and it’s kind of an inspiring place for kids, especially if it’s their first time doing theater. It’s a really, really amazing look into what a theater space can be,” she said.

In the past, the academy was open to ages 7-13.

“Now we’re going to try to mix it up a little bit. So we are offering it to ages 7-18,” she added. “We are trying to kind of catch back up with some of those students that we might have missed out on, and giving kids that are in the middle school and the high school a little bit more opportunities to try out for things.”

Youth age 7 through going into sixth grade, will rehearse in the morning from 8 a.m. to noon. Those going into seventh grade and above, will work in the afternoon from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

“I think that’ll be really nice too, because it’ll give us the opportunity to differentiate what we’re teaching and how we’re teaching it,” Engel said.

For youth, the goal is to build confidence, while instructors will work on stage presence and acting technique with the older ones.

The public can see the show Aug. 9. The younger students from the morning sessions will perform at 5 p.m. and the older student group will take to the stage at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $5.

The academy lost all of its art supplies, teaching materials and props in the derecho.

“We are really starting from scratch, but one thing that is really wonderful is the Jamie Christenson Fund for the Performing Arts donated to us $7,000 last year during the variety show fundraiser,” she said. “We were able to raise quite a bit of money to go towards this year to get us re-launched. I like to make sure that I pay our teachers at least a little something for teaching, so funds go for royalties, teacher fees, snacks for the kids every day, those types of things and then the art supplies, of course, and potential costume pieces.”

The cost is $60 per student, with scholarships available via the Marshalltown Youth Foundation.

“They only need to pay a third of it. So then they would only pay $20 and the Marshalltown Youth Foundation would pay $20, and then we would pay $20,” she said.

Sign up for the Kids’ Acting Academy by Aug. 1. Registration forms can be found on the MCT Facebook page, the Marshalltown Community School District digital backpack, and paper copies at the Marshalltown Public Library and Lowe’s Flowers. Scholarship approval will be announced at a later date.

“Fill out the application and send $20 or the full amount, and mail (it) to PO Box 923 in Marshalltown,” she said. “Any donations would be welcomed also at that same PO box.”