Midland Community Theatre presents MY WAY at the Tromsø Dialogue 2011

This past July, Midland (TX) Community Theatre was proud to represent the North American Regional Alliance (NARA) and the USA at Tromsø Dialogue 2011, the IATA/AITA International Amateur Theatre festival in Norway. Midland Community Theatre submitted its application to NARA in December 2010, and was chosen by the Norwegian organizers in January 2011. Midland Community Theatre submitted its production of My Way – a Review of the Music of Frank Sinatra since Midland Community Theatre had previously toured this production to the Dundalk Maytime Festival in Ireland during 2004 and could travel to Norway with a small company.

Our company arrived in Tromsø on Friday, July 15, 2011, and we immediately were attending productions that night from Hungary, Denmark and Germany. Our first performance took place on Saturday, July 16^th at 10 p.m., and we spent that day working on technical elements and preparing for our show. During the rest of the week, our group was also able to attend productions from Croatia, Cuba, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Monaco, Norway (2), Russia and our favorite Argentina. When we arrived, we were told that the group from Iran was unable to obtain a Visa to enter Norway, but suddenly on Wednesday the group was able to secure these documents and they arrived and performed on Saturday night to wrap up the festival.

 Jaime Sotelo, Lisa Jebsen, Kristen Loyd, Rob Montgomery

Performing groups lived together in a local school, which was set up with cots in classrooms. Although not ideal, it was a wonderful opportunity to meet people from around the world and interact with them. Our men were on the same floor as the groups from Russia and Lithuania, and our women were located next door to the Hungarians. Several groups held parties with their national music and food and drink. Our group decided to host a special breakfast for everyone in the school. On Thursday morning, we awoke at 6:30 a.m. and started cooking scrambled eggs with cheese, peppers and onions and made breakfast burritos for everyone. Many people told us that they set their alarms in order to not miss our special treat.

One of the wonderful elements of having the festival in Tromsø was the fact that July is the time for the Midnight Sun. During the festival, the sun never went down, and this took some adjustments. However, we brought sleeping masks and darkened the windows in our schoolroom to allow us to sleep at night. It was a magical feeling to walk home late at night with full sunlight, but we were all glad to return home and see the sun go down again.

 Rob Montgomery, Lisa Jebsen, Tim Jebsen, Ryan Loyd, Kristen Loyd, Jaime Sotelo

In addition to our participation in the festival, several member of the group were able to travel early to Oslo and tour the capital in addition to taking a train trip to the Sognefjord in Western Norway to see the beautiful scenery. However, the terrorism event of Friday, July 22, 2011 added a somber note to the end of the festival while reminding us that theatre can bring together people from different societies, and that the arts can be part of the process of education and knowledge. The terrorism event took place two hours before our second performance – and our thoughts and hearts were with our Norwegian friends as they dealt with the national tragedy.

Overall, our group had a wonderful experience in Norway. The people were warm and welcoming, and our new international friends gave us a greater global perspective on the world of theatre. If you or your company has the chance to travel and perform abroad, please consider the sacrifice of time and money – it’s well worth it!

 Jaime Sotelo, Rob Montgomery, Kristen Loyd, Norwegian Chair Svein Svensson, 

Tim Jebsen, Lisa Jebsen

Norway

Tonight is our final rehearsal prior to leaving for the IATA/AITA international theatre festival in Tromso, Norway. MCT is proud to represent the USA at this festival, and our travel party of 6 is very excited to get started on this trip. We will run the show tonight, and then four of us leave on Monday and the other two on Thursday and we all arrive in Tromso on Friday and perform on July 16 and 22. I will attempt to post pictures on Facebook and keep the blog updated, but I can not promise that I will always have access to the internet. I will definitely update the blog upon my return!

National AACT Festival

I have just returned from 11 days in New York state - 3 days of fun with my Dad visiting the Baseball Hall of Fame and playing golf (including on Father's Day) and then 8 days of work in Rochester NY.

In Rochester, I started the week as the Facilitator of the Community Theatre Management Conference. There were 30 people from community theatres across the country - staff, volunteers, board members. We discussed budgets, marketing, volunteers, season selection, royalties - anything related to running a theatre. It was three days of discussion and sharing, and I believe that everyone came away from the event with a new idea (or twelve) for their theatre to implement. It was very exciting to meet these new theatre friends, and I look forward to hearing more from them about their experiences.

On Wednesday afternoon, the shows started and we saw twelve one-hour productions from the ten AACT regions. Texas was represented by "Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead" - a drama based on the Peanuts characters except now they are teenagers and they have very modern issues and concerns. It was definitely not a family show, but I had enjoyed it at state and they did a great job at nationals - it won the competition. Other shows included "Parrallel Lives", "Sunday in the Park with George", "The Bear", "Hauptmann", "The Gin Game", "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee", "Wiley and the Hairy Man", "The Zoo Story", "Second Samuel", "Check Please" and "Urinetown". "Urinetown" won second place and "Sunday in the Park with George" came in third.
 

