This article is one in a series of articles about what life looks like in Butler County ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary on July 4, 2026. Stories in this series aim to showcase what it’s like to live, work, play and serve in Butler County during this moment in history.

Shakespeare said “all the world’s a stage.” Three volunteers at Butler Little Theatre have lived that line and made the stage their world for 60 plus years.

Average folks spend 40 years working. Sue Collar, of Butler, and Dennis and Nedra Casey, of Meridian, have volunteered for a combined 183 years and counting at the theatre, which starts its 85th season in September.

From serving on the board of directors to acting and directing, the group maintained a friendship and continued the founder's mission to create art for local patrons.

“If their mission is to bring live theater and art to Butler, then yes, (we’ve done that),” Dennis Casey said. “I would like this place to be around for another 85 years, but it takes commitment.”

Over an afternoon, the group shared stories of the Butler Little Theatre’s successes, and complimented the parts they played in making them happen.

“I think one of the most important people in the history of the theatre is Sue Collar,” Dennis Casey said. “(The founders) were active for 25 years, but Sue has been the heart and soul of this place for 60 years.”

“I am not extroverted. When I go to a new group, I stand in a corner,” Collar said. “But when I started here, and even at MTG, the people were so kind to me and so welcoming.”

Collar’s theater career started in the Musical Theatre Guild, which led her to working backstage at BLT in 1964. From that moment on, she volunteered wherever she could: onstage, offstage, and on the board of directors for nearly 45 years.

“I got on the board pretty early on after getting involved, because I loved it so much and I just wanted to be a part of it,” she said.

Dennis Casey said Collar and her late husband, Gary, were two of the most effective chairpersons of the board in the theatre’s history. Current chairman Casey Bowser agreed.

“Gary was massively influential here,” he said. “(He and Sue) were the power couple.”

Nedra Casey said she first graced the stage a year later, at just 15 years old. Dennis Casey and other members of his family came close behind in 1966.

“My mother first brought me to attend the acting workshops, because I would be playing down in the basement using different voices,” Nedra Casey said.

According to Collar, volunteers spent a few summers taking shows beyond the walls of the theatre, to venues in New Bethlehem and Prospect.

“We used to close a show, load up a truck, drive there, set up, stay the night, do a show, and come home,” she said.

The group worked alongside some of the organization’s founders: Ed and Peg Howard, for which the theater’s address on Howard Street is named, and Laurabelle Harrington. Dennis recalled installing subflooring in the theatre’s “green room,” or lounge area, at 16 years-old, next to an 80 year-old Ed Howard.

They witnessed other changes like the removal of wooden theater seats, the extension of the stage and reconfiguration of staircases.

“And pretty much every board since the beginning of time has talked about getting rid of this pole,” Dennis said, gesturing to a support beam in the middle of the theatre’s house.

They have seen the organization through bad times, and bad shows, Dennis joked.

“The bad ones are the most fun to talk about,” he said.

Though the group retired from the board of directors last year, they remain active in the organization by producing, directing, and acting.

Dennis Casey said he’s continuously proud of the work they produce.

“The Little Theatre has done a range of shows that most community theaters wouldn’t touch,” he said.

“We take risks,” Nedra Casey added.

Within that range, a supportive environment has endured through the decades.

“This place has a spot for everyone,” Dennis Casey said.

“We are a family, and thank goodness that’s continued,” Nedra Casey said. “We still respect the process and the end product and that’s why we’re still here.”

Collar said she enjoys encouraging the next generation of volunteers.

“You can’t be here all this time and know so many people, and welcome them, without mentoring them at the same time,” she said.

“You don’t end a show,” Nedra Casey said. “While you’re doing a show, you develop relationships with people and you have those forever.”

Katie Moore, vice chairperson of the theatre’s board, said the group’s attitude toward newcomers was what has kept her around.

“They were just so easy to talk to. They would easily and readily share stories about ‘the golden age,’” she said. “They treated you as if they’d known you all your life.”

The friendships made within the Little Theatre’s walls extended, according to Moore. Dinner with the Caseys has become a weekly routine for her.

“They made me part of their week-to-week existence,” she said.

The dedication of the Collars and Caseys has created a ripple effect in the Little Theatre, according to Bowser, one that he hopes to continue for generations.

“This is a wheel. It means we have to, as an organization that relies on passion — not profit — thrive on a meaningful purpose. Despite it being a passion project, it’s work,” Bowser said.