Published: January 11, 2009 11:12 pm      

Natchez to host 2009 Statewide Theatre Festival

The Mississippi Theatre Association is holding its Statewide Theatre Festival in Natchez Jan. 15-18.

The Natchez Little Theatre, under the direction of executive and artistic director Layne Taylor, has been working for months to attract the four day event, which consists of seven festivals that showcase theatre in Mississippi, provide continuing education opportunities for theatres, and identify the best production at the high school and community theatre level.

Competing schools and theatres will come from: Lafayette High School in Oxford; Starkville High School; Louisville High School; Jackson Prep; Olive Branch High School; Biloxi High School; Hancock High School; Oak Grove High School; Laurel Christian School; and Pearl River Central High School.

The best production will represent Mississippi at the Southeastern Theatre Conference later this year. The best Community Theatre production will also advance. Participating community theatres include: WINGS in Gulfport; the Vicksburg Little Theatre; Just Over the Rainbow Theatre in Hattiesburg; the Tupelo Community Theatre; Actor's Playhouse in Brandon; the Starkville Community Theatre; Delta Center Stage in Greenville; and the Kudzu Players of Desoto.

In addition to seeing 10 high school productions that pre-qualified for the statewide festival through the Regional High School Drama Festivals hosted by the University of Southern Mississippi 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 see six or seven community theatre productions as a part of the Community Theatre Festival. School children will be brought to the Natchez Little Theatre to see 10 productions appropriate for school aged children during the Theatre for Youth Festival.

Stephen Cunetto, executive director for the Mississippi Theatre Association, said that the high school and the community theatre productions are critiqued by theatre professionals from outside of the state.

In addition to the productions, Cunetto noted that participants attend educational workshops from theatre leaders from around the state and the country.

The association is also hosting its second playwriting competition for adults and introducing another division for youth. These competitions differ from other competitions in the festival because they started earlier this year with a “call for scripts” to be sent to MTA and reviewed by colleagues around the state. The top five scripts were sent to the final adjudicator, author and playwright Mark Dunn. Dunn will select the winning script for the adult and youth divisions and the winners will receive a cash award and a staged reading of their scripts during the festival.

In addition to serving as a playwriting competition final adjudicator, Dunn will serve as a guest speaker during the theatre festival. After writing many award winning scripts including Belles, Dunn wrote his first novel, Ella Minnow Pea. Dunn will be joined by actor, lyricist and librettist Scott Burkell, and composer Paul Loesel, to discuss Ella Minnow Pea’s evolution from a novel to a stage musical.

All performances are open to the public. General admission will be available at the door. Tickets are $25 for the entire weekend (excluding awards banquet) and $15 per day.