On Cue Newsletter
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.
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?
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
KEITH CASSIDY
OUTSTANDING IN ACTING AS EDDIE CARBONE
TOM PETERS
OUTSTANDING IN DIRECTION
JONN BACA
EXCELLENCE IN FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHY
THURMAN ALLEN
EXCELLENCE IN ACTING AS MARCO
ELLIS QUINNE
MERIT IN ACTING AS RUDOLPHO
Mariemont Players' Ken Ludwig's The Gods of Comedy
ERIC DAY
OUTSTANDING IN ACTING AS DIONYSUS
THE CAST
EXCELLENCE IN ENSEMBLE
JENNIFER DAY
EXCELLENCE IN DIRECTION
ELAINE MICHAEL
EXCELLENCE IN COSTUMES
NATASHA BOECKMANN
MERIT IN ACTING AS THALIA
DEBBI BERLON
MERIT IN ACTING AS DEAN TRICKETT
ASHLEY HERBERT
MERIT IN ACTING AS BROOKLYN
ANNA HAZARD
MERIT IN ACTING AS DAPHNE
ALEX SALDANO
MERIT IN ACTING AS ARES
CenterStage Players' The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later
TOBIE BRAVERMAN
MERIT IN ACTING AS CATHERINE CONNOLLY
JOEL LIND
MERIT IN ACTING AS DAVE O'MALLEY
BETTY COULTER
MERIT IN ACTING AS MARGE MURRAY
FRED HUNT
MERIT IN AUDIOVISUAL
CHRIS VASSAUX
MERIT IN AUDIOVISUAL
Cincinnati Music Theatre's Kinky Boots
GARRETT KLASS
OUTSTANDING IN MUSICAL THEATRE PERFORMANCE AS LOLA/SIMON
REBECCA WALL
OUTSTANDING IN MUSICAL THEATRE PERFORMANCE AS LAUREN
ROBERT BRESLIN
OUTSTANDING IN DUET PERFORMANCE FOR NOT MY FATHER'S SON
GARRETT KLASS
OUTSTANDING IN DUET PERFORMANCE FOR NOT MY FATHER'S SON
JULES BRESLIN
OUTSTANDING IN CHOREOGRAPHY
MATT SANTELER
OUTSTANDING IN SET DESIGN
THE KINKY BOOTS BAND
OUTSTANDING IN ORCHESTRAL PERFORMANCE
JAMIE SIVRAIS
MERIT IN ACTING AS DON
ROBERT BRESLIN
EXCELLENCE IN VOCAL PERFORMANCE
AUBREY E. WILSON
OUTSTANDING IN DIRECTION
JOHN MICHAEL DURNILL
MERIT IN ACTING AS GEORGE
ALAN MASTERS
OUTSTANDING IN MUSICAL DIRECTION
MADELAINE WILKERSON
OUTSTANDING IN VOCAL DIRECTION
MADELAINE WILKERSON
OUTSTANDING IN WIGS AND HAIR
SIERRA MAGILL
OUTSTANDING IN WIGS AND HAIR
Sunset Players' Be My Baby
DENNIS MURPHY
MERIT IN ACTING AS JOHN CAMPBELL
ELAINE MICHAEL
MERIT IN ACTING AS MAUD KINCH
MICHEAL KISER
MERIT IN DOOR MALFUNTION AD-LIB AS DIMETRI
Village Players of Fort Thomas' Holidazed
BILL BROHAUGH
EXCELLENCE IN ORIGINAL PLAY
LISA HOLT
EXCELLENCE IN ORIGINAL PLAY
A.K. FORBES
EXCELLENCE IN ORIGINAL PLAY
ERIC THOMAS
EXCELLENCE IN ORIGINAL PLAY
STEPHANIE KLEIN GARVEY
EXCELLENCE IN ACTING AS BOY/AMY NOELLE
WAYNE KIRSCH
EXCELLENCE IN ACTING AS SCROOGE
ARNY STOLLER
OUTSTANDING IN ACTING AS NARRATOR
STEPHANIE KLEIN GARVEY
EXCELLENCE IN TRIO ENSEMBLE ACTING
WAYNE KIRSCH
EXCELLENCE IN TRIO ENSEMBLE ACTING
ARNY STOLLER
EXCELLENCE IN TRIO ENSEMBLE ACTING
LINDA ROLL
EXCELLENCE IN COSTUMES
STEPHANIE KLEIN GARVEY
EXCELLENCE IN COSTUMES
MARK WALDFOGLE
EXCELLENCE IN ACTING AS WINTER
ANGELA KLOCKE FORBES
MERIT IN DIRECTING
ROSE VANDEN EYNDEN
