The Annual Last Frontier Theatre Conference is coming up on June 12-18 in Anchorage. Now in its twenty-fourth year, the event draws hundreds of participants yearly. While a majority come from within the state, there are also many participants from the lower 48 and beyond. The farthest travelers this year include a playwright from Greece and production from Australia.
The week features six evenings of live theatre, and this year they will all be presented with no charge for admission. The shows start at 8 p.m., and will run Sunday through Friday. They include a performance being brought in from Australia, an internationally acclaimed one-woman show about dancing in Fairbanks, and four others. For a full descriptions of the shows, visit http://theatreconference.org/current-conference/info-for-participants/evening-performances/.
The lifeblood of the Conference is the developmental Play Lab. This year it will feature readings of 53 new plays by a cast of 156 actors, ranging from Los Angeles professionals to Alaskan high school students. Plays receive a single rehearsal before being publicly read and responded to by theatre
professionals. In addition to writers from Greece, Canada, New York, and Florida, thirteen Alaskans will be presenting their work. A full list of presenters is available at http://theatreconference.org/play-lab/.
Howard Stein Acting Studio instructor Laura Gardner and her husband Frank Collison (familiar to fans of Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, My Name Is Earl, and many other Hollywood films and television shows) return for their tenth year, coordinating the popular Monologue Workshop. In this program, attending authors provide monologues which are then worked on by attending actors, culminating in a presentation on the final Saturday.
Every year, the Conference honors someone who has given to the event with the Jerry Harper Service Award. The award, began in 2007, this year will be presented to former Prince William Sound Community College president Doug Desorcie.
For more information, go to www.theatreconference.org. During the event itself, call 835-2469.