Summertime is here!

It's officially summer when Summer Mummers opens - we had opening weekend starting on June 10th and the show runs at the Yucca Theatre through September 3rd this summer. This year's theme is bull riding - Ribaldry at the Rodeo or Hoping for an 8 Second Ride. It's important to remember that this event is the annual fundraiser for MCT, and puts an emphasis on the first three letters - it's a FUNdraiser. However, keep in mind that the event is recommended for those over the age of 16. Please support your community theatre and come see the show this summer.

In addition to Summer Mummers, the summer Theatre School program is now in session - our second week-long session is going on this week, and our two-week session starts on Monday, June 20th. All three sessions are full, and we are thrilled to have so many students (and parents) interested in our education program. The Pickwick Players have cast the summer musical - FAME - and have started rehearsals in preparation for their opening on July 15th in Davis Theatre I. 

In early June, we held fundraising performances for our trip to Norway this summer with the Frank Sinatra review MY WAY. I am so pleased that we were able to raise the necessary funds for this trip, and the cast and crew look forward to representing MCT, Midland and the USA at this international theatre festival in Tromso, Norway. MY WAY will be performed on July 16 and July 22 at the festival. 

Finally, we have several auditions coming up, including the Reader's Theatre readings for our 2011 McLaren finalists (auditions July 17-18), the fall production of THE DINNER PARTY directed by Jane Moore has auditions on July 24-25, the Agatha Christie mystery AND THEN THERE WERE NONE directed by Carl Moore has auditions on August 14-15 and the fall comedy CHARLIE COX RUNS WITH SCISSORS directed by Pam Keel will hold auditions on August 28-29. Needless to say, there's a lot happening at your community theatre this summer!

MY WAY and Summer Mummers

Many thanks to everyone who attended the performances of MY WAY this weekend at the Cole Theatre to raise funds for our travels to Norway. We had great crowds and are looking forward to our upcoming trip to Norway - we depart July 11 and perform at the festival on July 16 and 22. 

Kudos to the cast of THERE'S NO JUSTICE JUST COURT COSTS for their strong four weekend run of the 2010 McLaren winner - we closed the show on Saturday night, and the cast and crew have done a great job of entertaining our audiences with this new comedy.

This weekend marks the official beginning of summer - at least on the MCT calender - with the opening of the 2011 version of Summer Mummers on Friday night. Advance sales have filled the pit for almost the entire summer, but house seats are still available. The show runs June 10-September 3 on every Friday and Saturday night at 8 p.m. at the historic Yucca Theatre in downtown Midland. Come join the fun and see the show - remember, Summer Mummers is recommended for those over 16!

MY WAY

Midland Community Theatre is very proud to be selected to represent the USA at the upcoming AITA/IATA International Theatre festival in Tromso, Norway in July 2011. Our production of MY WAY - a review of the music of Frank Sinatra - will be performed in Norway at this festival. To prepare for our trip and help raise money for our expenses, we will have two public performances of the show in Midland on June 3 and 4 at 8 p.m. in Davis Theatre I. 

Tickets

HAIRSPRAY and JUSTICE

Sometimes, I think that I write these entries into the blog and no one reads them. It's one of the reasons that my writing has really slowed down this past year. Thursday night, however, someone told me something that reminded me that people do read the blog even if I don't know it. So, I'll try to do better and write more often...

HAIRSPRAY is closing today and it will be very sad. We've had a great run of the show and the crowds couldn't have been better or more receptive to the show. Some have asked why we didn't to the show as an opening musical - longer run, more opportunities to see it. First of all, I think part of the success is the partnership with Midland College Music and Drama - the 12 college kids in the orchestra and the 14 college kids in the choir performing have added so much to the show (and that wouldn't have happened on the opening musical). In addition, the Yucca Theatre has been a great venue for the show (and the opening musical would have been in Davis Theatre I), and some of our actors might not have participated with January rehearsals and six weeks of performances. It will be sad to see the show end today - but I'm sure that feeling will wear off when we're 2 hours into strike!

We opened the 2010 McLaren winner THERE'S NO JUSTICE JUST COURT COSTS last night. The cast and crew have worked very hard to get the show ready for opening weekend, and I know that they're ready for an audience. For the third time in my 15 years in Midland, I've had to remove an actor from the show during technical rehearsals - in this case, the actor was trying but he simply could not learn the lines and it was holding the show back. We replaced him on Tuesday night before we opened, and it's been an uphill challenge for the director (Gene Houk) and the incoming actor (Carl Moore). However, I must give full credit to the actor who was asked to step aside - he did it with grace and understanding. Working with volunteers is an important part of our work in community theatre, and it's never easy to make this kind of decision. We all hope it works out for the best.