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SETC Rocked!

As the curtain came down on the 62nd annual Southeastern Theatre Conference, SkyTics returned home from Atlanta with a few new friends, a few new opportunities and another interesting, unique conference experience to tell about.

SETC opened with a welcome ceremony featuring a high school Cirque troupe performing in the lobby of the Hilton. The kids performing with the troupe were truly amazing and had us all gasping in awe as they hung from the ceiling on strands of fabric performing a variety of gracefully executed movements.

The common areas of the hotel were filled with both students and professionals preparing to audition for a large number of community theatres, dinner theatres, summer stock theatres and other groups seeking performers and theatre technicians. Groups of dancers practiced routines outside the ballrooms along with small groups perfecting monologues or scenes to be performed. Master classes and workshops were offered to members covering everything from how to dress for an audition to acting for the camera as well as everything in between. For the ambitious actor, dancer or theatre technician, SETC provided an abundance of opportunity, instruction and support.

The exhibit hall was broken into two different sections: the commercial exhibitors and the educational exhibitors. For high school and college students seeking to further their theatre interests, the educational exhibits provided them the opportunity to find out about the various colleges and universities offering programs in both performance and technical theatre. Students were able to talk to representatives from the schools and learn about the various programs, admission requirements, scholarships and financial aid, as well as affiliations with theatres and performing groups outside the school itself.

Many students who were auditioning during the week stopped by the SkyTics booth to chat about how things went, or talk about how anxious they were that they still had call backs coming up. It was interesting to listen to them and learn about the conference from their perspective, as we spent our time primarily in the exhibit hall.

The commercial side of the exhibit hall was filled with everything from StikTek t-shirts and Eldridge Plays & Musicals scripts to the latest in high tech theatre, including lighting, sound and, yes, some AWESOME ticketing technology! The commercial exhibitors covered just about every aspect of technical theatre and business management available in the industry. There were also special products and services available as well, such as The Show Hub, an online ecosystem that provides Production, Marketing, and Hiring tools for Theatres and Career Management tools for Theatre People, and an iPhone/iTouch app called Scene Partner that is designed to help actors learn their lines faster!

Then there were the festivals! SETC member states all sent plays to compete in various categories, including Community Theatre, High School Theatre, the 10 Minute Play Festival, the Fringe Festival, and Theatre for Youth. This made for some very entertaining prospects for conference attendees. SkyTics was only able to attend one of the Community Theatre productions as they were held off site at Spellman College and we all had to be shuttled to the venue. Just Over The Rainbow Theatre’s production of “Driving Miss Daisy” was excellent and took second place in the Community Theatre Festival. Congratulations also go out to the Wetumpka Depot Players for their production of “Second Samuel” and to the Manatee Players for their production of “Sunday In The Park With George.” Top honors were shared between these two productions, and both are headed to AACTFest in Rochester, NY this coming June. Here they will compete against other regional winners for the best Community Theatre production in the country. Good luck to both groups in Rochester.

The Gala dinner the last night was a wonderful event. The teenage screaming for awards was well beyond deafening and our little SkyTics light up ice cubes were a huge hit at the Gala. We had the great pleasure of giving one to Ben Cameron, the 2011 Distinguished Career Award recipient, (Congratulations Ben!) and one to “The Diva” the incomparable Denise Halbach. Denise also must be recognized with our sincere congratulations as the 2011 winner of SETC’s highest honor, the Suzanne M. Davis award, Congratulations Denise!

All in all, it was an exciting few days for all of those involved. We’re looking forward to seeing you all again next year in Chattanooga. Here’s to Moon Pies!

A Message from our CEO, Bob Clay

SkyTics would like to congratulate our iPod Shuffle winners from SETC.

Our winner for Thursday was April Isaacs from Kissimmee, FL. Our Friday Winner was Dan Ellison from Durham, NC., and our Saturday winner was Mieko Thomson from Waynesville, NC.

Congratulations to all three of our winnners and we hope you enjoy your iPod Shuffles!