Southeast Alabama Community Players

Who We Are Southeast Alabama Community Theatre (SEACT) serves the Wiregrass area including Houston, Henry, Dale, Coffee, and Geneva counties. Based on visits and attendance, Visit Dothan estimates SEACT’s economic impact to the Dothan area at almost $1M annually. A SEACT event – audition, rehearsal, performance, class, committee, or meeting – occurs 300 days of the year. At fifty years old, SEACT is a legacy nonprofit organization that has served three generations of families through theatre, education, and social connection. Students from 1980 are sending their grandchildren to SEACT camps in 2026! History & Strategic Plan Since 2002, SEACT has been consistently the largest and most active tenant of the city-owned Cultural Arts Center facility, requiring the use of multiple performance spaces and classrooms. The campus was initially intended to expand into a permanent home, but the maintenance and repairs on a 100+ year-old building far outweighed the funding ability of the center and its tenants. In a culling of facility inventory, the city also lost its appetite for keeping the building in habitable condition. As early as 2016, it was understood that the lease between the city and the Cultural Arts Center organization would expire in 2027, and the entities living there would need to find a new way forward. SEACT has invested $475,000 in property (2018-2021), preparing for its Next Act. These include parcels at or near 285 S. Foster St., 251 S. Foster St., and 110 E. Crawford St. SEACT’s Board of Directors (2023/2024) prioritized the design and planning of a dedicated facility that would sustain and expand its mission of enriching the cultural lives of Wiregrass residents through high-quality theatre and arts education. The project directly advances SEACT’s 2024–2026 Strategic Plan, which identified relocation and facility design as top priorities for sustaining operations and community service. The final design was completed in early 2026 and construction awarded to Voak Construction in March. SEACT broke ground in May and the construction phase is expected to be completed in February, 2027. Ultimately, this project represents a critical step toward SEACT’s long-term vision: a dedicated arts campus that anchors downtown Dothan as a vibrant cultural destination, enhances access to theatre education for a five-county area, and secures SEACT’s role as a catalyst for creative and economic vitality in the Wiregrass region. The project engaged Gosselin Architecture LLC to design and renovate the “Mack Building,” a 6,854-square-foot structure. The facility will serve as a short-term (2–5 year) operational hub and long-term rehearsal/performance area with flexible lobby that can be used as classroom or meeting space. The design addresses necessary structural and systems updates—including electrical, plumbing, HVAC, ADA accessibility, and asbestos abatement—and creates an inviting, code-compliant, and functional arts environment. SEACT is ensuring full ADA compliance with accessible entrances, restrooms, seating, and hearing assistance options, matching its low and no-cost programming to maintain a long-standing commitment to inclusion and access.​​​​ SEACT's Next Act: A Generous Community The Wiregrass community has already made a difference! Through community and grant support, SEACT has invested $305,067 in property, improvements, master planning, and design. An additional $856,300 was contributed by the State of Alabama ($750,000), Alabama State Council on the Arts ($56,300), and Wiregrass RC&D ($50,000). SEACT is conducting a capital campaign for the construction phase of a new home for its community activities. Can you help? SEACT envisions the Phase I facility as a welcoming and accessible purpose-built structure with a  dedicated rehearsal/performance space that will serve as a bridge to a future Phase II. This renovation will replace 35% of space used currently in the Cultural Arts Center. Phase II would include a state of the art performance venue, additional rehearsal space, storage of properties, classrooms, administrative support spaces, and support for other area arts-related nonprofit organizations. The total estimated cost of Phase I at 251 S. Foster Street, including property, design, and construction, is $2,825,000. We are more than halfway there! SEACT is positioned to accept major gifts through legacy planning, IRA charitable distributions, appreciated stock, and cash donations. How can you help secure SEACT's future for the next 50 years? Space naming and stewardship opportunities are available for significant contributors to the Phase I project. Valuation, donor recognition, and stewardship will reflect values and practices that are executed in other areas of SEACT with donors, i.e. promptly sent written receipts, ongoing cultivation and impact reporting, etc. Board and staff will assign well-informed values for spaces that are available for naming opportunities, to include the cost of the facilities and a percentage of appropriate, ongoing maintenance costs. These will include actual cost, visibility, usage, and perceived value. Link to space naming and stewardship opportunities Southeast Alabama Community Theatre (SEACT) has a mission to enrich the cultural lives of Wiregrass residents through the presentation of high quality theatre, to provide creative opportunities to talented individuals to perform on stage and behind the scenes, and to introduce the theatrical experience to school-aged children. SEACT is a 501(c) organization and depends on the support of its community to bring theatre to life in the Wiregrass. The organization is funded through season tickets, sponsorships, advertising, and donations.