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Tallahassee’s Theatre A La Carte Heads To National Competition

On March 7, Theatre A La Carte’s production of the musical Nine took top honors in the Southeastern Theatre Conference Community Theatre Festival, held in Birmingham, AL.  After winning at the state level last fall, the group advanced to the regional competition, a first for a community theatre from the Panhandle-Big Bend area.  The Southeastern region is the largest in the U.S., encompassing 10 states.  This year’s festival included 12 productions from 9 states.  In addition to Best Production, Theatre A La Carte also won awards for Outstanding Production Values and two acting awards, given to cast members Rachael Adams and Melinda Melendez.  Now the group is fundraising to cover the expenses of travelling to the national competition in Tacoma, WA, June 23-27

The rules and format for the community theatre festival are established by the American Association of Community Theatre.  Each production has 10 minutes to set up, 60 minutes to perform, and 10 minutes to strike (clear everything away).  Everything used in the show—sets, props, costumes—must begin and end in a designated 10-foot-by-10-foot area offstage.  This is especially challenging with a musical, because unique components like sound equipment, instruments, music stands and lights, power cords and speaker cables all have to fit in the 10 x 10 as well.

Theatre A La Carte presented the full-length version of Nine in Tallahassee in October 2008 as the opening production of its 2008-2009 season. The group has participated in the state festival several times over the past 10 years, but this was its first trip to the regional festival.  A national festival sponsored by the American Association of Community Theatre is held in odd-numbered years, and is the world’s preeminent community theatre festival. Theatre A La Carte company members are excited and proud to represent their city, state and region on the national stage. It will take a lot of effort and resources to get the show and company of approximately 40 people all the way across the country.  If you would like to help, tax-deductible donations toward the cost of travel, shipping and registration can be mailed to Theatre A La Carte, 1516 Copperfield Circle, Tallahassee, FL 32312, or made online using PayPal at www.theatrealacarte.org.  For additional information, call Eric Hurst at (850) 385-6700.

Theatre A La Carte has been producing contemporary musical theatre in Tallahassee since 1990.  Its next show will be the Tony Award-winning musical Titanic, a co-production with Tallahassee Little Theatre in July.

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