On Cue Newsletter

 

 

September 1-4, 2023 Conference Wrap Up 

Linda Roll, editor
llroll69@hotmail.com
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What a weekend. What a conference. The Southwest knows how to have a good time.

As co-chair of the conference, Peggy Kenney did an excellent job with keeping the whole thing in motion. Unfortunately, Robert Weidle, the other co-chair had some medical issues that took him away from his assistance, but he is on the mend and hopefully he will continue to get stronger.

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As in the past, there was an activity scheduled for anyone to take part in. Each day, there was a different activity that allowed people to collect stars for prizes. On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, there were hotel stays donated by various hotels in the area and each had an activity associated with it. All of the daily winners were still eligible to win the grand prize which was a 3-night stay in Gatlinburg, which was given by an anonymous donor. The winner of that stay was Ruth Crowley.

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The attendance this year was not as high as it has usually been for our region, but considering the state of theatre these past few years, it wasn’t bad. There were 226 people who registered for the full package, 95 for Saturday, 44 for Sunday, and 18 musicians. Out of these, there were 152 first time attendees. Sharon Buchtman and Judy Berrens had plenty of activities for them to participate in with one person winning a basket of goodies. It is hoped that a lot of them will return next year, even if they are not in an excerpt.

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Besides all of the excerpts, there were workshops scheduled on all aspects of theatre from acting, to technical elements, stage combat, and the administrative side of theatre. There were also workshops on how to write a play. One of the highlights of the weekend was a workshop by Richard Oberacker who not only gave a highlight of how a musical comes together but also a Musical Theatre Master Class. He worked with several individuals and offered in-depth advice and specific techniques on elevating the performance of a song into a unique expression of character. All who attended this workshop benefited from his expertise.

 

So, for those of you who don’t know, our region had 4 excerpts at the OCTA conference. In case you didn’t hear, here is the list of awards handed out to our groups. Congratulations to everyone on the awards.

 

KINKY BOOTS

 

JOHN MICHAEL DURNIL

MERIT IN ACTING AS GEORGE

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THE CAST

MERIT IN ENSEMBLE

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THE ORCHESTRA

EXCELLENCE IN MUSICAL ACCOMPANIMENT

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ROBERT BRESLIN

OUTSTANDING IN MUSICAL THEATRE PERFORMANCE AS CHARLIE PRICE

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GARRETT KLAAS

OUTSTANDING IN MUSICAL THEATRE PERFORMANCE AS LOLA/SIMON

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REBECCA WALL

OUTSTANDING IN MUSICAL THEATRE PERFORMANCE AS LAUREN

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A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER

 

CHAD BRINKMAN

OUTSTANDING IN DIRECTING

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ALAN MASTERS

OUTSTANDING IN MUSICAL DIRECTING

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AMANDA MARASCH

OUTSTANDING IN CHOREOGRAPHY

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THE CAST

OUTSTANDING IN ENSEMBLE

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THE CAST

OUTSTANDING IN VOCAL ENSEMBLE

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WAYNE WRIGHT

OUTSTANDING IN VARIETY PHYSICAL CHARACTERIZATION

 

 

KEN LUDWIG'S THE GODS OF COMEDY

DOUG BERLON

EXCELLENCE IN SOUND DESIGN

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JENNIFER DAY

OUTSTANDING IN DIRECTING

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THE CAST

OUTSTANDING IN ENSEMBLE

 

A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE

ELLIS QUINNE

MERIT IN ACTING AS RODOLPHO

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BURT MCCOLLOM

MERIT IN ACTING AS ALFIERI

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BRIANA KENNEDY

EXCELLENCE IN ACTING AS CATHERINE

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TOM PETERS

OUTSTANDING IN DIRECTION

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JONN BACA

OUTSTANDING IN FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHY

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KEITH CASSIDY

OUTSTANDING IN ACTING AS EDDIE CARBONE

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MARY STONE

OUTSTANDING IN ACTING AS BEATRICE CARBONE

 

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Each year, OCTA inducts people or theatre groups into the Hall of Fame. These nominations are for a lifetime of commitment to promoting theatre. It is an honor to announce that Burt McCollom was chosen to be inducted into the OCTA Hall of Fame. Those of you who have had the pleasure of either having him for a teacher, a director, or a fellow actor on stage, know that he is most deserving of this honor. Congratulations Burt.

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There were several theatres who were recognized for technical awards. Footlighters Inc., Loveland Stage Company and Village Players of Fort Thomas all received awards for their newsletters and Footlighters, Inc. also received awards for their website. There were no submissions from our region for set design or costumes, so if your theatre wishes to be considered for any of these competitions, check the OCTA website for information on what the requirements are for entering. We have some great technical work on our shows, so all you technical people, look into entering for 2024.

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Speaking of the 2024 conference, the theme was announced at the Monday brunch. The OCTA board are conference chairs and the theme is Thinking Outside the Box. Next year’s conference will be held at the Midland Theatre and Cherry Valley once again the hotel. Also at the 2024 conference, if you wish to be considered for the 2025 AACTfest, you MUST submit your theatre at this conference. Rules and regulations are/will be available on both the AACT and OCTA websites.

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ACT held their first meeting September 26 at St Rita’s. Rivertown Players in Lawrenceburg, Indiana was voted in as the newest theatre member. Welcome and know that we are all happy to have you. ACT meets the 4th Tuesday of each month except for December, July and August. Urge your ACT rep/alt to attend and make your theatre voice heard.

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The board approved the proposed budget presented by Jon Scheiding for the 2023-24 season. Jon is also working to get every board position a google email address and to move all to business to google workspace to provide continuity when new people assume the various positions. 

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The bylaws are still being updated by John Wesseling and Joy Sharp with a few submitted each meeting for approval by the member theatres. It is an ongoing process and John and Joy are doing a great job of updating them.

