FLORIDA Again a Winner at Setc
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FALLFALL 2010 2010 FLORIDA FLORIDA THEATRE THEATRE CONFERENCE CONFERENCE NEWS NEWS Volume 55 Issue 2 Volume 58 Issue II Fall 2010 Summer 2013 Inside this issue: Letter from FTC Executive Director ........................................ 3 FLORIDA AGAIN A Celebration of Life of Robert Ankrom ........................................ 4 Festival 2013 Hotels .................... 5 WINNER AT SETC Festival 2013 Information .........5-6 Festival Workshop application ..... 7 FTC Membership Form ............... 8 Spring Fling ................................. 9 Distinguished Career Award Ballot ......................................... 10 Lifetime Members ...................... 10 List of Distinguished Career Awards ....................................... 11 FTC Board of Directors ............ 12 Schedule of Florida Theatres .... 13 FLORIDATheatre is the official newsletter of the Florida Theatre Conference for theatres through- out the state of Florida. Steve Bayless with SETC President Jack Benjamin Once again, Florida Theatre Conference received many honors FLORIDATheatre is published at this year’s Southeastern Theatre Conference held March 6–9 in three times a year and is free of Louisville, KY. FTC’s new Executive Director Steve Bayless was charge. To be added to the mail- presented with the Suzanne M. Davis Award for Distinguished Ser- ing list, contact Steve Bayless at vice to SETC. Theatre Winter Haven’s production of Golda’s Balco- [email protected] ny, directed by Norm Small, was chosen to represent the southeastern President region at the National Festival to be held June 17–23 in Carmel, IN. Rick Kerby And Theatre Winter Haven’s Katrina Ploof won Best Actress Award Executive Director for her performance as Golda. Congratulations to all! Steve Bayless Steve Bayless currently is SETC Administrative Vice President Editor and has served as SETC Programming Vice President for three years. Susan M. Smith He received his BA from Florida State University and retired from www.flatheatre.org the Pinellas County School system after 38 years teaching music and music theatre at Gibbs High School in St. Petersburg, FL. He was se- lected as the Pinellas County Teacher of the Year in 1995 and served two terms as President of the Pinellas County Music Educators. Steve also served as State Representative for Florida for five continued on Page 2 SUMMER 2013 FLORIDA THEATRE CONFERENCE NEWS Florida wins at SETC continued from Page 1 years and has served on ExCom as State Rep Repre- sentative for three years. He is on the FTC Board of Directors, and is Co-Chair of both the Florida Theatre Conference and the SETC Transfer/Undergraduate Au- ditions committees. Donna White, FTC Florida State Representative to SETC and FTC Secretary/Treasurer, presented Steve with the award at the SETC conference and spoke of their days teaching at Gibbs High School beginning in the 1970s. They became fast friends and artists. Their first musical together was “Dracula Baby” with a very large cast including lots of “Monsters”. And as the Katrina Ploof as Golda Meir in Golda’s Balcony years went by, their casts often got to 200 for a large Katrina is a native of the great State of Maine. musical. She described Steve as shy and organized. He She has been a theatre professional for 47 years and a described her as intense and driven! Over the 38 plus member of the Central Florida arts community since years teaching together, they were known as the “odd 1982. An accomplished actress, Katrina has toured couple” and/or the “dynamic duo”. extensively throughout the As the Pinellas County Teacher of the Year, Steve US and Canada, appearing had this to say: “The Arts are the only outlet kids have in Evita, Peter Pan, I Do! to express themselves. For much of the time, they sit I Do!, The Mikado, Dames in classes and regurgitate what they heard in a lecture. at Sea, and Annie, and most But in music, dance and theatre, they have to study fondly remembering her and practice and create. You just can’t cram the night months of touring the Mid- before the exam.” west in the middle of winter Michael Vasallo, Magnet Coordinator and Assis- as the back end of a cow in tant Principal at Pinellas County Center for the Arts Gypsy. She was a member (PCCA) at Gibbs High School and one of Steve’s of The Chekhov Project, former students says: “I know my path in life would a 15-month exploration of have been much different, had I not been enrolled in the works of the Russian his program at Gibbs High School. It exposed students playwright, for which she Norm Small, Director of to worlds they would have never dreamed of visiting, Winning Production at ultimately played the role SETC whether it was backstage at Disney, visiting college of Lyobov in The