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

MACT

Minnesota Association of Community Theatres

We are Minnesota’s Community Theatres

MACT*Fest Planning

MACT*Fest logo. MACT comedy/drama masks in center, "MACT" lower left diagonal, "Fest '25" in lower right diagonal, "Duluth: in upper left diagonal and "March 7-9" in upper right diagonal. All in yellow and blue.

The MACT*Fest ’25 committee met on Thursday, September 5 to begin the process of planning for MACT*Fest 2025. Several key dates were set. The most important of which is the show entry deadline.

We plan on having entry information posted to our website and mailed to potential theatres on or shortly after September 15. The deadline for registering a show for MACT*Fest will be Monday, December 16. This is a received by date, not a postmarked date. Shortly thereafter we will hold a drawing from the theatres entered by the deadline. If entries have been received from more than 12 theatres, the drawing will determine the 12 theatres selected to perform and the waiting list order for the remaining entries. It will also determine the performance order, with the first theatre drawn assigned to the last performance slot and working backwards from there.

The entry fee for theatres entering by the December 16 deadline will be $250, as it has been for the last several MACT*Fests. If your theatre is new to participating in a MACT*Fest, or has not participated in the last 5 festivals, we are offering a special promotion of $100 off the registration fee to encourage more theatres to participate. The theatre registration fee includes one full package attendee registration (a $150 value).

If we have not received 12 entries by the December 16 deadline, we will continue to accept entries on a first come first served basis until all 12 performance slots have been filled or until January 15. The registration fee for late (after December 16) registrations is $350.

All theatres that will be presenting shows should plan on attending a tech meeting at The Depot Theatre in Duluth. The date of this meeting has not been finalized, but will likely be January 4 or January 11. The purpose of this meeting is to familiarize yourselves with the facility so you can plan your show (set, blocking, etc) accordingly. The tech meeting will be on a Saturday and start at 12:00 pm (noon) and last no more than 2 hours. (We need to be out of the facility in less than 2 hours or pay additional rent.)

Additional information will be published on our website and in this newsletter as it becomes available.

I’s not to early to start planning your entry. This is a great opportunity to try out new material and stretch your creative wings. You will be performing in front of a very receptive audience and get valuable feedback from the three adjudicators. Two shows will advance from this festival to the Region V AACTFest, which will be in Newton, Iowa April 4-6, 2025. At least one show from the Region V festival will advance to the national AACTFest in Des Moines, Iowa, June 25-28, 2025.

If you are considering submitting a cutting from a longer show, here’s an article on cutting a show.

MACT*Fest is a fun and educational multi-day festival. We are hoping for 10 to 12 60-minute (max) shows performing over 2 days. There will also be social events, time for networking with other theatre people, adjudications, workshops and the awards ceremony. We hope to see a lot of you there.