There's no better scene than local theater

Jane Reinhardt, of Bothell, figures she's seen at least 50 "The Sound of Music" stage productions and worn out several copies of the movie. She calls it her dream show.

"As a child I spent every August at my grandmother's house," she said. "I put on the show for my grandmother and Aunt Betty. I directed and played every part."

Although the 44-year-old Reinhardt now delegates the acting to others, she still directs.

Her grown-up version of "The Sound of Music" opens Friday night for a three-week run at The Theatre at Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue. It will be the ninth show staged by The Attic Theatre, founded by Reinhardt in 2003. She's artistic director of the nonprofit group, and Mark Lewis, of Bothell, is managing director.

The show features Mark Reinhardt (Jane's husband) as Captain Georg von Trapp, Maggie Brothers as Maria, Roger Wilson as Max Detweiler and Donna Austin as Baroness Elsa Schraeder.

Like other Attic productions, the show is strictly family fare.

"We only want to do wholesome shows that you can bring your 5-year-old child or 95-year-old grandparent to without shocking them out of their seats," Lewis said.

This will be the group's first foray into the 410-seat theater at Bellevue's convention center. They previously staged shows at Kirkland Performance Center and Northshore Performing Arts Center. Attic leaders like the new venue so much, they've booked dates into 2010.

Both Lewis and Reinhardt grew up in the Midwest. She was from Oak Park, Ill., and remembers taking the bus by herself to auditions when she was 7. Lewis, who is from Kansas City, was in high school when he discovered theater. He was assigned to a drama class instead of speech.

"I couldn't get to the office fast enough to request a change," Lewis said. "They told me it would take a couple weeks. By the time a couple weeks were up, I was in love with the theater."

Both directors studied drama and speech in college and followed their passion to the footlights — Lewis on the East Coast and in London, Reinhardt in Illinois. And like many in theater, they consider it an avocation.

Lewis has worked in the corporate world of AT&T and Boeing. Reinhardt teaches speech and drama at Lake Washington Technical College and is the movie gal for KOMO television's "Northwest Afternoon."

She was a tenured professor in the Midwest before she and her husband and two children moved to the Seattle area.

"When we moved here, I had a Midwestern mind-set and kept waiting for someone to knock on my door with a casserole," she said. "It didn't happen, so I said, 'I gotta go out and find a life.' And now I'm so in love with what I do, I'm never bored."

She met many of the Attic repertory actors and board members through Cedar Park Church in Bothell, where she directed shows. Encouraged by a good friend and by her husband, Reinhardt founded the Attic with her 401(k) retirement savings.

The good friend died a year ago Friday, the same day "The Sound of Music" opens.

I understand when Reinhardt tears up thinking about her friend. Last Sept. 30, my friend, who encouraged me to continue auditioning for theater roles and follow my many dreams, died.

When Reinhardt praises the cast with "I'm over the moon," I feel the excitement. I am also in the Attic's "The Sound of Music."

My longtime fascination with show business put me onstage for the first time in 2005. I was in "The Music Man," presented by Kirkland Performance Center and directed by Lani Brockman of Studio East. I joke that I was a tree. That's my term for being a member of the background chorus or a townsperson or, earlier this year, a stripper in "Gypsy."

Local theater is a small and friendly world.

Two of my favorite children from "Gypsy," Lauren Carlos, 8, and Kaija Stern, 11, are von Trapp children in this show. Our Mother Abbess, Alexis O'Donahue, was Golde in "Fiddler on the Roof." I took an acting class at Studio East with the real-life father of another von Trapp child, Zachary Barr, 12.

I've been blessed with patient and loving musical directors. I would follow Sue Timpe of Attic Theatre to the ends of the Earth, singing all the way.

I'm now experienced enough to know stage right from stage left, to stay out of the theater techies' way, and know grueling rehearsals are needed to produce a successful show. (I started rehearsing in May for "The Sound of Music" — leads began in April.) Tuesday night I even taught fellow chorus member Julianne Mitchell, of Redmond, how to apply stage makeup.

Mitchell, a newcomer, asked me recently during an eight-hour rehearsal why I act when I have a career, family and other activities on my plate.

Acting is outside my comfort zone. It is scary to step onstage in front of an audience. It would be easier to sit home and read a book than to sit backstage for hours.

But acting is play, a game of pretend open to anyone who wants to participate. It is a challenge and I keep trying to improve.

What's my role in "The Sound of Music?"

Where would a stripper go to repent? To the nunnery, of course.

Sherry Grindeland: 206-515-5633 or sgrindeland@seattletimes.com