Cherry campuses, or performing for a black-tie affair. Beyond Orchard. Katrina now works almost exclusively as his classroom, his desire to improve educational op- a Director and her productions include works by portunities for students was never-ending. Congratula- George Bernard Shaw, Thornton Wilder, Stephen tions Mr. B!” Sondheim, Gabriel Garcia Lorca, George S. Kauff- Katrina Ploof, won the SETC Best Actress award man and the Southeastern Premier of Moises Kauff- for her portrayal of the indomitable Golda Meir, the man’s The Laramie Project. At Theatre Winter Haven Milwaukee schoolteacher who became Prime Minister she has directed more than 30 productions, including of Israel in 1969. From the pogroms of Russia to the Ragtime, A Member of the Wedding, My Fair Lady, halls of the Knesset, Meir’s life, and the play, encap- The Full Monty and this season’s Annie. Katrina lives sulate the dramatic story of the birth of Israel in the in Orlando with her eight-year-old dachshund, Ado wake of the Holocaust and its subsequent, seemingly Annie, and a garden that desperately needs some at- endless struggle for peace for much of the 20th Cen- tention. tury. The show’s message of humanity’s yearning for Norm Small, Producing Director at Theatre peace continues to strike a resonant chord with respect to today’s conflicts in the Middle East. continued on Page 7 2 SUMMER 2013 FLORIDA THEATRE CONFERENCE NEWS Letter from FTC Executive Director I would like to introduce myself to our member- of their students helped with set up and take down. ship. My name is Steve Bayless and for the past sever- Thanks gang! We were able to meet more than sev- al years I served as the Secretary/Treasurer for Florida enty teachers/sponsors who had heard of our organiza- Theatre Conference (FTC) and as the Vice President of tion but had not attended. It is our hope to have many Programming for the Southeastern Theatre Conference. of these new faces and their students with us in the I am delighted to have been selected to serve the fall. Florida Theatre Conference as the Executive Director. Of course, we can’t forget to mention our big Please feel free to contact me at any time. My co-work- winner at the Southeastern Theatre Conference in er in the FTC office is Liz Gress who has been with Louisville, KY, Norm Small and his production of us for the past three years serving as the bookkeeper, Golda’s Balcony. Their production took first place in Festival registrar, grant writer, and more recently as the the Community Theatre Play Festival and Golda was liaison with the seven Festival hotels in Gainesville. named The Best Actress of the Festival. We expect FTC has a new Central Office located at 5650 great news as they represent the State of Florida and Park Blvd, Suite 7, Pinellas Park, FL 33781 and a new the Southeastern Theatre Conference at the national telephone number (727)544-8915. Our office has 365 competition in Carmel, Indiana, June 17–23, 2013. square feet of space from where Liz and I are spread- Break-a-leg! ing the message about FTC to our current membership, Don’t forget to join us in Bradenton, FL, at the vendors, Educational Expo partners and are seeking new Manatee Players Theatre complex as we co-host new friends to add to our ranks. the “Celebration of Life Party” for our friend and We attended the Florida State Thespian Conference former Executive Director Robert Ankrom. The date in Tampa, FL on March 22 and 23, 2013 and manned is June 29 from 5:00 pm until 8:00 pm. See Page 4 a Florida Theatre Conference table in the exhibit hall. for more details. Several of our members and their students helped Thank you for your cooperation and support. spread the word about our upcoming 2013 Annual Conference to take place November 13 - 16, 2013 in Thank you, Gainesville, FL. Margie Timmons, Ken Rush, Sandy Steve Bayless Cockrell, and Christine Chavers were our FTC mem- Executive Director bers who helped set up and man our table. And many Steve Bayless and Liz Gress at Florida Thespian Conference in New FTC Office in Pinellas Park, FL Tampa 3 SUMMER 2013 FLORIDA THEATRE CONFERENCE NEWS Celebration of Life Party for former FTC Executive Director Bob Ankrom June 29, 2013 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm at Manatee Players Theatre Complex 502 3rd Avenue West Bradenton, FL 34205 Tel: (941) 746-0111 Hosted by Florida Theatre Conference and Manatee Players Please RSVP to Steve Bayless at [email protected] by June 1 You are invited to an informal reception in the theatre lobby followed by a formal presentation in the theatre and a performance by Manatee Players vocalists. We invite former students and friends of Bob who have known him well over the years to share a brief word or two about our friend and colleague. If you would like to speak about Bob, please RSVP by June 1.