At Lakeville short-play festival, actors have to hustle
Arts center hosts Fast Fest on June 16
If you enjoy theater but prefer it in small doses, the Lakeville Area Arts Center has just the ticket next weekend.
Fast Fest, the Minnesota Association of Community Theatres’ short-play festival, will take the stage of the arts center on Saturday, June 16, with eight plays lasting no longer than 20 minutes each.
The event features theater troupes from across the state, including two based in Dakota County. The Dakota Fine Arts Consortium will present the comedy “Love Always,” and Lakeville-based The Play’s The Thing Productions is staging the drama “Loons.”
In a sense, actors and crew members of the theater groups involved will have to hustle – in addition to the 20-minute time limit for performances, they’ll each have just five minutes to assemble a set, and five minutes to strike it after they perform.
Following each play, there will be a question-and-answer session with the performers, moderated by Minnesota theater directors Juliana Skluzacek and Mona Poehling.
“To see theater is wonderful, but to be able to take part in a discussion like that is invaluable,” said Dayna Railton of Lakeville, a MACT board member and the chair of Fast Fest. “That’s when you learn – what worked, what didn’t, why did the actors make the choices they did? It challenges you and makes you think.”
Though the festival runs from 1 to 10 p.m., it’s broken into an afternoon session and evening session. Tickets, which will be available at the door, are $25 for the full festival or $10 for one of the sessions.
An “afterglow party” with the actors and directors is scheduled at Old Chicago in Apple Valley following the final performance at Fast Fest. It’s open to the public with a $5 cover, but it’s free if you purchased the all-day festival pass.
More information about Fast Fest is at www.mact.net.