MERIT IN ACTING AS JOAN
Footlighters, Inc.'s A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
CHAD BRINKMAN
OUTSTANDING IN DIRECTING
ALAN MASTERS
OUTSTANDING IN MUSIC DIRECTION
FORREST GOODWIN
OUTSTANDING IN SOUND
AMANDA MARASCH
OUTSTANDING IN CHOREOGRAPHY
THE ORCHESTRA
OUTSTANDING IN ORCHESTRAL PERFORMANCE
WAYNE WRIGHT
OUTSTANDING IN MUSICAL THEATRE PERFORMANCE AS D'YSQUITH FAMILY
THE CAST
OUTSTANDING IN ENSEMBLE
JENNIFER DAY
OUTSTANDING AS PRODUCER
CATHY LUTTS
OUTSTANDING AS PRODUCER
KRISTIE MARASCH
OUTSTANDING IN COSTUMES
CAROLYN MARTINEZ
OUTSTANDING IN COSTUMES
CHAD BRINKMAN
OUTSTANDING IN SET DESIGN
THE CAST
OUTSTANDING IN VOCAL ENSEMBLE
ALEX DEVORE
OUTSTANDING IN TRIO PERFORMANCE AS MONTY/SIBELLA/PHOEBE
DELANEY O'TOOLE
OUTSTANDING IN TRIO PERFORMANCE AS MONTY/SIBELLA/PHOEBE
HOPE PAULY
OUTSTANDING IN TRIO PERFORMANCE AS MONTY/SIBELLA/PHOEBE
The Drama Workshop's Radium Girls
THE CAST
MERIT IN ENSEMBLE
AMANDA BORCHERS
EXCELLENCE IN COSTUMES
ADAM BORCHERS
EXCELLENCE IN SET DESIGN
DENNIS MURPHY
EXCELLENCE IN COSTUMES
COLLETTE THOMAS
MERIT IN TRIO ACTING ENSEMBLE IRENE, KATHRYN, AND GRACE
CASSANDRA HOMAN-WALL
MERIT IN TRIO ACTING ENSEMBLE IRENE, KATHRYN, AND GRACE
IZZ ALLISON
MERIT IN TRIO ACTING ENSEMBLE IRENE, KATHRYN, AND GRACE
Loveland Stage Company's Twelfth Night
JOE SIMMONS
EXCELLENCE IN ACTING AS MALVOLIO
MIKE YARICK
EXCELLENCE IN MUSICAL THEATRE PERFORMANCE AS FESTE
KIYA FIX
EXCELLENCE IN DIRECTORIAL CONCEPT
THE CAST
EXCELLENCE IN ENSEMBLE
KATE ARNOLD
EXCELLENCE IN COSTUMES
BECKY JONES
EXCELLENCE IN COSTUMES
Beechmont Players' The Matchmaker
KATHY BEITING
EXCELLENCE IN COSTUMES
ADRIA BENTLEY
EXCELLENCE IN COSTUMES
FAYE CRAWFORD
EXCELLENCE IN COSTUMING
ZAK SLEMMER
EXCELLENCE IN ACTING AS BARNABY
MICHAEL BLESSING
MERIT IN ACTING AS CORNELIUS
JODY HART
MERIT IN ACTING AS DOLLY
THE CAST
MERIT IN ENSEMBLE
ZAK SLEMMER
MERIT IN DUET ACTING PERFORMANCE
MICHAEL BLESSING
MERIT IN DUET ACTING PERFORMANCE
Mason Community Players' Nunsense
THE MONK-EE'S BAND
MERIT IN ORCHESTRAL PERFORMANCE
JULIE POUX
MERIT IN MUSICAL THEATRE PERFORMANCE AS REV. MOTHER
WES LEDYARD
EXCELLENCE IN PUPPET DESIGN
KELLEY FLAUGHER
EXCELLENCE IN MUSICAL THEATRE DUET AS SR. MARY AMNESIA
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.
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.
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.
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)
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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 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.
2019-2020
Jonathan Boerner, John Marwede, Steve Suddendorf, Muriel Foster, Jack Williams, Russ D. McGee
2020-2021
Sandra Kraft, Darnell "Daray Lorez" Hunter, David Spitzfaden, John Haskamp, Irma Lewis
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.