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ACT 1st VP, Amanda Emmons Shumate is looking into moving the ACT-OCTAFest from Parrish Auditorium. At this time, the person we have dealt with is retiring at the end of the year and the college is not signing any contracts until after January 1st.  Amanda is looking for a new venue that won’t be as far away for some of our groups to travel. Also, if this change comes about, she is also looking at hotels that will be large enough to host our annual banquet. Even though the Embassy Suites has been a good hotel, ACT has pretty much outgrown the facility. Hopefully she will have answers by the October meeting.

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2nd VP, Mark Culp reported on the number of shows that took place over the summer as well as those shows that are scheduled to open by the end of the year. He is placing responders with these shows and is always on the hunt for new people to train. If you or someone you know is interested in being a responder, submit your name. With the number of theatre and shows, this is a much-needed job. The bylaws state that each theatre must provide a responder candidate for each show they perform over the season.

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Amy Waldfogle is working on the annual awards and stated that Fairfield Footlighters, MERIT Theatre, Beechmont Players, and Mason Community Players on deck for committee. She is also chairing the education committee and has added Doug Bruening and Denise Schneiders to that committee. The idea behind this is to pair someone who wants to learn a skill, e.g., lighting, with a person who has that skill set. This is a valuable tool for everyone to become more educated on the various skills.

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Arlene Balzco who is working on the annual Scholarships has set the 1st Saturday in February as the date for the auditions with the 2nd Saturday as a snow date. More information will be coming. These scholarships are open to any student who is pursuing a college degree in theatre.

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Mary Stone has been doing an excellent job at marketing ACT. If you have been seeing a Show of the Week on Facebook, this is due to her. She is also keeping the website current and full of information. Be sure and check all of these out.

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ACT will be celebrating its 70th year in 2024-25.  When ACT celebrated 50 years, there was an updated history of ACT member groups. This is something that needs updating. So, please send a history of what has happened to your group in the past 20 years along with any pertinent information you want included. Send those histories to Linda Roll at llroll69@hotmail.com. This document will then be added to the website and kept with the history logs. There are also some missing years of history, so anything your group can add will be greatly appreciated. Just as an FYI, ACT was started in order to have a calendar so that there wouldn’t be more than one group presenting a show at any given time. Easy to do when there are only 13 groups doing one or two shows a season. Not so easy now with the number of theatres and shows that are being done.

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Thank you for being a part of Greater Cincinnati Theatre.

Any errors, mistakes or omissions are not intentional.

 

August, 2023

Linda Roll, editor
llroll69@hotmail.com
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Labor Day Weekend is fast approaching, and you know what that means? The Annual OCTA state conference. This year it is in Cincinnati, at the Holiday Inn Eastgate to be exact. We hope everyone has a chance to experience this event. The committee has been hard at work for a year putting all the events together. The final day you can register to attend  for the full effect is August 18. Click here to register. But remember, you have until Friday August 18th. This will allow you to see 16 excerpts, attend workshops, attend the Sunday Night Banquet and Monday Brunch. AND if you are your theatre’s delegate, you will attend the Delegate’s luncheon where you will vote for the people who are running to be on the OCTA board. After Friday, you can only register for single day events either on the website or at the door. All of this information can be found on the registration page.

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Now, why do you want to attend? Glad you asked. Because it is OCTA’s 70th anniversary, there will be a lot of fun things happening. OCTA will recognize those theatre groups who were the founding theatres of OCTA. Besides the excerpts and workshops, there are a lot of activities planned for the weekend. Take a look at the schedule and see what you will miss by NOT attending this year. Besides, it is in our own backyard, so why not attend?

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FRIDAY Celebrating the 50s and 60s

6:30 PM- 10:00pm Registration

7:00 PM WORKSHOP: OCTA Responder Training

7:00 PM WORKSHOP: Winning Your Next Audition

7:30 PM First Timers Meet & Greet

8:00 PM OCTA Pyramid

9:30 PM Sherry-O-Ke with Sherry McCamley (until Sherry wears out)

10:00 PM Card Games and Board Games

 

SATURDAY Celebrating the 70s, 80s, and 90s

7:00 AM- 10:00 AM Registration

8:00 AM First Timers Gathering

9:15 AM Excerpt 1 - Barefoot in the Park - Troy Civic Theatre

10:15 AM Excerpt 2 - The Children's Hour - Stow Players

11:00 AM Craft Vendors as long as inventory and energy permit!

11:15 AM Excerpt 3 - I'm Not Rappaport - Curtain Players

11:45 AM- 1:45PM Registration

12:00 PM WORKSHOP: Musical Theatre Master Class

12:00 PM WORKSHOP: OCTA Responder Training

12:00 PM WORKSHOP: Expand, Explore, Energize; Benefits of Original Works

12:00 PM WORKSHOP: Elements for the Experienced Actor

12:30 PM Delegates Meeting

1:00 PM WORKSHOP: Props and Set Décor

1:30 PM First Timers Gathering

2:00 PM Excerpt 4 - Kinky Boots - Cincinnati Music Theatre

3:00 PM Excerpt 5 - On the Exhale - Actors Collaborative Toledo

4:00 PM Excerpt 6 - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Actors Guild of Parkersburg

5:00 PM Excerpt 7 - Sordid Lives - Beavercreek Community Theatre

5:45PM- 7:45 PM Registration

6:00 PM WORKSHOP: OCTA Responder Training

6:00 PM WORKSHOP: Choreography Is Fun

6:30 PM Patron Reception

7:00 PM WORKSHOP: Birth of Musical - the Inside Scoop on How a New Musical Is Created

8:00 PM Excerpt 8 - Love, Loss and What I Wore - Coshocton Footlight Players

9:00 PM Excerpt 9 - Chicago - 3B Productions

10:00 PM Excerpt 10 - A Streetcar Named Desire - Toledo Reportoire Theatre

11:00 PM Slingo (until the hosts wear out)

Karaoke with Jesse Bernal (until Jesse wears out)

Card Games and Board Games

 

SUNDAY Celebrating the Millenium (2000 to 2023)

7:00 AM- 10:00 AM Registration

8:30 AM First Timers Gathering

9:00 AM Excerpt 11 – Ken Ludwig’s The Gods of Comedy - Mariemont Players, Inc.

