MACT Logo. Upper portion is comedy/drama masks with comedy mask in yellow and drama mask in blue. Lower portion has the acronym "MACT" and below it the description MN Association of Community Theatres.MACT

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Minnesota Association of Community Theatres

Home of Minnesota’s Theatre Community

David Metcalf – AACT Distinguished Merit Award

Photo of David Metcalf

At AACTFest 2025 in Des Moines, Iowa, David Metcalf of Cokato, MN, will be awarded the Distinguished Merit Award by the American Association of Community Theatre (AACT). The award will be presented at an awards ceremony on Friday, June 27. AACT presents this national award to individuals and organizations in recognition of contributions made to promote and develop the highest standards for community theatre.

David has been active in the Minnesota theatre community both as a teacher and director to high school students and as a prolific community theatre director across the state for over 50 years. He has enriched and taught 100’s of students and given them the passion of theatre many of whom continue the theatre tradition in their own communities as adults. He has had at least six students who have made theatre their professional career. He has been a teacher, mentor, and friend, and I am so very proud to nominate him for these prestigious awards. Since 2017 David has been the Artistic Director of the FungusAmongus Players of Dassel-Cokato being a newly independent organization has had its challenges, but with Davids leadership there has never been a question of the quality of the productions that Fungus presents. Through his direct involvement with each production or by mentoring new directors to take on the challenge of directing, David has been there to lend a guiding hand and allow the theatre in his community to flourish.

David received his B.A. in Theatre, English, Education at Augsburg College. Now retired after 34 years of teaching at Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted High School, he also coached competitive speech teams and one-act plays to numerous State level successes. David studied stage combat and fight choreography under B.H. Barry. He has led workshops on stage combat and worked with several theatres, helping choreograph combat scenes.

David is a prolific director. Under David’s guidance, FungusAmongus Players has sent a show to the Region V festival in 2023, 2019, 2017, 2015, 2013 and 2011. In 2017 (“The Voice of the Prairie”) and 2015 (“The Romancers”) those shows represented Region V at the national AACTFest. He has directed shows for: Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted High School, Dassel-Cokato High School, Dassel-Cokato Community Theatre, FungusAmongus Players of Dassel-Cokato, Theatre in the Round, Buffalo Community Theatre, Litchfield Community Theatre, Homeward Bound Theatre Company (outreach), Wright County Arts Association (Buffalo), Nedora Summer Theatre (Nederland, Colorado), Troupe Theatre (St. Cloud), The Village Players (Dassel) and Unicorn Community Theatre (Howard Lake).

This is the first time anyone from Minnesota has been recognized with this award.  Next time you see David, congratulate him on this distinguished achievement.