March 27th and 28th of 2020, the Wabeno Area Players will be hosting the Wisconsin Association of Community Theatre’s Annual Conference. The Players were chosen for this honor for many reasons. The quality of the organizations productions, community commitment to the arts, the variety of their productions, state-of-the-art performance venue (Nancy Volk Auditorium, Wabeno High School) and the leader in arts education in our communities. The conference will be held at the Wabeno High School and lodging accommodations will be at local establishments throughout the area.
The conference will focus on workshops devoted to community theatre or high school theatre. Workshops are led by experts that have or are working with community/high school theatre in many areas. These workshops are for those with experience, little experience, or no experience in producing a theatrical production. The workshops are open to adults and students as well. Anyone interested or involved in theatre is welcome to attend. These workshops would include: acting, directing, stage management, improvisation, sound & lights, volunteerism, AACTFest, and state community theater networking. This is also a great opportunity to get to know other theatre people from around the state, share ideas, possibly exchange costumes or props, and have a great time.
The Wabeno Area Players production of Play On will be the featured performance at the conference. Play on will be performed Thursday-Saturday, March 26th-28th 7:00 p.m. and Sunday, March 29th 2:00 p.m. Every performance will be open to the public. Play On is the hilarious story of a theatre group trying desperately to put on a play in spite of maddening interference from a haughty author who keeps revising the script. Act I is a rehearsal of the dreadful show, Act II is the near disastrous dress rehearsal, and the final act is the actual performance, in which anything that can go wrong, does. When the author decides to give a speech on the state of the modern theatre during the curtain calls, the audience is treated to a madcap climax and a thoroughly hilarious romp. Even the sound effects reap their share of laughter.
The mission of the Wisconsin Association of Community Theatre is to foster and encourage the development of the highest standards of community theaters in Wisconsin, including standards of excellence for production, management, governance, community relations, and service to the community and state. We strive to increase communication among theaters, provide educational forums, and performance opportunities for Wisconsin’s community theaters. WACT sponsors a festival competition connected with the American Association of Community Theatre’s national festival. Over the past years we have sent shows to the regional and national competition. The organization is also a 501c3 organization as well as the Wabeno Area Players.
For more information about the conference, Wabeno Area Players or the Wisconsin Association of Community Theatre please call (715) 889-1606 or email wabenoareaplayers@gmail.com.