10:00 AM Excerpt 12 - Tuesdays with Morrie - Little Theatre of Tuscarawas County

11:00 AM Excerpt 13 - A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder - Footlighters, Inc.

11:00 AM- 1:00 PM Registration

12:00 PM WORKSHOP: Musical Theatre Master Class

12:00 PM WORKSHOP: OCTA Responder Training

12:00 PM WORKSHOP: Playwrighting Improvisational

1:00 PM First Timers Meet

1:30 PM Excerpt 14 - Disenchanted - Bucyrus Little Theatre

2:30 PM Excerpt 15 - A View from the Bridge - Tri-County Players

3:30 PM Excerpt 16 - The Drowsy Chaperone - Little Theatre Off Broadway

4:00 PM Get ready for the highlight of the evening - Banquet/Recognitions/Dancing! Go Platinum! Wear Silver! Be sure to Sparkle!

8:00 PM Banquet/Recognitions/Dancing

11:00 PM Match Game Card Games and Board Games

 

MONDAY Celebrating the Future

9:00 AM OCTA Rep Board Meeting

10:00 AM WORKSHOP: Stage Management

10:00 AM WORKSHOP: Stage Combat

11:00 AM Brunch

Introduction of 2024 Conference

 

So as you can see, it will be a busy, fun-filled weekend.

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For those groups from our region who are excerpting, make sure all of your participants are registered, or they will not be allowed to perform. There was some confusion on whether there was a special rate for excerpting members. Shortly after our conference in June, an email was sent from Aara Wise to the directors of the 4 shows from our region. In that letter, there was a link to receive a discount on admission. This link could be found at the bottom of the email. It appears that the link was active at the time the email was sent. As regional reps, we should have been more diligent in advising all of our groups that there was a discount for cast and crew.

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Now, what is happening on the local scene.

The ACT executive board has met and has looked at the budget needs for next year. The first meeting of the current season is Tuesday, September 26, 2023, 7:30 PM at St Rita’s; 1720 Glendale Milford Rd, Evendale OH. At that time, the budget and other necessary items will be brought up for discussion and vote as necessary. All groups should have received their dues notice. Remember, no member group is allowed to vote until the dues are paid. Make sure your group treasurer has paid those by then.

There are a lot of things to be discussed at this meeting and every group needs to be represented. Make sure you have a delegate plus an alternate selected to be at that meeting.

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There have been a few summer shows already and a lot of fall shows coming up. The responder program is going full force under Mark Culp’s capable hands. He is still looking for more people who would like to be considered as responders. If you or someone you know wants more information, contact Mark at actjudge@gmail.com.

 

Mary Stone still needs the venue information form filled out from 8 groups. This form outlines what resources your group has, e.g., own building, light system, sound system, etc… to post to the ACT website as a resource for our responders to reference. PLEASE send in this valuable information about your group by emailing Mary Stone at CincyACTweb@gmail.com.

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That is it for now. More coming after Labor Day.

 

Any errors, mistakes or omissions are not intentional.

Thanks to all of you for being a part of Greater Cincinnati theatre.

 

 

June, 2023-ACT/OCTAFest wrap up

Linda Roll, editor
llroll69@hotmail.com
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What a great 2 days of theatre. The Southwest region held the annual ACT/OCTAFEST June 16-17 at Parrish Auditorium on the Hamilton campus of Miami University. 

The Fest kicked off with the OCTA portion of the activities. This year one of the OCTA responders had a family emergency, so the following adjustments were made. Aara Wise became the OCTAfest Chair and Joe Barton stepped in as the replacement, joining Bruce Jacklin and Deb Wentz. Originally there were 12 excerpts scheduled, but one group had to withdraw at the last minute. There is 1 chosen for every 4 theaters participating plus an alternate. All of the groups brought very strong shows and the responders had a difficult time selecting the awards and decide which groups would attend the OCTA STATE CONFERENCE over Labor Day Weekend.

97 awards were handed out by the responders at the Saturday night banquet.

These awards are listed below.

Tri-County Players' A View From The Bridge

THE CAST

OUTSTANDING IN ENSEMBLE

 

MARY STONE

OUTSTANDING IN ACTING AS BEATRICE CARBONE

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KEITH CASSIDY

OUTSTANDING IN ACTING AS EDDIE CARBONE

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TOM PETERS

OUTSTANDING IN DIRECTION

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JONN BACA

EXCELLENCE IN FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHY

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THURMAN ALLEN

EXCELLENCE IN ACTING AS MARCO

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ELLIS QUINNE

MERIT IN ACTING AS RUDOLPHO

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Mariemont Players' Ken Ludwig's The Gods of Comedy 

ERIC DAY

OUTSTANDING IN ACTING AS DIONYSUS

 

THE CAST

EXCELLENCE IN ENSEMBLE

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JENNIFER DAY

EXCELLENCE IN DIRECTION

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ELAINE MICHAEL

EXCELLENCE IN COSTUMES

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NATASHA BOECKMANN

MERIT IN ACTING AS THALIA

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DEBBI BERLON

MERIT IN ACTING AS DEAN TRICKETT

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ASHLEY HERBERT

MERIT IN ACTING AS BROOKLYN

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ANNA HAZARD

MERIT IN ACTING AS DAPHNE

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ALEX SALDANO

MERIT IN ACTING AS ARES

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CenterStage Players' The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later

TOBIE BRAVERMAN

MERIT IN ACTING AS CATHERINE CONNOLLY

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JOEL LIND

MERIT IN ACTING AS DAVE O'MALLEY

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BETTY COULTER

MERIT IN ACTING AS MARGE MURRAY

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FRED HUNT

MERIT IN AUDIOVISUAL

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CHRIS VASSAUX

MERIT IN AUDIOVISUAL

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Cincinnati Music Theatre's Kinky Boots

