American Association of Community Theatre

The American Association of Community Theatre (also known as AACT) is a nonprofit corporation founded in 1986 to be the voice of community theater in the United States. Located in Lago Vista, Texas, the AACT represents over 7,000 theaters and 1 million volunteers. These theaters produce over 45,000 productions each year, entertaining over 7.5 million people, and also provide educational and community outreach programs.

The AACT groups member theaters into ten regions, many of which have their own state or regional theater organizations, such as the Eastern Massachusetts Association of Community Theaters (EMACT) which represents over 40 community theaters in eastern Massachusetts.

Mission Statement

The mission statement of AACT is:

::'The mission of the American Association of Community Theatre is to foster and encourage the development of, and commitment to, the highest standards by community theatres, including standards of excellence for production, management, governance, community relations and service.'

AACT Festival

Every year community theaters throughout the United States participate in local competitions, known as festivals. These competitions provide a way for the theaters to stage short productions that are adjudicated by professionals in the theater industry. These productions are typically cuttings, or scaled down parts of a production that the theater staged during its current season. The winners of these local competitions are invited to participate in regional festivals, and every two years the AACT hosts a national festival, known as AACTFest, where the regional winners compete. These festivals are always open to the public, and provide an excellent way to watch a number of amateur productions over a period of a few days.

The AACT publishes a strict set of rules for participation in AACTFest, and these same rules have been adopted by most of the regional and local festivals. The rules are designed to ensure that the festivals are run efficiently and safely. Examples of these rules include:

* A show must not run longer than 60 minutes. If a theater wishes to stage a show that runs more than 60 minutes then it must perform a cutting of the show that runs less than 60 minutes. Festival stage managers time shows to ensure they do not exceed this alloted time. A show that runs even one second over the 60 minute time limit is disqualified.
* All sets must initially fit within a 10 foot square. The stage crew for the theater has ten minutes in which to move the set pieces onto the stage prior to the performance, and another 10 minutes to clear the stage once the performance is complete. These setup and strike times are also timed by Festival stage managers.
* The stage lights are set up in a standard Repertory theater light plot. The lighting designer for each show provides documentation of lighting cues to the Festival stage managers who will execute the cues during the performance if the theater does not provide their own Light board operator.

At the end of each Festival awards for a number of categories, similar to the Academy Awards, are presented. Winners for the awards are based solely on the votes of the adjudicators.

External links

* [http://www.aact.org AACT official website]
* [http://www.aact.org/regions.html Map of AACT regions]
* [http://www.emact.org Eastern Massachusetts Association of Community Theaters]