Attic Theatre, Inc. is a community theatre that has been operating in the Fox Valley for over 7 decades. Our story begins in a Victorian mansion on Union Street in Appleton, which was the home of Ted and Zoe Cloak. Ted Cloak was a Lawrence University theater professor, and Zoe was a champion of the arts. Zoe organized an acting class, which met in the attic of their Union Street house. Noting the lack of a community theatre in Appleton, Zoe Cloak then organized a company.

The group would meet and sometimes perform on the top floor of the Cloak home. A founding member of the group says that one day, during warm-up exercises, the group was discussing possible names for a community theatre group. Someone—no one knows exactly who—said, “What about Attic Theatre?” and it stuck.

Attic Theatre celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2020, and some of those original members have been active up to the present date.

Attic’s first public performances were in the old Knights of Pythia Hall, located on the corner of Lawrence and Morrison Streets. The Appleton YMCA is now occupying that location.

In Attic’s second year, performances were moved to what was the new Jefferson School gymnasium. Attic performed there until 1959, when the company moved to the Music and Drama Center at Lawrence, where Attic’s home was for many, many summers.

In 2004, the attic needed to find a new performance space and moved temporarily to the Kimberly Clark Room at the PAC. And while the PAC is a magnificent facility for traveling Broadway shows, the Kimberly Clark room did not meet Attic’s requirements, so the company moved again to a storefront space at Valley Fair Mall.

It was after the Valley Fair Mall season that the Board of Directors decided to disband the company. However, several very dedicated Attic veterans and supporters reorganized the company and worked to keep Attic going. After the reorganization, Attic returned to Lawrence for several seasons.

Eventually, Attic relocated to the Fox Cities Campus and started staging performances at the new Communication Arts Center situated on Midway Road in Menasha, which has been its home ever since.

The best way to support Attic Theatre, Inc. is to attend our shows!

Of course, like most community theaters, we depend to a large extent on our volunteers. There are opportunities to sell concessions, usher patrons to their sets, work backstage on props or costumes during a show, or run lights and sound. If you are looking for a more "hands-on" way to help, there are opportunities for building and painting sets.

Financially, our partners and individual donors make up the difference between ticket sales and the additional $70,000 that must be raised annually to pay for theater rental; set construction, costumes, and props; stipends for artistic and technical directors; and educational expenses.

You can contact us by calling us at (920) 734-7887 or e-mailing us at attictheatre@gmail.com.