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Theatre for Youth Festival

January 18, 2013
Joe Cook Elementary School
Columbus, MS

Below is a listing of the schedule of tentative events for the Mississippi Theatre Association’s annual festival.  The Theatre for Youth Festival is free of charge.  Schools will be bussed in for this event as well.  The Secondary and Community Theatre Festival being held at MUW is also open to the public.  General admission is $5 for a block of shows (morning, afternoon or evening), $15 for the entire day of shows and $25 for the entire weekend of shows.

8:00 a.m.         Where’s Charlie?                   Oak Grove High Theatre

8:40 a.m.         Storyville                                Pearl River Central High School

9:20 a.m.         The Great Watershed Caper              Perk Players MGCCC

10:00a.m.        Alice in Wonderland              Greene Grove

10:55a.m.        The Best Christmas Pageant Ever     Actor’s Playhouse

11:35a.m.        Amelia Earhart                       Rankin Theatre/Drama Harmonies

12:30p.m.        Don’t Say Macbeth                 Merry Street Players of the Company
of Angels

2:15p.m.          Awards Presentations

Only a few more days to register for the MTA Theatre Workshop in Columbus!

The Mississippi Theatre Association will host a Theatre Workshop designed for individuals interested in learning more about theatre arts and theatre management on October 5-6.  The day and a half workshop designed for community theatre members and school teachers provides professional development sessions and an opportunity to network with others from around the state. Attendees will learn more about their craft and learn how to effectively promote and manage their theatre programs. Attendees will also be able to tour facilities being used during the 2013 Festival. With a combination of joint and concurrent sessions, attendees will have a wide variety of sessions specific to their interests. For more information visit our website at http://www.mta-online.org.  REGISTRATION CLOSES WEDNESDAY.

Attendees will also have the unique opportunity to participate in a master class presented by members of the Tut’Zanni Theatre Company.

Master Class by the Tut’Zanni Theatre Company. The Italian Tut’Zanni Ensemble is made up of six working artists who reunited to devise their ideal form of theatre. These artists met in 2006 while studying physical theatre at the Accademia dell’Arte in Arezzo, Italy. They learned commedia dell’arte from the source under a variety of European and Italian actors and professors. Since that time, these actors, actresses and directors have been creating, performing and teaching all over the world. Tut’Zanni is a true collective ensemble that consists of professionals in the fields of mask, voice, physical theatre, improvisation, directing and acting for various types of film. This ensemble gave them the opportunity to join forces and spread their love of commedia dell’arte as far as they could reach!Participants will learn more about commedia dell’arte as well as general physical and vocal mask techniques and skill, improvisation and how commedia can be applicable to other types of theatre, i.e. Shakespeare, modern-day theatre, musicals, etc. This will show the relationship of commedia to the world of acting and why it is so important as a form.

Paid, Professional Acting Jobs

 Actors, singers and dancers can audition for 550+ roles with 29 professional companies simultaneously at the Southeastern Theatre Conference (SETC) Fall Professional Auditions, Sun., Sept. 11 and Mon., Sept. 12, 2011, in Atlanta, GA at the Hilton Atlanta
Airport.  Registration and detailed information: http://www.setc.org/theatre/professional/fall-proauditions.

Qualifiers are available on Sat., Sept. 10 for grad and undergrad students who are finishing study by Dec. with a minimum of one professional performance. Call SETC Central Office (336) 272-3645 if you have questions.

• Cost to register: $45 by 8/28; $60 for walk-ins on 9/11.
• Deadline to pre-register: August 28^th.  Walk-in applications accepted onsite after the deadline.  You will be given audition number in advance if pre-registered. Call (336) 272-3645 or email april@setc.org
  if you have questions.
• Casting needs: varies by theatre – ages 19 to seniors; non-musical, singers and dancers; including leads, ensemble and character
  roles.
• Pay scale: varies by theatre: estimate $350-$1,000 per week – plus room and board.
• Union status: Non-Equity, some AEA.

Employment is for 2011/2012 for fall, winter and early spring season productions at non-equity, LORT, and equity theatres across the United
States – includes touring and dinner theatres, repertory and stock companies, cruise ships and entertainment venues.  Application required. Actor/singer auditions begin at 8:30 AM and continue until same-day callbacks are complete; dancer auditions begin after group auditions and continue until callbacks are complete.

The Southeastern Theatre Conference is in its 63rd year of connecting professionals to theatre opportunity. 

# # #

Thank you for spreading the word.

Judi Rossabi
Communications & Marketing Manager
Southeastern Theatre Conference, Inc.
1175 Revolution Mill Dr., Suite 14
Greensboro, NC 27405
www.setc.org
P: 336-272-3645
F: 336-272-8810

It has been years since MTA has been on the MS Gulf Coast; so MTA plans to have the festival in Gulfport and other locations in the area in January 2012. Ryan Pierini, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, is the local arrangements coordinator and will be working with theatres all across the Mississippi coast to host the theatre festival.

The last time we were on the coast was in 2004 when our main host site was Biloxi Middle School. This year we are fortunate to return to Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, Jefferson Davis campus.

If you are interested in assisting with the local arrangements, please contact Ryan Pierini at ryan.pierini@mgccc.cc.ms.us or Tonya Hays at tshays777@aol.com. We appreciate Ryan and Tonya for taking on this responsibility and for bringing MTA back to the Mississippi coast. Mark your calendars for MTA 2012 – January 12-15, 2012.

  Help us spread the word!  Send it to your friends, post it to your facebook accounts and tweet about it.
 
Playwriting is a unique discipline. It gives a writer the hope of having his/her words realized by others – literally putting words into the hands of directors and the mouths of actors. It’s a truly collaborative art form, and one we’re proud to celebrate at the Mississippi Theatre Association festival. Since 2007, MTA has been issuing a call for original scripts by Mississippi playwrights.
 
Our competition has two divisions – a youth division, for students under the age of 18; and an adult division, for playwrights 18 and above. The winner of each of these two categories receives a staged reading at the annual MTA festival, including a response from an established playwright; free MTA festival registration – and a cash prize!

All Mississippi playwrights are encouraged to submit their one-act plays to this competition. We know you have stories to tell, and an important part in moving from page to stage is submitting your work. Share your scripts, and start weaving your words into the fabric of Mississippi’s rich literary tapestry! Submissions are accepted April 1-October 1; the winner will
be announced in December, with their work and award presented at the 2012 MTA festival in January 2012.

To submit your entry or review the entire rules, visit www.mtaonline.org and click on “Playwriting Competition.”

Listen to the Diane William’s conversation with MTA President Stacy Howell and MTA Playwriting Competition Vice-Chair Beth Kander. 

Each week, members of MAC’s staff host “The Mississippi Arts Hour,” a radio program broadcast on Mississippi Public Broadcasting’s FM and digital radio networks. The show is also re-broadcast by WLEZ in Jackson and WUSM in Hattiesburg. The “Arts Hour” features interviews with Mississippi artists, musicians, craftspeople, and others involved in arts and culture from around the state.

MTA on MS Arts Hour

I wanted to share this story with the MTA family.  Mackenzie Westmoreland who has attended MTA many times and co-wrote The Katrina Project that Hattiesburg High School brought to MTA and ultimately toured it around the county now.  In this article he talks about living in New York and his passion for directing. He goes on to talk about how his life suddenly changed last August when he lost his eyesite.  Now he is living in Tupelo and attending the REACH Center for the Blind to learn how to live his life and eventually return to theatre. 

Take a few minutes to read this incredible story.