By JOSEPHINE NORRIS, Photo Editor.
“And go!” calls out the timer and a play comes to life before your eyes. A group of thespians assemble a set, the lights dim and the show begins. 60 minutes later, the lights come up and the group takes down their set and leave the stage just as they found it: empty and bare.
This is just a sampling of the theater performed at the Midland Center for the Arts who acted as host for the regional level of American Association of Community Theater Fest April 16 through 19. Michigan is part of the Region III of AACT Fest and the region also includes Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin.
The American Association of Community Theater Fest is a biennial occurrence with three levels of competition: states, regionals and nationals. This year all three levels of competition for the local region are being held in Michigan.
The state level of competition was held in Owosso in March, regionals in Midland and nationals will be held in Grand Rapids in June.
“It’s the community theater version of a solar eclipse where everything is in alignment,” said Dexter Brigham, the Managing Director of Center Stage Theater..
It’s an intense competition. There are ten shows, performed over the course of two days. Each group gets 80 minutes to transport the audience to the world of the play: 10 minutes to set up their set, 60 minutes to perform and 10 minutes to take down the set and vacate the stage.
Following the performance is public adjudication, where a panel of judges critique and share thoughts about the performance in hopes of making the show better. The panel of adjudicators at each level determine who will go on in the competition and who is eliminated. The adjudicators are carefully selected based off their theatrical knowledge by committee chairs at each level of competition.
AACT Fest chair, Emily Anderson, said, “I love listening to the adjudicators. Because it is a public adjudication, all of us as artists can learn so much from their opinions of shows.”
Anderson’s responsibilities included finding a good panel of adjudicators and setting the tone of the festival.
The two shows representing Michigan at regionals were “Revival at Possum Kingdom” written by Linda LaRocque and performed by the Holland Civic Theatre from Holland. The second show was “The Hairy Ape” by Eugene O’Neill, brought to regionals by the Players De Noc, from Escanaba.
Kate Oman, a member of Players De Noc, is no stranger to AACT Fest, having been involved with five shows in total that have been performed at AACT Fest. She shared that she has heard people refer to the Player De Noc and say “UPers kick ass.”
“I enjoy being able to be apart of a show that people look forward to seeing.”
To be able to a part of one of the two shows representing Michigan at the Regional level, Oman said she felt “humbled, honored and proud.”
One of Oman’s favorite part of this year’s competition is seeing Mark Cowman, her boyfriend, play the lead role in “The Hairy Ape.”
“I am seeing the love of my life do something fabulous- letting him have a moment.”
Suzie Pelito has been involved with the Midland Center for the Arts for 24 years and has participated in AACT Fest three times, most recently being in the Midland Center for the Arts performance of “The Sugar Bean Sisters,” which performed at states this past March. This round of AACT Fest, Pelito is playing a different role: the “Fairy Godmother” or host to the Players De Noc.
“They are a bunch of wonderful people who’ve worked really hard. I am thrilled to be their Fairy Godparent.”
Roles of a Fairy Godmother included welcoming the group to Midland, giving tours of the theater and answering any questions the theater group may have.
“I love seeing new people and other interpretations of show you have done before,” said Pelito.
It’s not only people involved in AACT Fest who came out to see the shows. Jan and Julie Dalton of Traverse City traveled to Midland for a weekend of theater. This is the thrid time they have come to AACT Fest.
“It’s great! Where else can you see 10 shows in 2 days for $50?” shared Jan Dalton.
Amanda Whyte of Saginaw saw AACT Fest online and decided to come to the performance of “Ring of Fire,” a musical based off of the music of Johnny Cash.
Whyte has never been to AACT Fest before and said, “I really liked it. It was interesting and I liked watching them set up.”
Hosting Region III for AACT Fest at MCFTA proved to be a wonderful opportunity for MCFTA.
“We are able to throw open our doors and invite people in,” said Brigham. Brigham reported that more than 200 tickets have been sold to the general public, beyond those who are performing.
“We are somewhere north of 400 people seeing shows and participating. We are able to provide these groups an audience to support them,” Brigham said.
At the end of the first day of competition, AACT Fest Chair, Emily Anderson found herself “exhausted, but so happily exhausted.” Anderson said, “This is an amazing networking opportunity with other theater organizations and we get to share our theater.”
Brigham shared that, “Theater is an art form that has been dying for 2,000 years. Other media is not communal [like theater], you can’t replicate it. You [as an audience] are making an experience together.”
The winners from Region III of AACT Fest are “39 Steps” performed by the Elkhart Civic Theater from Bristol, Ind. and “Freud’s Last Session” performed by Kokomo Civic Theater from Kokomo, Ind. Michigan’s own Players De Noc’s production “Hairy Ape” is the nationals alternate. These shows will be advancing onto nationals held in Grand Rapids in June.
