Regionals Here We Come!

Today, I sent off the registration forms and a check for the registration fees for the American Association of Community Theater's Region VII Competition. I will be acting in "The Organist's Daughter" for Coal Creek Community Theater. We won 1st place at the Colorado Community Theater Coalition Festival last June, so now we compete against theatres in Utah and Wyoming for a chance to perform at the National Competition in Tacoma in June. The Regional Competition is in Orem, UT May 8th and 9th. This is the first time CCCT has had the privilege to attend a Regional Festival and we are pretty stoked!

8 of us will caravan it out to Utah to stay at the prestigious La Quinta Inn and perform at the world class Mountain View High School Auditorium. I tease. These are pretty standard locations for theatre festivals. But, it's hard to get people excited about a trip to the middle of Utah. So to get you jazzed, here's some info about Orem and about Utah:

Census 2000 Information
Population: 84,324
Households: 24,166
Population 18 & over: 54,492
Average Age: 23.9
Average Family Size: 3.93
Percent Male: 49.7
Percent Female: 50.3
Percent Married: 69.0
Square Miles: 18.241
Average Temperature: 89 Summer, 45 Winter

• The City of Orem was organized in 1919 and named after Walter C. Orem, President of the Salt Lake and Utah Railroad.
• BTW, folks that live in Utah are called Utahns. Interesting.
• Utah has a higher percentage of residents (30.8%) under the age of 18 than any other state
• Utah is the beehive state.

WOW that was exciting! Ok, so the location may be lackluster, but hopefully the festival itself will be a lot cooler. We will compete against The Cheyenne Little Theater (WY), Painted Past Productions (WY), Mainstreet Players (CO, the 2nd place winner at state) and the winner of the Utah state festival which is yet to be determined. We will each present up to 60 minutes of a play or one-act that will be judged by adjudicators looking for the "most fully realized production." A winner will then be chosen to advance to the National Competition.

As with many theater festivals, the entries are top-notch and because all the folks at regionals have already placed at the state level, I expect competition to be steep! Our show is a sweet little love story. It's far from deep and doesn't really deal with any pressing or serious issues. It's cute and heart-warming. Sometimes (as was the case for state) the judges love this type of thing and other times it is considered fluff. Who knows what the judges will think this time, but no matter what we will do our best and put on a good show. Personally, I don't believe we will advance any further. The other groups attending the festival have competed at this level before and we are certainly the underdog. You can expect a full run-down of the competition once we return, so be sure to check back!