A History of AACT's International Festival
Go to Festival Years: 1990-1999 | 2000-2009 | 2010-2019 | 2020-
The roots of the AACT International Festival (now known as aactWORLDFEST) are entwined in our organization’s founding and early development. It led to the first national theatre festivals (now AACTFest), as well as developing the structure of the organization.
The story begins in 1957, when a World Festival of Amateur Theatre (Le Festival Mondiale du Théâtre Amateur) was held in Monaco under the patronage of Prince Rainier and Princess Grace. This was the first official festival of the International Amateur Theatre Association (AITA/IATA) that was to be held every four years. [Photo: The Princess Grace Theatre in Monaco]
Eight years later, in 1965, the World Festival organization contacted the American National Theatre and Academy (ANTA), asking for names of community theatres in the United States who they might invite to attend the festival in Monaco. ANTA in turn passed on the invitation to AACT’s predecessor, the American Community Theatre Association (ACTA).
At that time, ACTA was a division of the American Theatre Association (ATA) and consisted of only about 12 to 14 community theatres. In response to the forwarded inquiry from AITA/IATA, ACTA President Howard Orms contacted several member theatres, most of whom were not prepared to take on a commitment of this sort. However, Art Cole of Midland Community Theatre in Midland, Texas, agreed to take a production of Edward Albee's An American Dream to represent the U.S. at the 1965 World Festival. The Monaco festival provided free lodging to 10 company members for three days, plus help with travel expenses.
A National Festival with an International Focus
While pondering the entire festival experience on his return flight from Monaco, Cole [photo] concluded that in future festivals, there should be some sort of qualitative selection process to pick the theatre production that would represent the U.S. But what would that process be? A national festival in the U.S? Cole knew nothing about running such a festival, but he was determined that something be put in place before the next Monaco festival in 1969.
Cole began with a West Texas Festival in 1966, which had theatres coming from five other cities to perform one-hour productions (as was the custom in Monaco). He followed that up in 1967 with a Texas State Festival, funded by one of the first grants given by the Texas Commission on the Arts. Cole originally sought to have a national festival that would be held at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. When that proved unobtainable, it was decided to hold the festival at multiple sites across America, making it easier for a theatre to participate.
“All a theatre had to do was join ACTA and get itself to one of the festival sites to be considered for a chance to take their production to Monaco, expenses paid,” Cole writes. [Read Cole’s detailed account in “The Birth of AACTFest”]
That first national festival was a success, and the Entr’actors Guild of Worcester, Massachusetts, was chosen to represent the United States in Monaco with a production of Arthur Kopit’s Chamber Music in September 1969.
Next Steps
ACTA would soon organize nine festival regions and set up operating rules, again following the Monaco regulation of 60-minute productions. An official ACTA National Festival would be held every two years at a single location, featuring productions that had won state and regional festivals. In non-festival years, a production from the national festival would be chosen to represent the U.S. in Monaco. This system was inaugurated in 1971.
In 1986, the American Theatre Association was dissolved, and with it, ACTA, as well. Rising from the ashes was the newly formed American Association of Community Theatre (AACT), which would continue and expand the national festival cycle. It would also continue to offer one of the participating national companies the opportunity to perform in Monaco.
By this point the national festival was taking on a life of its own, increasingly focused on celebrating community theatre here in America. With that in mind, AACT now began work on establishing an international festival of its own that would involve troupes from all over the world.
1990
In June of 1990, AACT’s first international festival was held in Des Moines, Iowa, co-chaired by John Viars and Burt Routman. Serving as adjudicators were Annette Procunier (Canada), Oslin Boekhoudt (Aruba) and Mort Clark (USA). Following a keynote address by film and stage actor Susan Strasberg, the festival showcased 15 different groups from around the globe. Representing the United States was the Civic Theatre of Central Florida (now Orlando Family Stage), with its production of Doubles, by David Wiltse.
1994
The second AACT international festival was held June 22-26, 1994, on the shores of Lake Michigan in Racine, Wisconsin. Themed “A World Class AACT,” it was hosted by the Racine Theatre Guild. Performing groups from 11 countries participated over three days, with productions ranging from Denmark’s raucous The Three Cuckolds to the dark and mysterious The Moisture from Poland.
1998
Four years later, the 1998 International Theatre Festival was hosted by the Twin City Players (TCP) of St. Joseph/Benton Harbor, Michigan, running June 24-28. This festival was also recognized by the International Amateur Theatre Association (AITA/IATA), which scheduled a meeting of its board of directors during the weekend. Lake Michigan College Mendel Center assisted TCP in sponsoring the festival, offering its theatre, conference and dinner venue without rental fees. Eighteen amateur theatre groups were accepted from over 50 applications received by TCP. While three of the selected companies were eventually unable to participate, 15 groups did perform, and were well received by audiences.
2000-2009
2002
An international festival was planned for 2002, but was postponed, due to the tragic events of September 11, 2001. After terrorists crashed a passenger plane into the World Trade Center in New York City and another into the Pentagon in Washington DC (and caused a third plane to crash in Pennsylvania), both domestic and international travel were disrupted for many months, due to security concerns.
