As the fledgling Encore Theatre of Dexter opens its doors tonight for the award-winning musical “Damn Yankees,” its founders and the community are celebrating the small venue’s continued success.

After only a year and a half, the non-profit, 122-seat theater has featured popular musicals and won acclaim from community members and critics alike.

"I am always impressed by the set design and I marvel at their ability to do so much with such a small space," says Scio Township resident Ellen Bunting, who has been to several musicals there.

"The theater is pretty simple, but the show was captivating," says Nadine Lewis of Webster Township, who saw "The Sound of Music" with her son, 12-year-old Alex Schwartz. "The cast was good, and the woman who played Maria is a professional actor from New York. She had a gorgeous voice and anchored the whole show."

The theater's success and popularity has far exceeded expectations, said Anne Koch, president and co-founder.

"Things have gone beyond my expectations in this year and a half," said founder and executive director Dan Cooney, a New York City resident, who provides the Broadway link. "Each show gets better and better as we add equipment and more of something that resembles a professional creative team."

Koch and Cooney met singing in high school concert choir in Westland. Cooney headed to New York after high school, and later, Yale University’s School of Drama. Koch, who first fell in love with the theater as a child at a performance of "Annie," married Paul Koch, who was in the Navy. They moved to Rhode Island where they discovered small theater. They relocated to Paul's hometown of Dexter, where they now own Koch Masonry, and together, they decided to start a theater.

It was nearly 20 years after their time in high school together that Anne Koch came across Cooney's name on a website and contacted him. Cooney, who was working on Broadway, had gone camping in Dexter many times in his youth and thought it would be a perfect location for a theater.

"Dexter is a beautiful small town with many excellent restaurants and shops, and it seemed like a live theater would really fit in nicely," said Anne Koch, who now lives with her husband and five children in Chelsea. "The thing that is most important to us is to make people feel welcome when they enter the theater and to do everything we can to ensure that they have an enjoyable experience and to provide the best quality performance within our means."

The professional theater, which opened in February 2009, has featured classics such as "Little Shop of Horrors," "Sweeney Todd," "Guys and Dolls," and most recently, "The Sound of Music," Encore's biggest hit to date.

Actor's equity allows the Encore Musical Theatre Company three professional actors per show and an unlimited number of local actors.

"We hire local people in the cast who happen to be good singers and actors and want to perform," said Cooney. "We offer master classes and high caliber training in a little garage in Dexter. It's the entire Broadway experience the way we teach and rehearse."

Cooney has learned that local theater-goers love the classic musicals like the "Sound of Music" and "Oklahoma." He says that a lot of those who come to the Encore Theatre are families with kids, and people over 40.

"We have hopes and dreams of improving the space and creating a larger lobby and adding additional bathrooms for our guests," said Anne Koch. "With the support of the community and our contributors, we hope to be able to raise enough funds to make the improvements to the physical space, improve our lighting and sound, seating area, and hopefully grow our show sponsor base to enable us to continue bringing in the actors from New York and Chicago."

"My goal now is to get the business communities of Dexter, Chelsea, Saline and Ann Arbor to get involved because it benefits the community at large," Cooney said. "Theater-goers and artists patronize local restaurants and shops."

Bill Fall, general manager of North Point Seafood and Steakhouse in downtown Dexter is a big fan of the theater and said its management is very community focused.

"The Encore Theatre is one of the best things that's happened to Dexter in a long time," Fall said, "The theater has created a good buzz around town. We have quite a few people who come here for a meal before a performance and some who come for coffee and dessert after a show, including the cast members."

Productions at the Encore Theatre have received a variety of accolades, including four nominations for the 2010 Wilde Awards for professional theater in Southeast Michigan and a win for Sarah Litinger as best actress in the musical Sweeney Todd.

"Damn Yankees” will run through Oct. 24. For tickets and more information, call 734-268-6200 or go to theencoretheatre.org.