2019 New England Regional Festival Winner Announced

TORRINGTON, CT - Congratulations to WHO WILL SING FOR LENA by The Lexington Players for their win at New England Regional Festival 2019.

The Connecticut Community Theatre Association presented the 2019 New England Regional Theatre Festival on Saturday, March 9, 2019. The festival was hosted by the Warner Theatre in the Warner’s Nancy Marine Studio Theatre in Torrington and ran from 1:00pm until 10:00pm, giving attendees a day-long community theatre experience that included a break for dinner.

Four community theater organizations from Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire competed for the chance to represent all of New England (Region 1) in the American Association of Community Theater’s AACTFest 2019 in Gettysburg, PA this June. The Lexington Players of Lexington, MA won that privilege with their outstanding performance of WHO WILL SING FOR LENA.

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Connecticut's representative was the Phoenix Stage Company production of ONE NIGHT WITH FANNY BRICE, a one-woman show featuring the magnificent Mary Cantoni Johnson. The PSC won the right to represent Connecticut at the CT Community Theater Festival in September of 2018. that I had the honor of attending. I have seen Ms. Johnson in ONE NIGHT at least three times and I always come away with a keener sense of appreciation for Ms. Brice and her musical performances. Click to read about the awards this show won at the CT level.

This stellar musical written by Chip Deffaa took home awards for outstanding leading performer for Ms. Johnson, outstanding set design, lighting design (by Sharon W. Houk) and special judges awards for costumes (by Renee Casadaban Purdy) and accompanist (the talented Dan Ringuette, who covered for musical director TJ Thompson) at this weekend’s NERF. Click to read my 2015 review of the full version of ONE NIGHT WITH FANNY BRICE.

Sharon Houk, the Warner Stage Company's Production Manager and the director of ONE NIGHT WITH FANNY BRICE, posted her congratulations to the winning community theatre. "It was truly an amazing performance. We’ll be there to cheer you on at nationals!"

AACTFest--the festival process that culminates in a national theatre festival--is sponsored by AACT and is held in odd-numbered years. AACTFest presents a forum for community theatres from AACT's 10 regions to enter productions for adjudication and advancement from the state level to the regional level and finally, to the national level. The goals of AACTFest are to stimulate and inspire community theatre companies to strive for the best work possible and to recognize them for their achievement through an appropriate adjudication process; to provide a learning experience in artistic, technical, and management areas for people in attendance through performances, adjudication, and workshops; and to develop enlightened and discerning audiences for community theatre.

All of the participating companies must meet the same eligibility standards and requirements - maximum time limits for productions are 60 minutes performance time; 10 minutes set-up time and 10 minutes strike; all set & prop materials must fit within a 10’x 10’ offstage storage area before and after performance.

Per AACT standards, the theater is sealed at the start of each performance. While an audience member may be permitted to exit during a performance, they are not be allowed to re-enter during a performance. There was a short break between each performance and adjudication.

This year’s participating theaters included Phoenix Stage Company from Connecticut, Windham Actors Guild from Massachusetts who performed “THE ACTOR’S NIGHTMARE” and Lexington Players & ActorSingers, both from New Hampshire. Adjudication was done by two adjudicators from New York.

The 2019 NERF is supported by the New England Theatre Conference and DNR Productions of Watertown.

About The Participants
ACTORSINGERS (New Hampshire)
ActorSingers was founded in 1955 as an outgrowth of the choir at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Nashua, NH. What started as productions of Gilbert and Sullivan and other public domain material - mounted on the stage in the church community hall - quickly grew beyond the choir and even the church. Within less than 10 years, Actorsingers was a separate non-sectarian organization performing Broadway musicals on stages in Nashua schools. At present, they produce two adult and a teen Broadway musical, as well as a musical production for children during the year. In addition to AACT and NH Community Theatre Associations, Actorsingers is a proud participant in the NH Theater Awards program, and has received state-wide recognition as Best Community Theater Musical for several of their productions. www.actorsingers.org

LEXINGTON PLAYERS (Massachussetts)
The Lexington Players, of Lexington MA, was founded in 1995 and continues to be the town’s only full time community theater group. Over the years, they have expanded the number of productions from two to six, including their YouthStage Summer Theater Program for children ages eight to 16. The Lexington Players has also expanded their outreach by creating The Women’s Dance Ensemble. The Dance Ensemble, which is currently on hiatus, was created for women in the community who wanted to return to performance dance. We also provide periodic workshops including several for New Directors. After a three month workshop, new directors plan, audition, cast, and direct one act plays for our season. After performing for over 15 years at the Hancock Church in Lexington, The Lexington Players has moved its performances to The Cotting School’s 200-seat theater.

PHOENIX STAGE COMPANY (Connecticut)
Phoenix Stage Company opened on August 26, 2010 with our inaugural production of BLEACHER BUMS. We recently relocated from a 70 seat retail space to a 175 seat theater, where we celebrated our 400th performance. PSC produces a wide range of genres and our New Works Project has seen four new plays published after work-shopping with our company. It is our mission to enhance the quality of life in our community by providing quality theater experiences to residents of the Naugatuck Valley and surrounding areas of the state and to provide training and education for actors, directors and others involved in theater production and by providing an opportunity to demonstrate and improve their skills by participating in theatrical productions.

WINDHAM ACTORS GUILD (New Hampshire)
Windham Actors Guild, located in Southern New Hampshire, has been producing theater since 2010. The organization strives to make quality theater accessible to both actors and audiences alike. Each season includes a large main stage musical, a more intimate straight show, and a musical youth production. WAG values a process that fosters personal and organizational growth in the theatrical arts, while executing an end product of which all those involved can be proud.