2006
In 2006, AACT’s international theatre festival returned, this time hosted by Midland Community Theatre in Texas. Participating groups included Aula d’ Art from the Catalonia region of Spain, the Chinese Opera Institute of Singapore, the New Delhi Theatre of India, and seven others. In addition, the winner of the US Army’s October 2005 festival was invited to represent the U.S.
Adjudicators provided feedback to each troupe after each performance, and at the final Saturday night dinner, awards were given for excellence in acting, directing, choreography and technical areas.
AACT was finding it challenging to plan and produce an international festival every four years, due to the difficulty of finding a host theatre that could handle the logistics of such a large gathering, including lodging and performance spaces. That was soon to change.
2010-2019
2010
In June 2010, the International Festival was held in what would soon become its permanent home—Venice, Florida. Hosted by Venice Theatre on southwest Florida’s Gulf Coast, the festival’s theatre troupes included Teatro Slu, from the Philippines, Maguey Cie Theatrale from Peru, and Delta Center Stage from Greenville, Mississippi. When not watching performances or attending workshops, festival participants took time to enjoy the beach within walking distance of the theatre. An opening reception kicked off the week, each night ended with an outdoor afterglow party, and an awards banquet capped it all off on the festival’s final night.
2014
The international festival returned to Venice Theatre in June 2014. Now renamed aactWORLDFEST, it began with a colorful opening ceremony that included Tony Award-winning actor Ben Vereen leading a company of Venice Theatre performers in presenting the flags of the 13 nations represented at the festival and welcoming the crowd with “There’s No Business Like Show Business.” Fourteen theatre companies—from Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Latvia, New Zealand, South Africa, and USA—presented productions throughout the week. The festival began with a production of Crowns by Regina Taylor, from Delta Center Stage in Greenville, Mississippi, who had participated in the 2010 festival, as well. An awards ceremony on the final night celebrated the work of all the participating companies. [Photo: Germany's 2014 production of Franziska Stelof's Noah and the Flood, presented by Studio-Buhne Essen]
2018
From June 18-23, aactWORLDFEST welcomed performers, technicians, and attendees from 12 countries. Audiences experienced 13 productions, 18 workshops, and countless opportunities to interact with one another, share meals, learn about one another’s culture, and celebrate the power of theatre. Troupes from Italy, Zimbabwe, Armenia, Germany, Nepal, Israel, Ukraine, and Georgia joined two from the U.S.—Washington’s Tacoma Musical Playhouse and Denver’s Theatre Esprit Asia (now Insight Colab Theatre). Closing ceremonies included presentations of festival awards, as well as presentations from participating theatre companies and entertainment from the commedia dell’arte workshop.
The Festival Since 2020
2020
The 2020 festival, scheduled to be held June 22-27, fell victim to the Covid pandemic that was disrupting much of the world. International travel bans and visa uncertainties made it clear to festival organizers that they would not be able to get theatre troupes to Florida for the festival that year, and the event was cancelled.
2022
The festival returned to Venice Theatre in 2022, with performers from the USA, Germany, Brazil, Italy, Central Africa, France, Armenia, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Poland, Bangladesh, and Ukraine. Highlights included the puppets in the Armenian’s The Wolf; the stirring performance of Martin Luther King Jr’s speech in the American production of The Mountaintop, by Katori Hall (performed by the Lexington Players, Lexington, Massachusetts); the perfectly unison performances by two men from the Central African team; and the gender-swapped performance by a member of the German team. The United Kingdom’s group was perhaps the crowd favorite with its performance of A Man of No Importance, by Terrence McNally. Between the social events at the beach and the Afterglows each evening, there was no shortage of time for attendees to network with enthusiasts from as far away as Brazil, Africa, Poland and Germany. It was an exciting time for cultural conversations and appreciating the universality of theatre. [Photo: Poland’s Teatr Zapadnia production of Symbiosis in 2022]
2024
Just as the impact of Covid had waned, in September 2022, Hurricane Ian hit Florida and slammed into the 100-year-old back wall of the Venice Theatre main stage, destroying everything between it and the lobby. It would be another four years before the venue could host another international festival. [see article in the Summer 2024 issue of Spotlight magazine]
2026
aactWORLDFEST returned to the Venice Theatre June 15- 20, 2026—once again offering a world-wide, week-long festival of performances from around the globe, as well as workshops, parties, and networking opportunities. Performing groups represented Ghana, Israel, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland, UK, and Ukraine. Performers from the U.S. included Cazateatro Bilingual Theatre Group, Memphis, Tennessee; Mandi Theatre, Chicago, Illinois;
solo artist Ama Oforiwaa Aduonum, Normal, Illinois; and CreArte Latino Cultural Center, Sarasota, FL. After each performance, talkbacks gave audiences the chance to hear directly from the artists, ask questions, and learn more about each company's creative process. Those conversations often continued long after the sessions ended, spilling into the lobby, over dinner, and at the evening afterglows. “aactWORLDFEST is more than a theatre festival,” one attendee shared. “It's a chance to experience new cultures, learn from one another, and be reminded that community theatre has an incredible way of bringing people together.” [Photo: People’s Choice Award: Exposure, from the Scrambled Egg Theatre Company, from the United Kingdom]