GARRETT KLASS

OUTSTANDING IN MUSICAL THEATRE PERFORMANCE AS LOLA/SIMON

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REBECCA WALL

OUTSTANDING IN MUSICAL THEATRE PERFORMANCE AS LAUREN

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ROBERT BRESLIN

OUTSTANDING IN DUET PERFORMANCE FOR NOT MY FATHER'S SON

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GARRETT KLASS

OUTSTANDING IN DUET PERFORMANCE FOR NOT MY FATHER'S SON

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JULES BRESLIN

OUTSTANDING IN CHOREOGRAPHY

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MATT SANTELER

OUTSTANDING IN SET DESIGN

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THE KINKY BOOTS BAND

OUTSTANDING IN ORCHESTRAL PERFORMANCE

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JAMIE SIVRAIS

MERIT IN ACTING AS DON

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ROBERT BRESLIN

EXCELLENCE IN VOCAL PERFORMANCE

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AUBREY E. WILSON

OUTSTANDING IN DIRECTION

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JOHN MICHAEL DURNILL

MERIT IN ACTING AS GEORGE

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ALAN MASTERS

OUTSTANDING IN MUSICAL DIRECTION

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MADELAINE WILKERSON

OUTSTANDING IN VOCAL DIRECTION

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MADELAINE WILKERSON

OUTSTANDING IN WIGS AND HAIR

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SIERRA MAGILL

OUTSTANDING IN WIGS AND HAIR

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Sunset Players' Be My Baby

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DENNIS MURPHY

MERIT IN ACTING AS JOHN CAMPBELL

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ELAINE MICHAEL

MERIT IN ACTING AS MAUD KINCH

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MICHEAL KISER

MERIT IN  DOOR MALFUNTION AD-LIB AS DIMETRI

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Village Players of Fort Thomas' Holidazed

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BILL BROHAUGH

EXCELLENCE IN ORIGINAL PLAY

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LISA HOLT

EXCELLENCE IN ORIGINAL PLAY

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A.K. FORBES

EXCELLENCE IN ORIGINAL PLAY

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ERIC THOMAS

EXCELLENCE IN ORIGINAL PLAY

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STEPHANIE KLEIN GARVEY

EXCELLENCE IN ACTING AS BOY/AMY NOELLE

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WAYNE KIRSCH

EXCELLENCE IN ACTING AS SCROOGE

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ARNY STOLLER

OUTSTANDING IN ACTING AS NARRATOR

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STEPHANIE KLEIN GARVEY

EXCELLENCE IN TRIO ENSEMBLE ACTING

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WAYNE KIRSCH

EXCELLENCE IN TRIO ENSEMBLE ACTING

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ARNY STOLLER

EXCELLENCE IN TRIO ENSEMBLE ACTING

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LINDA ROLL

EXCELLENCE IN COSTUMES

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STEPHANIE KLEIN GARVEY

EXCELLENCE IN COSTUMES

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MARK WALDFOGLE

EXCELLENCE IN ACTING AS WINTER

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ANGELA KLOCKE FORBES

MERIT IN DIRECTING

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ROSE VANDEN EYNDEN

MERIT IN ACTING AS JOAN

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Footlighters, Inc.'s A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder

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CHAD BRINKMAN

OUTSTANDING IN DIRECTING

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ALAN MASTERS

OUTSTANDING IN MUSIC DIRECTION

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FORREST GOODWIN

OUTSTANDING IN SOUND

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AMANDA MARASCH

OUTSTANDING IN CHOREOGRAPHY

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THE ORCHESTRA

OUTSTANDING IN ORCHESTRAL PERFORMANCE

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WAYNE WRIGHT

OUTSTANDING IN MUSICAL THEATRE PERFORMANCE AS D'YSQUITH FAMILY

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THE CAST

OUTSTANDING IN ENSEMBLE

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JENNIFER DAY

OUTSTANDING AS PRODUCER

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CATHY LUTTS

OUTSTANDING AS PRODUCER

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KRISTIE MARASCH

OUTSTANDING IN COSTUMES

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CAROLYN MARTINEZ

OUTSTANDING IN COSTUMES

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CHAD BRINKMAN

OUTSTANDING IN SET DESIGN

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THE CAST 

OUTSTANDING IN VOCAL ENSEMBLE

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ALEX DEVORE

OUTSTANDING IN TRIO PERFORMANCE AS MONTY/SIBELLA/PHOEBE

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DELANEY O'TOOLE

OUTSTANDING IN TRIO PERFORMANCE AS MONTY/SIBELLA/PHOEBE

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HOPE PAULY

OUTSTANDING IN TRIO PERFORMANCE AS MONTY/SIBELLA/PHOEBE

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The Drama Workshop's Radium Girls

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THE CAST

MERIT IN ENSEMBLE

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AMANDA BORCHERS

EXCELLENCE IN COSTUMES

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ADAM BORCHERS

EXCELLENCE IN SET DESIGN

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DENNIS MURPHY

EXCELLENCE IN COSTUMES

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COLLETTE THOMAS

MERIT IN TRIO ACTING ENSEMBLE IRENE, KATHRYN, AND GRACE

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CASSANDRA HOMAN-WALL

MERIT IN TRIO ACTING ENSEMBLE IRENE, KATHRYN, AND GRACE

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IZZ ALLISON

MERIT IN TRIO ACTING ENSEMBLE IRENE, KATHRYN, AND GRACE

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Loveland Stage Company's Twelfth Night

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JOE SIMMONS

EXCELLENCE IN ACTING AS MALVOLIO

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MIKE YARICK

EXCELLENCE IN MUSICAL THEATRE PERFORMANCE AS FESTE

 

KIYA FIX

EXCELLENCE IN DIRECTORIAL CONCEPT

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THE CAST

EXCELLENCE IN ENSEMBLE

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KATE ARNOLD

EXCELLENCE IN COSTUMES

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BECKY JONES

EXCELLENCE IN COSTUMES

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Beechmont Players' The Matchmaker

