Twink Lynch Award
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2023 Honorees
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Previous Recipients
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2022 Stage Left Theater (Spokane, Washington) |
2011 Fargo-Moorhead Community Theatre (North Dakota-Minnesota) |
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Beaumont Community Players (Beaumont, Texas) has been entertaining and educating audiences for nearly 100 years in southeast Texas. Beaumont and the surrounding area is a diverse place and the theatre has worked to be reflective of its community. One performance of every show is interpreted by a local American Sign Language group. Its child summer camps include one for neurodivergent children across the spectrum (in partnership with Lamar University). It loudly and proudly supports the LGBTQIA community through partnerships with PFLAG, provides Black History Month programing to local schools, and practices race and gender-neutral casting, striving to be a safe haven for anyone who enters its doors. “A good show can change lives,” says a theatre spokesperson. “That's why most of us are drawn to theatre and to telling these stories—because they are powerful. But we also believe that the 'community' in community theatre, is life-changing as well.”
The Kettle Moraine Players (Slinger, Wisconsin) was officially formed.in 2008. That same year, the company produced two shows, and in 2009, participated in AACTFest, receiving four awards at the Wisconsin state festival, and advancing to the Region III festival. Kettle Moraine Players (KMP) soon accepted an invitation from the Schauer Center in Hartford, Wisconsin, and produced a show there each October for many years. In 2016, KMP purchased a 125-year-old church in nearby Slinger. Renovation began the following year, with contractors used for major construction and KMP volunteers providing painting, interior framing, and all stage and catwalk construction. Work was completed in just four months, and in October 2017 the first production opened. Currently, there are seven productions each season, with 53 performances. Annual attendance is now 3,000. The company has set a goal of 10% of its profits to be contributed to a capital facility fund, and KMP has returned to participating in AACTFest.
Market House Theatre (Paducah, Kentucky), now entering its 60th year of operation, has completed a 12-year project to renovate and restore 11 historic buildings in downtown Paducah into a campus of theatre, dance and music classes, workshops, and performances. This historic preservation effort and its living history tours of the downtown and cemetery areas bring in people from all over the region. Market House Theatre (MHT) has expanded its region's access to the arts by offering Theatre in Schools across a three-state area and increasing its free-to-the-public programming. This includes the annual Kids Creative Arts Street Fair, drawing over 3,000 youth annually; summertime Shakespeare productions in its new courtyard theatre space; and Playtime performances in its newly expanded studio and event space, promoting early literacy efforts. MHT strives to bring the arts to people regardless of their socioeconomic status. As it celebrates 60 years of operation, MHT also celebrates its large footprint in the community.
This award is named in honor of Twink Lynch, who devoted her life to community theatre and to serving as a mentor to both individuals and community theatres across the country. She helped shepherd the national organization's transition from American Community Theatre Association (ACTA) to AACT, served on the Board for six years, including a term as President and VP of Education and on AACT committees for an additional 19 years. Twink managed Topeka (KS) Civic Theatre for many years, retired, then came back during hard times and guided the theatre back to a stable organization. Her passion was such that she earned three degrees in theatre; it is said, she is the only person to earn a Ph.D. in Community Theatre Management. Twink shared her knowledge and experience through consulting and through her "Spotlight on Boards" column in AACT's newsletter, which she wrote for 14 years. In 2000, she edited her columns into a book, Boards in the Spotlight, the proceeds of which benefit AACT. Her book still educates those who are managing and governing community theatres.
Twink Lynch Organizational Achievement
Recognizes AACT member theatres for successfully completing major steps in new directions, expanding services to their communities, or moving to the next level of organizational development.
