 |
|
DASH Gala, Elections and Festival, Oh My!
|
Hope you have been having a wonderful summer - whether you run summer productions or go on vacation! In this issue, you'll find news about the DASH gala, a welcome to the 2015-2016 Board of Directors, and upcoming events.
|
|
|
|
|
DASH Nominations and Awards Gala
|
The nominees for the 2015 DASH Awards were announced July 15 by webcast. The nominations are listed on the EMACT web site:
2015 DASH Nominations. Winners will be posted after the Gala Awards.
The Gala Awards ceremony will be held on Saturday, August 29 at the Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown. Doors will open at 6:00 pm for hors d'oeuvres. The awards ceremony will begin at 7:00 pm. Tickets are $35 per person. This event usually sells out, so be sure to buy your tickets soon! Tickets are available through
TicketStage.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
We reserve a portion of the Gala program to honor the members of theatre companies who passed away during the year. If your company has lost members this year, we would like to include them in the memorial. Please send a picture of the person with his or her name, date of passing, and theatre company. Any picture that shows the individual in a show, building sets, hanging lights, or a headshot is welcome. The best format is a JPEG (*JPG) digital file.
The absolute deadline for receipt is
Friday, August 14.
Please email the information and pictures to
Harriet Friedman. If you do not have a digital file, mail your photos to
Harriet Friedman
116 Bishops Forest Drive
Waltham, MA 02452
For information, email Harriet or call 617-771-4905.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Celebrate your Season at the Gala
|
There is space at the Arsenal Center of the Arts for member groups to display posters or a photo collage of your past season. Posters and collages should be no larger than 18" x 24" unless they include multiple shows, in which case they may be up to 24" x 36". All photo collages must be mounted on a posterboard no larger than 24" x 36" and no smaller than 18" x 24". (Landscape or portrait orientation is acceptable.) You may submit as many posters and/or collages as you had shows this season (i.e., if you had a 2-show season, you may submit 1 large or 2 small posters; if you had a 6-show season, you may submit 6 small, 2 large with 3 shows each, 3 large with 2 shows each, etc.). We hope to be able to post everything we receive, but if we get a huge response we will display everything on a first come, first served basis, and will display overflow posters in other parts of the hall as space permits.
Please get your poster to any EMACT Board member (names and emails are on the EMACT website) prior to the Gala. If you want your posters returned, you may pick them up immediately following the Gala. Please note that posters will be mounted using thumbtacks. Any posters not picked up by the time we leave the building will be discarded.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
It's Time to Renew your EMACT Membership!
|
As a matter of fact it is past time! The EMACT season runs from July 1st to June 30th. Your group may still appear on the EMACT website and the website directory. However, when the system completes its purge at the end of August, if your dues have not been received, your group's information will no longer appear.
We no longer offer the Individual Member option. Group memberships are still at two levels, Basic and Enhanced Memberships. Please visit the EMACT website for details on membership options and a renewal form.
If you have any questions please contact Susan Harrington.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
To Be or Not to Be: The EMACT Drama Festival
|
Mark Baumhardt, DASH Co-Director
As I experienced my bi-annual jealousy pangs that I was not at the National AACT Festival this summer, I reminisced over EMACT Festivals past.
Hanging out in the parking lot with new friends and old... Seeing amazing productions known and unknown....Listening to adjudications by incredibly insightful theater professionals who pointed out aspects of productions that I might not have noticed, but that I was now suddenly very aware of their impact...Reuniting with old friends...Learning... Attending workshops to hone my craft and learn aspects of theater that I'd never had a chance to learn about before... Laughing...Performing in a beautiful, professionally-equipped theater....Watching shows with fellow theater enthusiasts from all over Eastern Massachusetts... Crying...Marveling at the speed in which an entire laundromat could be set up on the stage...Spending 3-4 days completely immersed in theater... Heaven.
Unfortunately, our Festival has been shrinking every year. Last year, we instituted a new Design category, which was popular, but only five companies participated in the Festival with a production. The audiences were small. EMACT lost a ton of money. We want the Festival to continue - but it can't without you, your theatre, and your patrons.
Were you there? Do you miss it? Are you willing to help us get it back? No, we can't go back to Brandeis unless someone wins Mega Millions, but we can create a vibrant, exciting, economical Festival. We CAN bring back the community spirit that IS the EMACT Festival.
Talk to David Sheppard or Susan Harrington about their experience at Nationals. Or as I like to call it, Theater Nirvana. Talk to Celia Couture, Rachel Howard Fennell, or anyone associated with the National Champion production of Radium Girls. Ask anyone about the ridiculous amount of fun had in the balcony.
Let us know if you want to see this 60 year-old institution continue. The Board will have to decide in September whether to move forward with scheduling the Festival for Spring-Summer 2016.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2015-2016 EMACT Board of Directors
|
The EMACT Annual Meeting was held on June 13 a
t the home of the Quannapowitt Players. We welcome the incoming 2015-2016 Board of Directors.
Jean MacFarland, President
Celia Couture, Executive Vice President
Monica Bruno, Recording Secretary
Jason Rutledge and Alissa Palange, Festival Co-Coordinators
J.Mark Baumhardt & Sandy Philpott, DASH Co-Directors
Susan Harrington, Membership Director (AACT Rep)
Marianne Phinney, Education Director
Derek Clark, Treasurer
|
|
|
|
|
Let us Help Fill your Workshops!
|
If your group is running a workshop or other educational activity, we'd love to hear about it and help you publicize it! Please send your workshop news to Marianne Phinney, the Director of Education, at
[email protected]
.
|
|
|
|