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KATHY BEITING

EXCELLENCE IN COSTUMES

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ADRIA BENTLEY

EXCELLENCE IN COSTUMES

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FAYE CRAWFORD

EXCELLENCE IN COSTUMING

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ZAK SLEMMER

EXCELLENCE IN ACTING AS BARNABY

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MICHAEL BLESSING

MERIT IN ACTING AS CORNELIUS

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JODY HART

MERIT IN ACTING AS DOLLY

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THE CAST

MERIT IN ENSEMBLE

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ZAK SLEMMER

MERIT IN DUET ACTING PERFORMANCE

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MICHAEL BLESSING

MERIT IN DUET ACTING PERFORMANCE

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Mason Community Players' Nunsense

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THE MONK-EE'S BAND

MERIT IN ORCHESTRAL PERFORMANCE

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JULIE POUX

MERIT IN MUSICAL THEATRE PERFORMANCE AS REV. MOTHER

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WES LEDYARD

EXCELLENCE IN PUPPET DESIGN

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KELLEY FLAUGHER

EXCELLENCE IN MUSICAL THEATRE DUET AS SR. MARY AMNESIA

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SISTER MARY ANNETTE

EXCELLENCE IN MUSICAL THEATRE DUET AS SR. MARY ANNETTE

 

The three shows chosen to attend the Labor Day conference are:

A Gentleman’s Guide To Love And Murder, A View From The Bridge, and Kinky Boots. The alternate show is Ken Ludwig's The Gods Of Comedy.

Congratulations to all the groups.

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What is an Orchid Award and how are they chosen you might ask? In the early days of ACT, orchids were given to females attending the first banquets. Today Orchid awards are given to those people who were nominated by at least 2 of 3 adjudicators who were assigned to see a certain production during the season. They can nominate people in 23 performance or production areas who exhibited excellent or outstanding performance in their craft. 

This year, there were 60 shows with a total of 1,298 nominations and 534 Orchid awards given to the theatres that make up ACT of Cincinnati.

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Besides Orchid awards, there were several other awards given Saturday night.

A split the pot raffle was conducted throughout the weekend. The total raised was $1,525 and Traci Taylor was the recipient of $763. Thanks to Mary Stone and to all the people who bought tickets.

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RISING STAR AWARDS

These recognize those people from the various theatres who lend their talents to their group. These awards are called the Rising Star awards. This year, the following were recognized:

Emily Nickles – Acting Up

Mary Jo Bissmeyer - Beechmont Players 

Zak Kelley- CenterStage Players

John Michael Durnil- Cincinnati Music Theatre

Megan Horton - The Footlighters, Inc.

Poleena Greely - INNOVATheatre

Pettrina Barresi – Loveland Stage Company

Kelly Holtgrefe – Mariemont Players​

Dana Davis – Mason Community Players

Nick Dunker - Sunset Players

Chris & Amy Evers – The Drama Workshop

 

Fred Hunt, ACT president, presented the President's Award to Amy Waldfogle . She has worked to create a mentor list to pair people who want to learn a technical skill with someone who will mentor that person.

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The OCTA Spirit of Community Theatre award was given to Kent Smith and Cathy Lutts. This award is given by OCTA on recommendation of the theatre group for contributions to not only their theatre, but also to the entire theatre community. 

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The most revered awards were also presented Saturday night. The Art Rouse award is given to a person who has shown exceptional commitment and dedication to community theatre. The Mario Pitocco award is given to a person who has shown continuous service in creative technical theater. The Roger Grooms award is given to a person who has demonstrated dedication to raising the artistic quality through active teaching and/or through sustained excellence in directing, acting, choreography, musical or vocal direction. Each theatre has the opportunity to nominate someone who they think exemplifies those qualities. From those nominees, a committee made up of the past year's winners as well as a members selected from a revolving list of all theatres in ACT make the final selection of who will receive the honor. 

The 2023 recipients are Judy Berrens, George Fee and Charles Wilhelm, respectively. 

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There are seven scholarships given to deserving college students who are pursuing a bachelor's degree in the performing arts. These students audition for the scholarships and are selected based on long standing criteria by a 5-member panel of adjudicators. The scholarship winners are:

The Dee Wacksman Memorial Scholarship-CARSON MEHLBAUER-CCM -2,500

ACT Cincinnati Scholarship-CLAIRE M. NORTHCUT -Wright State University-1,000

The Dorothy and Frank Weber Memorial Scholarship-MALLORY STILES-Miami University -1,000

Robert and Helen Booth Family Memorial Scholarship-TIERRA LONDON RUSH-Xavier University -1,000

The Susann Q. Royalty Performing Arts Scholarship-JULIA (JUNO) BROSAS-Wright State University-500

The Freshman Performing Arts Scholarship-LILIA VILLAFLOR-CCM-350

The Charles Avery Keystone Technical Scholarship-ROBERT CHALK-CCM-$1,000

Congratulations to all of the recipients.

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Unfortunately this past year, our theatre community experienced the death of some very talented people. They will be greatly missed. Those people are:

Keith Gabbard, Bev Harber, Carol Hunt, Dava Lynn, Steve Myers, Tom Storey, Jack Wagner, Peter Wieglin, Ginny Weil

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Here are the 2022-2023 ACT board members.

Fred Hunt-President

Cathy Lutts-1st Vice President

Mark Culp-2nd Vice President

Kate Coyne-Chailland & Betsy Obermeyer-Recording Secretary

Jon Scheiding-Treasurer

Amy Waldfogle-Awards

Melissa M. Smith-Scholarships

Jacqlyn Schott-Long Range Judging

Linda Roll-Convention Pre-Registration Chair

Linda Roll-Librarian, Historian, Newsletter Editor

Mary Stone-Publicity, Marketing

John Wesseling-Membership, By-Laws Co-Chair

Joy Sharp-By-Laws Co-Chair

 

At the May meeting, the membership elected the 2023-2024 board

Fred Hunt- President

Amanda Emmons Shumate- 1st Vice President

Mark Culp- 2nd Vice President

Betsy Obermeyer- Recording Secretary

Jon Scheiding- Treasurer

Amy Waldfogle- Awards

Arlene Balzco- Scholarships

Betsy Obermeyer- Long Range Judging

Linda Roll-Librarian, Historian, Newsletter Editor, Convention Pre-Registration (appointed)

Mary Stone- Marketing, Publicity

John Wesseling- Membership, By-Laws Co-Chair

Joy Sharp- By-Laws Co-Chair

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The 2023 OCTAfest  conference will be held in Cincinnati with Peggy Kenney and Robert Weidle as Co-Conference chairs. They are looking for volunteers to be on the planning committee. This year the conference will take place September 1-4 at the Holiday Inn Eastgate.  OCTA will celebrate its 70th Anniversary, so the theme celebrates that milestone. The theme this year is A MILLION STARS-PLATINUM JUBILEE.

