Bay Area Community Theater Leaders Organize Alliance Of Community Theatres

A group of seven community theater organizations announced the formation of the Tampa Bay Alliance of Community Theaters (Tampa Bay ACT www.tampabayact.com) to promote awareness and appreciation of the quality and diversity of local community theatre by acting as a liaison between venues, artists and the public.

"The theatre community in Tampa Bay is exceptional", said Nora Paine, President of New Tampa Players and the Chair of Tampa Bay ACT. "and we want to find a way to support each other and facilitate communication between the organizations. We really are not in competition with each other; we are in competition with other things like television, movies, and sports for people's time and energy."

"The groups realize by working together we can grow the community theatre audience and we want to put our collective time and resources towards that growth," added Joseph Scarbrough, Artistic Director with Not Your Normal Entertainment, a relative newcomer to the community. "Tampa Bay ACT will be an avenue for theatres to share ideas, discuss challenges and opportunities to avoid conflict." Scarbrough and Joia Holbrook with New Tampa Players will serve as Secretaries for Tampa Bay ACT.

The initial group consists of Aeon Life Theater, Carrollwood Players, m.a.d. Theatre, New Tampa Players, NYNE Productions, Plant City Entertainment, and Spanish Lyric Theatre. "We want to work with all community theaters in Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties," added Jim Johnson, President of Carrollwood Players and Community Relations Coordinator for Tampa Bay ACT. Johnson continued, "We will continue to actively recruit representatives from theaters across the bay."

Tampa Bay ACT's initial efforts will include working to provide a website, created by Spanish Lyric Theatre President and Tampa Bay ACT Marketing Coordinator Cyndee Dornblaster, and social media outlet for where auditions and shows for all theaters will be promoted. The organizing council, which is open to leaders designated by each community theater, meets every other month at varying locations.

"We are hoping to have a plenary meeting where we are open to anyone interested in our theaters sometime this fall," added Paine. "Our goal at that meeting will be a formal announcement of our organization, discussion of our initial programs, and hearing from our theaters how we can help each other."