Starkville Community Theatre’s entry in the annual Mississippi Theatre Association festival Jan. 16-19 brought home top honors in categories including Best Production, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor.
The SCT production of “A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney,” by Lucas Hnath, was presented during the four-day festival at the University of Mississippi, where more than 700 people represented seven community theater groups and 19 high schools.
Play director and SCT Chief Administrative Officer Gabe Smith said, “I couldn’t be happier with our wins at festival and the strong way we represented our theater.”
In the dark comedy/drama, legendary filmmaker Walt Disney, close to death and with axes to grind, has written a screenplay about his own life, starring himself as narrator; his business partner and loyal, long-suffering brother Roy; his daughter, who wants to make her own life outside of Walt’s control; and his son-in-law Ron, an ex-football player enthusiastic about working under Walt and easily manipulated to fulfill his wishes for the company after he’s gone.
The highlight and major focus of the festival was the community theater and secondary theater competitions. Adjudicators from outside the state selected winners for both divisions, as well as numerous acting and technical awards.
In the Community Division, SCT’s production and Tupelo Community Theatre’s production of “‘Night, Mother” won the Warren McDaniel Award for Best Production.
Smith won Best Director. Paul Ruff, who portrayed Walt Disney, won Best Actor; Ben Christmas, as Roy Disney, took Best Supporting Actor. Additional SCT awards were for Best Costume Design, to Abby Jovanovic, and a special award for Excellence in Wig Design, to Jansen Fair.
“Our cast and crew all worked very hard to bring this challenging script to life, and I’m proud that we were the first theater in Mississippi to tackle a production of it,” said Smith. “To be recognized in so many ways, and for details like costumes and individual performances, is so gratifying.
“You pour a lot of love into a production, and it can be a rare gift to have someone else see that effort and tell you it’s praiseworthy, and that the thing you’ve collaborated to create is special not only to you but also to a broad range of others.”
The cast, which also includes Allyn Hackman and Rick Jordan, and crew — assistant director/stage manager Caroline Fitzwater, lighting designer/operator Thomas LaFoe and sound operator Vernelle Allen — will travel to Louisville, Kentucky, in late February to compete in the Southeastern Theatre Conference festival.
MTA is sponsored in part by grants from the Mississippi Arts Commission, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. Sponsors included Mainstage Theatrical Supply.
Jan Swoope is the Lifestyles Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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