Since it is here, we hope that many of you will choose to stay at the hotel. We have a minimum number of room nights that we have to book in order to have free use of the meeting rooms and the theatre space. So, stay if you can, even if only 1 night. (If a person books for the entire weekend, that counts as 3 room nights)

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For years OCTA has tried to locate a theater where the excerpts could be held. This is not an easy task. You might wonder if there were local schools that would allow us use of their facilities. There is one problem concerning schools. You may get them to agree to this, but buyer beware. If a school event or even a community event wants to use the school, we would be cancelled. This is too big an event to have to scramble at the last minute to find an alternate location. Several years ago, a local school that was just a few minutes away from the hotel was willing to let us use their theater. About 1 month after the agreement was reached, we were informed that there would be a football tournament that weekend and unfortunately, there would not be parking space to accommodate our event. OCTA does keep trying and hope to someday be able to have a theater space for the excerpts.

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ACT will soon be celebrating 70 years of existence in a few years, so please start sending any new items about your group, or if you are a new group to ACT, send your information on how you were formed.  Send to llroll69@hotmail.com. 

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Thank you if you have made it to the end of this newsletter. 

Any errors, mistakes or omissions are not intentional.

Thanks to all of you for being a part of Greater Cincinnati theatre.

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OCTA CONFERENCE Sept- 2022

Linda Roll, editor
llroll69@hotmail.com
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What a great weekend of theatre. It was the first time since Covid struck that this has been held and as usual, it was full of excerpts, workshops, food, drink, games and reconnecting with theatre friends from around the state.

 The OCTA Conference took place Labor Day weekend at the Cherry Valley Hotel in Newark, Ohio.

The weekend kicked off on Friday night with a carnival. Each region set up carnival games and encouraged people to play. Peggy Kenney was responsible for the Southwest games. There was a beanbag toss into basketball style hoops and a ping pong ball toss. People received entry coupons upon successful completion of each game. These were placed into a jar and winners were drawn every half hour. Peggy extends thanks to everyone who donated prizes to the booth and a special thank you to Kent Smith who trucked the equipment to Newark. Kevin Noll and his wife brought a cotton candy machine, which was a great hit.

There were also ring toss games, a balloon dart game, a cornhole toss game, a fish bowl toss game and a beanbag toss game. There was also popcorn from a popcorn machine.

A fun time was had by all.

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There were 13 excerpts scheduled Saturday and Sunday.

All of the Southwest excerpts were scheduled on Saturday. Below is a list of excerpts and the awards each received. Congratulations to all the theatres and awards.

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Tri-County Players  The Women Of Lockerbie:

CINDY MILLER: MERIT IN ACTING AS OLIVE ALLISON

SHARON ROSE TYAHUR: MERIT IN ACTING AS HATTIE

DARREN LEE:  MERIT IN ACTING AS BILL LIVINGSTON

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The Drama Workshop Bright Star:

DENNIS MURPHY: EXCELLENCE IN DIRECTING

JASON COX:  EXCELLENCE IN SOUND DESIGN

DENNIS MURPHY:  EXCELLENCE IN COSTUMES

LINDA ABBOTT: EXCELLENCE IN ORCHESTRA

MARISA BANES: EXCELLENCE IN ORCHESTRA

PAUL BREHM: EXCELLENCE IN ORCHESTRA

CHRIS TAYLOR: EXCELLENCE IN ORCHESTRA

CAST OF BRIGHT STAR:  EXCELLENCE IN ENSEMBLE

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INNOVATheatre Freaky Friday (Youth Show):

MAX FOX:  MERIT IN MUSICAL PERFORMANCE AS KATHERINE BLAKE

CAST OF FREAKY FRIDAY:  MERIT IN ENSEMBLE

CAST OF FREAKY FRIDAY:  MERIT IN SUCCESSFUL PROMOTION IN POSITIVE BODY IMAGE

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Mariemont Players The Outsider:

 CAST OF THE OUTSIDER: EXCELLENCE IN ENSEMBLE

DOUGLAS BERLON:  EXCELLENCE IN DIRECTING

 

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There were a lot of workshops scheduled over Saturday and Sunday as well. Topics were varied and covered all areas of theatre from the technical, to acting, directing and administration.

Dee Anne Bryll was the workshop leader to train new responders. All 4 of the people who signed up to take this workshop passed with flying colors. Congratulations to Forest and Pamela Fairley from Southwest who are new OCTA responders.

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There were lots of other rewards presented over the weekend.

Travel Award: 

INNOVATHEATRE: ART ROUSE TRAVEL AWARD-36 people travelling 147 miles

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Production Awards:

FOOTLIGHTERS INC. Something Rotten!

