More than 1200 people attended AACTFest, the national theater festival sponsored by the American Association of Community Theatre, June 18-24, in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Event registrations were up nearly 30% from the previous festival, according to AACT Executive Director Julie Angelo.

            Hosted by The Metrolina Theatre Association, the event featured keynote speaker Ben Cameron, former Executive Director of Theatre Communications Group. The fundraising Endowment Dinner featured Broadway veterans Terrence Mann and Charlotte d'Amboise. There also were workshops, lecture demonstrations and panel discussions led by arts professionals from all over the United States.

            However, the focus of the festival was the presentation and adjudication of productions from AACT’s 10 regions. First-place award went to the Denton (TX) Community Theatre production of Crowns (by Regina Taylor), which also won for Best Ensemble. Second place went to the Spokane (WA) Civic Theatre production of Assassins (Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman) and third place went to the Aberdeen (SD) Community Theatre production of Honk! (by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe).

            New this year was a Design Exhibition, with professional adjudication to recognize excellence in the set design, costume design, and graphic arts (season or event materials, logos), as well as website design.

            “This biennual AACT event rotates between different cities,” notes Jim Sohre, US Army Entertainment Director and AACT Region X Representative, “and this was without doubt the most exceptional National Fest I have attended. Our official show entry was from the US Army Community Theatre in SHAPE, Belgium, and we were all not only treated to Southern hospitality at its finest, but also experienced outstanding technical production support from local theatre practitioners who are at the top of their game.”