The electronic newsletter of the Association of Community Theatres of Greater Cincinnati
May 2023
Hello all and welcome. This year our regional festival will be held June 14 and 15 at Parrish Auditorium on the Hamilton campus of Miami University. There are 12 groups who are participating this year. The way this works is each group will have a 45-minute time period in which to present an excerpt from a show they performed this season. In that timeframe, they have to place their set, perform the excerpt (which is usually about 30 min) and then remove the set from the stage.
The groups met on May 15 to select the time slot for their performance. Here is a list of all the groups and the times for the weekend.
Friday, June 16
- 5:00pm Registration begins
- 5:15pm- 6:15pm Load in
- 7:15pm Tri-County Players A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE
- 8:15pm Mariemont Players Ken Ludwig’s The GODS OF COMEDY
- 9:15pm CenterStage Players THE LARAMIE PROJECT: TEN YEARSA LATER
- 10:15pm Cincinnati Music Theatre KINKY BOOTS
Saturday, June 17
- 7:30am Registration begins.
- 7:30am – 8:15am Load in
8:15am Fairfield Footlighters Love/Sick- 9:15am Sunset Players BE MY BABY
- 10:15am Village Players of Fort Thomas HOLIDAZED
- 11:15am The Footlighters, Inc. A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER
- 12:15pm Lunch Break
- 1:15pm The Drama Workshop RADIUM GIRLS
- 2:15pm Loveland Stage Company TWELFTH NIGHT
- 3:15pm Beechmont Players THE MATCHMAKER
- 4:15pm Mason Community Players NUNSENSE
- 7:00pm Banquet* (at Blue Ash Embassy Suites 4554 Lake Forest Drive Cincinnati, OH 45242)
- 7:50pm Doors open for all attendees
- 8:00pm Awards*
After Awards Party in the Hospitality Room*Due to space limitations, group seating is only available for those attending the banquet dinner. Attendees only attending the awards will not be able to sit with their groups at the banquet tables. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
You do have to register to attend any of these events. Early bird prices end June 1, with full registration ending June 9. To find the registration form go to the ACT website, look under Convention and then registration. After June 9, you will only be able to register at the door and meals will not be an option. The fee to see only the excerpts/awards/party is $35, excerpts is $15 and awards/party is also $15.
For those of you who wonder about this festival, OCTA is the reason we have the excerpts. The number of excerpts determines the number of entries each region will send to the state OCTAfest over Labor Day Weekend. Each region receives 1 theatre for every 4 theatres who participate. This year, our region will have 12 excerpts, so therefore there will be 3 selected to go to the state festival and 1 alternate. The alternate will only go if one of those 3 have to drop out or if there are not enough entries from other areas of the state to make up the weekend.
OCTA sends 3 adjudicators, who watch the excerpts, give feedback immediately after the presentation and then meet to decide who/what gets awards and to pick the shows that will excerpt. The adjudicators this year are Deb Wentz, Bruce Jacklin and Ian Ernsberger.
The 2023 OCTAfest will be held in Cincinnati with Peggy Kenney and Robert Weidle as Co-Conference chairs. Preparations are well underway for this fun weekend. Dates for the state conference are September 1-4 at the Holiday Inn Eastgate hotel on SR 32.
This year, OCTA is celebrating its 70th Anniversary and the committee has planned a fun weekend for all attendees. The theme this year salutes this anniversary.
Besides the excerpts, there will be workshops as well as late night games. Attendees can earn stars that can be redeemed for various prizes during the weekend, with a large prize at the end of the weekend. IF you were at the state convention last year and received a card announcing this year’s conference, bring it with you so you can start earning stars. So, plan to attend for a fun filled weekend of theatre. More information will be coming on the schedule of excerpts and workshops.
Mary Stone has done an outstanding job with the ACT website. IF you haven’t been to the website, go check it out. You will find a lot of information regarding ACT and the member theatres.
One last thing, over the years, some ACT history was unfortunately destroyed. IF you or your group have any photos that you would be willing to scan and send, it would be greatly appreciated. These will be added to the website and stored in the history notes.
Also, ACT will soon be celebrating 70 years of existence in a few years, so please start sending any new items about your group, or if you are a new group to ACT, send your information on how you were formed. Send to llroll69@hotmail.com.
Any errors, mistakes or omissions are not intentional.
Thanks to all of you for being a part of Greater Cincinnati theatre.
Linda Roll, editor
llroll69@hotmail.com
Behind the Curtain Cincinnati 