Ryan Oelker:  EXCELLENCE IN SET DESIGN

Faye Crawford:  OUTSTANDING IN INDIVIDUAL COSTUME DESIGN

Carolyn Martinez: OUTSTANDING IN OVERALL COSTUME DESIGN

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CINCINNATI MUSIC THEATRE: Pricilla Queen of the Desert

Elaine Michael, Cathy Ross, & Crew: EXCELLENCE IN INDIVIDUAL COSTUME DESIGN

 

Web Design:

ACT Cincinnati

MARY STONE: OUTSTANDING IN GRAPHIC DESIGN

BELLKISS ABRIL-ROMAN: OUTSTANDING IN GRAPHIC DESIGN

MARY STONE:  EXCELLENCE IN NAVIGATION

BELLKISS ABRIL-ROMAN: EXCELLENCE IN NAVIGATION

MARY STONE: OUTSTANDING IN DIGITAL MEDIA USE

BELLKISS ABRIL-ROMAN: OUTSTANDING IN DIGITAL MEDIA USE

MARY STONE: EXCELLENCE IN REGIONAL REPRESENTATION

BELLKISS ABRIL-ROMAN: EXCELLENCE IN REGIONAL REPRESENTATION

  

Newsletter Awards

Footlighters, Inc-Libretto

ERICA BEIMESCHE, EDITOR: EXCELLENCE IN SPECIAL INFORMATION: "CURTAIN UP!," "HAVE A SEAT," "A NOTE FROM OUR PRESIDENT," AND "BIRTHDAYS."

ERICA BEIMESCHE, EDITOR: EXCELLENCE IN OCTA NEWS AND USE OF GRAPHICS/PICTURES

ERICA BEIMESCHE, EDITOR: EXCELLENCE IN LAYOUT, WRITING, AND OVERALL QUALITY

 

The Village Players                                                                               

PEGGY KENNEY & SHARON SHELTON, EDITORS: EXCELLENCE IN USE OF GRAPHICS/PICTURES AND LAYOUT

PEGGY KENNEY & SHARON SHELTON, EDITORS: EXCELLENCE IN OCTA NEWS

PEGGY KENNEY & SHARON SHELTON, EDITORS: EXCELLENCE IN SPECIAL INFORMATION: "SPOTLIGHT" AND "VINTAGE STORIES

 

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This year, Dave Meyers from Sunset Players was inducted into the OCTA Hall of Fame. Dave’s family as well as John Wesseling were on hand to accept the award. Anyone who knew or worked with Dave knows that this award was well deserved. 

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The President has the option to present an award to someone who has gone above and beyond in performing duties assigned to him/her. This year, the recipient was John Masterson from Southwest. John has worked on the treasury committee for a number of years and has manned the Silent Auction room at the OCTA conference as well as the OCTA table at our regional.   Congratulation John.

                                                                               

AACT has an award that is presented for service to community theatre.

This year the Robert E. Gard Superior Volunteer Award was presented to Ron and Freida Houck for their 25 plus years of work and dedication to the Footlighters, Inc.  Congratulations to both of them.

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At the delegates luncheon on Saturday, nominations for board positions were presented. Judy Berrens was voted in for a 2 year term on the OCTA board. She will join Wayne Kirsch, Carissa Slone, Denise Schneiders, Ray Lebowski, Robert Weidle and Peggy Kenney. At the board meeting on Monday morning, Wayne Kirsch was elected President and Carissa Sloan was elected 2nd Vice President -heading MMPR. Congratulations to both of them.

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The Regional Representatives for the coming year are Kevin Noll, John Masterson and Linda Roll. Please, if you are interested in serving our region, talk to Kevin and let him know.

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The final event of the weekend was the introduction of the theme for the 2023 conference which will be held in the Southwest at the Holiday Inn Hotel in Eastgate. Peggy Kenney and Robert Weidle are the co-chairs for the event.  2023 will be OCTA’s 70th anniversary. The theme for the conference is OCTA 2023 Platinum Jubilee-A Million Stars.   

Please let Peggy or Robert know if you are interested in working on the committee. Let’s all pull together to make this as outstanding as all of the conferences held in Cincinnati.                                                                   

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Any errors, mistakes or omissions are not intentional.

Thanks to all of you for being a part of Greater Cincinnati theatre.

 

 

 

 

June 2022 Linda Roll, editor
llroll69@hotmail.com
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It is so good to be back live once again! It has been a very long time since we have been together. 

On June 17-18, the theatre excerpts were once again held at Miami University's Hamilton Campus in Parrish Auditorium. Everyone was excited to once again have the OCTA regional/ACT Fest.  Special recognition goes to Amanda Emmons Shumate, ACT's 1st VP, for her excellent job in making sure that everything was in place. Gary Rogers was once again the stage manager and creator of the Memorial video and also the Rouse/Pitocco/Grooms award video. Eric Bardes handled technical aspects of the excerpts. Joy Sharp once again handled pre-registration as she has for the past 20 years. And especially to all of the member groups for tackling the various jobs needed to make this event work. We are the ONLY region in Ohio where every group does its part. We are very blessed to have this community of theatres.

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For those of you who wonder about this festival, OCTA is the reason we have the excerpts. The number of excerpts determines the number of entries each region will send to the state OCTAFest over Labor Day Weekend. Each region receives 1 theatre for every 4 theatres who participate. This year, our region had 8 entries, so therefore, 2 were selected to attend the state festival and 1 alternate was also selected. 

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OCTA sends 3 adjudicators, who watch the excerpts, give feedback immediately after the presentation, and then meet to decide who/what gets awards and to pick the shows that will excerpt. The adjudicators this year were Jerry Zimmerman, Pat Potter, and Kathy Hyland. Each group will also receive written feedback from these people so they can see what each had to say about the presentation. These awards are then presented at the banquet on Saturday night. Also in attendance from OCTA were Jesse Bernal, President; Joe Barton, OCTAFest chair; Jane Mancini; and Aara Wise, volunteer Administrative Assistant. Thanks also to our regional OCTA board members, Peggy Kenney, Carissa Sloan, Dan Maloney, Wayne Kirsch, Ray Lebowski and to our OCTA regional representatives Kevin Noll, Denise Schnieders, John Masterson, and Amy Sullivan. Your dedication to the Southwest Region is greatly appreciated.

 

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At the banquet on Saturday night, the winners of Orchid awards were announced. There were a total of 998 nominations in the various categories and 503 Orchid awards. To see the whole list of shows and the breakdown of the various nominations in each category, go to our Orchid Awards page. 

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Besides Orchid awards, there were several other awards given Saturday night.

A split the pot raffle was conducted throughout the weekend. The total raised was $1,440 and congratulations goes to Lisa Hunt who was the recipient of $720.

