Indiana Theatre Association

National AACT Festival, July 1999

Information courtesy Robert Miller.

Well, it was hotter and humider there than anyplace I have been since they held the AACT Festival in Knoxville a number of years ago. One difference. The Memphis theatre is air conditioned. It failed one day only. That may be understandable when you consider that there were over 500 people registered to attend, plus locals, in a 440 seat theatre. It was crowded and, automatically, hot. We enjoyed it all.

The winner is a play from the Spokane, Wash. Civic Theatre with the title of Lonely Planet. A two character show: the two men were given twin best actor awards, and the director earned best direction awards. It was a worthy winner. Not that I would have voted the same way. A most hilarious rendition of the Complete Works of Shakespeare, Abridged, took second place. It came to us from Charleston, W. Va.

Our Region III entry from Kalamazoo, Forever Plaid, was not the adjudicator's winner, but it did win the biggest honor of all in that it will represent the USA at the next international festival in Monaco (birthplace of modern international festivals) in 2001.

I regret that the Indiana Region entry of Angels of Lemnos was not seen by the rest of the country, but the festival was an overall delight, nonetheless. Forever Plaid from Kalamazoo was certainly the people's favorite in the auditorium, and we can take pride in the achievements of the theatres in our area.

Region III - AACT Festival

Information courtesy Robert Miller.

An excellent production of Forever Plaid by the Kalamazoo Civic won top honors at the region festival this weekend. The troupe will appear as the final performance of the national festival to be held in Memphis in July.

The twin winners of the Indiana festival came in second and third places. The Angels of Lemnos, an original presented by Valparaiso (with the author on crew) was a strong second best. The Muncie Civic's well drilled rendition of Children of Eden took third place. A special ballot by the audiences gave a "People's Choice" award to Forever Plaid, plainly an audience grabbing presentation.

Valparaiso also came away with the Best Actor award (Eric Brandt), Best cameo (Patty Bird, Outstanding achievement in Technical realization and in Properties creation (the flat black cat bit) and Best Director (the duo of Jonni Pera and Tracy Brandt).

Muncie took honors for Family Ensemble (?), musical direction, best supporting actress (Beth Leavell), choreorgraphy (Maurice Redfield), costumes,

The two Indiana companies went home with 6 of the 8 placques awarded, 2nd and 3rd places overall and 3 of the 8 certificate awards. An excellent record for the state.

ICTL Festival March 19-21, 1999, Kendallville, Indiana

Information courtesy Robert Miller.

The state community theatre festival being held in Kendallville on the
weekend of March 19 - 21 now has ten entries and others known to be
processing entries. The festival is set for a maximum of ten, but they
might decide to squeeze another one in, particularly since Pulse Opera's
piece runs only about 30 minutes. Participation is on a first-come
first-serve basis, so simply getting an application in by the deadline does
not mean one will be able to bring a show.

The companies involved, besides Pulse Opera, are: Community Theatre Guild of Valpariso, Buck Creek Players of Indianapolis, River Bend Players of Evansville, Hendricks Civic Theatre of Danville, Muncie Civic (youth), Gaslight Playhouse of Kendallville, Our Town Players of Franklin, Elkhart Civic, the Pulse Opera House in Warren, and Fort Wayne's First Presbyterian Theater.

Drawings for performance schedules will be made in Kendallville on February 28 when representatives from all of the companies will be present to tour the facility and work out technical problems.

Plan to come to one or more of the sessions. It starts about 6:00 on Friday evening, breaks for a party, starts again early in the morning with short breaks for lunch and dinner, break for another party on Saturday night, a session with adjudicators (from NY state, Canada and Kentucky), a brunch and awards honoring people and groups for their achievements during the festival.

Don't miss this full weekend of theatre!