2011 MTA Festival Meridian, MS January 13-16, 2011

The 2011 MTA Festival brought to Meridian over 550 people, 15 plays, over 14 workshops, 2 staged readings, exhibitors, and more. Although we have been to Meridian many times, this year marked the fi rst time the MSU Riley Center hosted the 4-day theatre festival. With this being a new venue for our festival, we tried to prepare the host organizers and Riley Center staff for the festival weekend. But, alas, words can’t explain all that happens over the long weekend. Thanks to the dedicated staff and volunteers, the Riley Center turned out to be an excellent venue for the festival. We are indebted to the dedicated and hard-working staff members at the Riley Center and the volunteers from The Company of Angels and Meridian High School. Ronnie Miller, Elliott Street, Steve Nabors, and Elizabeth Thomas worked many long hours planning the festival, making calls and looking for ways to make this a memorable experience for attendees.

This year’s festival included a wide range of productions in both the community theatre and the high school divisions. Community theatre productions ranged from classics such as Antigone to new works like Unshelved and At the Floating Palace. In talking with the adjudicators, it was obvious that they were very impressed with the quality of the productions and admitted that it was a very difficult decision. The adjudicators were very complimentary of the entire festival and commented multiple times on the professionalism, hospitality and the programming that was provided throughout the festival. It is always great to hear positive comments coming from individuals who run similar festivals in other states.

Judith Stevens-Ly, at the recommendation of our friend Gary Garrison, was our fi nal adjudicator for the playwriting competition and attended the festival to lead a playwriting discussion and to lead the talkbacks following the staged readings of the winners of the youth and adult playwriting competitions. The workshop was attended by youth and adult playwrights interested in learning more about playwriting and the business of getting published. This portion of the festival was funded by a grant from the Mississippi Humanities Council.

The festival included a wide variety of workshops including workshops on acting for fi lm, kinesthetic response, theatrical lighting, and vocal techniques. The festival also included a Community Theatre Summit that brought together community theatre leaders from around the state to engage in a discussion about the state of community theatres in Mississippi. At the end of the weekend, adjudicators made their final decision, and awards were presented to the winners. For a complete listing of the awards presented visit the MTA website at http://www.mta-online.org/statewide-theatre-festivall/2011-festival/2011-results

 Location:

MSU Riley Center
2200 5th Street
Meridian, MS 39301

Festival Results

• 2011 Winners…El-Attar and Williams selected as best playwrights
• 2011 Festival Results
• Pictures from 2011 and other festivals

Festival Schedule:

• Festival Schedule of Events
• Theatre For Youth - Schedule of Events (free to the public)
• Full Festival Program

Host Facility Information:

• History of the Riley Center
• Riley Center Photo Gallery
• Conference Center brochure
• Upcoming Events at the MSU Riley Center

Sponsors:

MTA greatly appreciates its festival sponsors:

• Mississippi Arts Commission (MAC)
• Mississippi Writers Guild
• Mississippi Writer’s Guild
• Citizens National Bank of Meridian
• Bob and Karen Rea
• The Heasters
• New-South Ford-Nissan, Meridian