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In order to recognize those people from various theatres who go lend their talents to the group. These awards are called the Rising Star awards.

 

This year, the following were recognized:

Jake Hart - Mariemont Players

Sophie Grant - TDW

James Major - Acting Up

Molly Sexton - CMT

Stephanie Mackris - Loveland

Katie Werner - Mason Community Players

Parker Culp - CenterStage Players

 

Dan Maloney, ACT president, presented the ACT President's Award. This year, two people received this award: Mary Stone, who as Publicity Chair worked on updating the website, and Joy Sharp who handled pre-registration. Congratulations to both of them.

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As mentioned above, the OCTA Spirit of Community Theatre awards were presented to Elaine Volker from The Drama Workshop and Amanda Emmons Shumate from Footlighters. This award is given by OCTA on recommendation of their theatre for contributions to not only their theatre, but also to the entire theatre community. 

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The most revered awards were also presented Saturday night. The Art Rouse Award is given to a person who has shown exceptional commitment and dedication to community theatre. The Mario Pitocco Award is given to a person who has shown continuous service in creative technical theater. The Roger Grooms Award is given to a person who has demonstrated dedication to raising the artistic quality through active teaching and/or through sustained excellence in directing, acting, choreography, musical or vocal direction. Each theatre has the opportunity to nominate someone who they think exemplifies those qualities. From those nominees, a committee made up of the past year's winners as well as a members selected from a revolving list of all theatres in ACT make the final selection of who will receive the honor. 

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The 2022 recipients are Bunny Arszman, Elaine Michael and Danny Davies, respectively. 

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There were eight scholarships given to deserving college students who are pursuing a bachelor's degree in the performing arts. These students audition for the scholarships and are selected by a 5 member panel of adjudicators based on long standing criteria.

 

The scholarship winners are:

The Dee Wacksman Memorial Scholarship-Lizzie K. Sundstorm- Xavier University- $2,500

ACT of Greater Cincinnati, Inc.  Scholarship-Claire M. Northcut-Wright State University- $1,000

The Robert and Helen Booth Family Memorial Scholarship-Julia N. Brosas-Wright State University-$1,000

The Dorothy and Frank Weber Memorial Scholarship-Evan N. Kupersmith-UC-CCM- $1,000

The Carol Mills Memorial Scholarship-Taylor Greny-Wright State University- $800

The Susann Q. Royalty Performing Arts Scholarship-Chloe O. Esmeier-Northern Kentucky University- $500

The Freshman Performing Arts Scholarship- Emma Massey- Wright State University- $350

The Freshman Performing Arts Scholarship-Wyatt H. Toloczko-UC-CCM- $350

Congratulations to all of the recipients.

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Unfortunately, in the years that our theatres were dark, our theatre community experienced the death of some very talented people. They will be greatly missed.

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2019-2020

Jonathan Boerner, John Marwede, Steve Suddendorf, Muriel Foster, Jack Williams, Russ D. McGee

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2020-2021

Sandra Kraft, Darnell "Daray Lorez" Hunter, David Spitzfaden, John Haskamp, Irma Lewis

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2021-2022

Jim Hall, Aaron Losey (Tyrese Rainz), Daniel Brewer, Don Haas, Mick McLean, Ed Spencer, Jerry Viox, Judith Howe Sarakatsannis, Carol Kirby, Bob Elkins, Connie Hatfield, Bonnie Schanz

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Now, on to the ACT board. Due to the pandemic, the board voted to have the current officers remain in their positions for another year. That meant that those people who were already in their final year on the board (each is elected to a 3 year term) served 4 years. Thank you all for going above and beyond the call.

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The 2021-2022 ACT board

Dan Maloney-President

Amanda Emmons Shumate-1st Vice President

Fred Hunt-2nd Vice President

Kate Coyne-Chailland-Recording Secretary

Amelia Burke-Treasurer

Dennis Murphy-Awards

Melissa M. Smith-Scholarships

Laureen Catlin-Long Range Judging

Joy Sharp-Convention Pre-Registration Chair

Linda Roll-Librarian, Historian, Newsletter Editor

Mary Stone-Publicity

John Wesseling-Membership

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At the May meeting, the membership elected the 2022-2023 board

Fred Hunt-President

Cathy Lutts-1st Vice President

Mark Culp-2nd Vice President

Kate Coyne-Chailland-Recording Secretary

Amy Waldfogle-Awards

Melissa M. Smith-Scholarships

TBD-Long Range Judging

TBD-Convention Pre-Registration Chair

Linda Roll-Librarian, Historian, Newsletter Editor

Mary Stone-Publicity

John Wesseling-Membership

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The 2023 OCTAFest will be held in Cincinnati with Peggy Kenney and Robert Weidle as Co-Conference chairs. They are looking for volunteers to be on the planning committee.

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Also, at the OCTAFest this September, the theme is a circus theme and each region will be responsible for setting up 3 Midway games. Peggy Kenney is asking for prize donations for winners of our 3 games, such as a bottle of wine, a gift card, etc. So she is reaching out to the theatre groups and individuals to supply these prizes.  

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If you have not gone to the ACT website and looked at the changes that have been made, go take a look. It has been a while since any significant changes were made to the website. What you will see is due to the work that is being done by Mary Stone. She has put in many hours and lots of work making the improvements you see on the site. Thank you Mary for all of your work. It is greatly appreciated.

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One last thing, over the years, some ACT history was unfortunately destroyed. If you or your group have any photos that you would be willing to scan and send, it would be greatly appreciated. These will be added to the website and stored in the history notes.  

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Also, ACT will soon be celebrating 70 years of existence in a few years, so please start sending any new items about your group, or if you are a new group to ACT, send  your information on how you were formed.  Send to llroll69@hotmail.com. 

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Thank you if you have made it to the end of this newsletter. Let's all hope that we never have to go through what we have in the past few years, but know that if we do, we will survive.

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Any errors, mistakes, or omissions are not intentional.

Thanks to all of you for being a part of Greater Cincinnati theatre.