Theatre Tuscaloosa To Represent Alabama At Southeastern Community Theatre Festival

Theatre Tuscaloosa will take its production of Launch Day (Love Stories from the Year 2108) by Michael Higgins to Lexington, KY, to represent Alabama in the American Association of Community Theatre Region 4 Festival at the Southeastern Theatre Conference March 1-5, 2023.

Theatre Tuscaloosa's production was named "Best of Show" at the Alabama Conference of Theatre's annual Alabama Community Theatre Festival (ACTFest), which was held November 5-6 at the Bean-Brown Theatre on Shelton State Community College's Martin Campus.

Theatre Tuscaloosa shared the "Best of Show" award with Wetumpka Depot Players' production of A Storm Came Up by Kristy Meanor. Both shows were also part of AACT's 2022 NewPlayFest program, and both shows were performed by their original casts. This is the first time that two NewPlayFest shows from the same cycle will move forward to regionals.

Both productions qualified to represent Alabama at SETC, where community theatres from 10 states will compete for the opportunity to advance to the national AACT Festival. SETC includes the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Theatre Tuscaloosa last advanced to SETC in 2018, when it presented The End of a Line by Robert Hawkins. The company leap frogged over SETC and went straight to nationals with Love & Cheese Toast by Cooper Shattuck when the pandemic forced AACT to take the festival virtual in 2021.

"We are thrilled to be returning to SETC this year to share our original production of Launch Day," said Launch Day director and Theatre Tuscaloosa Executive Producer Tina Turley. "I have long believed that we have some of the best talent in the country here in Tuscaloosa, which is why we continue to host and participate in ACTFest. It's time that our state, region, and country begin to believe that, too."

In addition to being named "Best in Show," Theatre Tuscaloosa received several additional accolades. Launch Day received awards for Best Props (Charles Prosser, Designer) and Best Costumes (Jeanette Waterman, Designer), and both Kazarious Brown and Mileidy Crespo-Jones from the cast of Launch Day were given Outstanding Achievement in Acting awards. An additional cast member, Brandy Johnson, placed in the solo musical theatre individual event.

A total of five shows were presented at ACTFest, including Tuscaloosa's The Actor's Charitable Theatre's production of Holy Ghosts, Winfield's Self Express Productions' production of Fools, and Dothan's Spark Theatre Company's production of I and You. All five productions were honored with a variety of awards during ACTFest.

"Our state festival is one of the most competitive in the country, so it's not easy to advance to regionals," said Theatre Tuscaloosa Managing Director Adam Miller. "Every company brought their best and brightest, so we feel very fortunate to be moving forward. We can't wait to make Tuscaloosa and all of Alabama proud at regionals!"

More information is available at www.theatretusc.com or at 205.391.2277.

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