Loretta Janca

Guest director Loretta Janca came to town from San Francisco to direct Auntie Mame. Loretta has been a professional actor, director, musician and writer since 1980. Her earliest training was under the tutelage of Marc Pettaway and Mary June Malus through the children's program Cotton Candy, the teen program Civic Student Theatre, and featured performances on the Main Stage of ACTS when it was in the Arcade Theatre, the lead in No, No, Nanette at the then "newly opened" Lake Charles Civic Center, and the warehouse location "in the round." She won an ACTA award for her role in The Effect Of Gamma Rays On Man In The Moon Marigolds in which she appeared with the late and dearly loved Sylvia Kushner. Her first musical with ACTS was The King & I as Royal Child #7 with Daniel Ieyoub as the King of Siam.

Loretta gained her Actors' Equity affiliation through Dallas Summer Musicals, then studied and performed in New York City and abroad for 6 years before settling in San Francisco (just in time for the BIG earthquake). She became a member of The Associated Guild Of Musical Artists when singing professionally with the SF Symphony Chorus, and has performed, directed, choreographed and written for many Bay Area theatres including The Lamplighters (the world renowned Gilbert & Sullivan company), Center Repertory Theatre, The Willows, George Coates Performance Works, Piedmont Light Opera Theatre, California Shakespeare Theatre, and many others. Loretta enjoyed this chance to spend time with old friends and close family while in Lake Charles, and to meet all the new and talented folks at ACTS!