By Nancy Marlowe
Allyson is a professional singer, pianist and teacher. Michael is a professional actor and director who reads the Lessons in a rich and resonant voice. They are the MacCauleys, a couple who was married at All Souls and who recently purchased a home near the cathedral.
Michael is often seen, script in hand, studying lines while sitting on one of the cathedral’s lawn benches. Allyson (formerly a student of Julie Fortney at Mars Hill College) sings in the choir and teaches Kindermusik classes at All Souls.
Michael is an actor and teaching artist for North Carolina Stage Company in downtown Asheville. Allyson is in rehearsal for the Asheville Lyric Opera Company’s production of Madame Butterfly. She also teaches music at the Learning Community School. They are very, very busy in their day jobs, but both work at Blue Mountain Pizza. The couple met at the popular Weaverville restaurant.
Allyson is a native of the Denver metro area. Her first job was in a plant nursery where “the work was hard and hot, but I got to help people plan their gardens.” Her family moved to Winston-Salem and she holds a degree in music from Mars Hill as well degrees in political science and history from East Carolina University. She is a cradle Episcopalian.
Michael was reared a Catholic in Evansville, Ind. At age 17, he had the lead role in the high school production of Flowers for Algernon. After his performance as a mentally handicapped man, a woman from the audience came to the stage and, “with tears running down her face,” told Michael, “You have changed my life tonight. I’ll never think of mentally handicapped people in the same way, ever again because of your performance.”
Michael went home that night and told his parents, “I’m going to be an actor.” He believes that “Being given the gift to change people’s lives in a significant way is not only a blessing, it is a duty.” He holds a master’s degree in acting from Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
Twenty years of working in New York saw Michael in many roles and venues as an actor. He was in single episodes of all the incarnations of the Law and Order series. His breadth of experience eventually convinced him he didn’t have to live in the big city “to be a professional actor and just keep my head above water.” He stepped out in faith.
After coming to visit his sister for some respite in North Carolina, he began working with Charlie and Angie Flynn-McIver’s North Carolina Stage Company as an actor and teacher. As an Equity actor, Michael also has performed roles at Flat Rock Playhouse. The couple has worked with Asheville Community Theatre’s Tanglewood summer camps.
The MacCauleys have formed their own company, AllyMac Productions, “which is in its beginning stages.” Allyson has a new demo album out with the Acoustic Swing Band and says she is keeping her fingers crossed that she may be picked up by a label.
Michael said he is “too old for Hamlet” but would still like to play several big Shakespearean roles. And, he wants to be cast as Harold Hill in The Music Man “so bad I can’t even tell you.”
Eventually, they plan on having children. “I want to be a dad so much,” Michael said.
The stage-struck couple would like to see All Souls do some music and drama productions, both for children and adults. There is, they said, so much talent and so much appreciation for the arts at All Souls. “We want to do all we can to contribute our time and talents.”