Hattiesburg to host the 2008 Statewide Theatre Festival

Starkville, Miss --  The Mississippi Theatre Association (MTA) announces Hattiesburg, MS as the location of the 2008 MTA Statewide Festival. Serving as hosts and organizers, Just Over the Rainbow Theatre and the University of Southern Mississippi will work over the next several months planning the four day event. The festival, scheduled for January 10-13, 2008, consists of six festivals that showcase the best theatre in Mississippi, provide continuing education opportunities for theatres of all types and identify the Best Production at the High School and Community Theatre level to represent Mississippi at the Southeastern Theatre Conference.

According to Tom Booth, MTA President, “The MTA Board is very pleased to be going back to Hattiesburg for the 2008 festival and working with JORT and USM.”  The MTA Board met this summer on the USM campus to meet with Tom Hardy, local festival coordinator, and to review the various facilities being used for the festival. Booth added that “the festival is in very capable hands with the crew from JORT and USM.”
In addition to seeing nine high school productions that pre-qualified for the statewide festival through the Regional High School Drama Festivals hosted by USM and Mississippi State University, high school students will participate in the 10-Minute Play Festival, College/University Auditions and Individual Events Festival. Festival participants will also six or seven community theatre productions as a part of the Community Theatre Festival. School children are bussed in to see productions appropriate for school children in the Theatre for Youth Festival.

Stephen Cunetto, Executive Director for the Mississippi Theatre Association, noted that “The high school and the community theatre productions are critiqued by theatre professionals from outside of the state. The high school and community theatre play selected as the Best Production represent Mississippi at the regional Southeastern Theatre Conference (SETC) in March.”  In addition to the productions, Cunetto noted that participants attend educational workshops from theatre leaders from around the state and the country.”  All productions will be open to the public.

The mission of MTA is to foster appreciation of and participation in children's, college, community, high school, professional, and university theatre in Mississippi by sponsoring festivals, workshops, and retreats; communicating with members and the public; acting as an advocate to government agencies, business, and the public; recognizing excellence in performance and production; and sanctioning representatives to regional festivals. See http://www.mta-online.org/ for more information on the Mississippi Theatre Association. MTA is sponsored in part by a grant from the Mississippi Arts Commission.