MACON, Ga. — The Macon Little Theatre first popped up back in 1934 at the corner of Riverside Drive and First Street.
85 years later, the man running the show is bringing a Hollywood quality to the productions.
J.P. Haynie is the artistic director at Macon Little Theatre. He practically grew up in the building, was reciting lines as a toddler, and met his wife on stage.
But it's his 12 years in New York that are going to bring audiences new experiences.
"In pre-production, they hired me to have makeups built on me, so they would do test shoots," J.P. said referring to his role in "Men in Black 3."
Those test shoots turned into a role in the feature film.
"There was one day of shooting that was just me, Will Smith, and Josh Brolin, and they discovered my character pinned up against the wall and the bad guy got in there first," he said.
Then came a gig that gave him a steady check for three years -- the CBS courtroom drama, "The Good Wife."
"Anytime they went into the boardroom, anytime they were having the firmwide discussions on issues and cases, I was in a lot of those scenes, a lot of that glamorous passing in front of windows and doors," he said with a chuckle.
The Big Apple was fun, but Haynie and his wife wanted to come home to family and familiar ground.
As the only paid employee, Haynie wears a lot of hats, but one of his goals is to update the vintage theatre's experience.
"It's a QR code and it will take you into the new digital playbill. It has full bios and color headshots for all of our actors," he said while scrolling on a phone with all of the information displayed.
The folks on the stage generally have a 9 to 5, yet Haynie wants folks to see a taste of New York.
"I hope people come here to see a show and they go, 'Wow, I didn't know that my little community was capable of that,'" he said.
It's full circle for this thespian, now settling in for the next chapter in Macon Little Theatre history.
Tickets are on sale right now for the theater's upcoming comedy, "The 39 Steps," based on the Alfred Hitchcock spy thriller. They are also holding auditions for the next musical, "Little Shop of Horrors," on Jan. 23 and Jan. 24 at 7:30 p.m.
They are also excited to announce the surprise final show of the season. After many months of trying to renegotiate contracts, they are excited to bring the classic young adult story "Anne of Green Gables" to the stage this spring.