A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
The cast, crew and director of the one-act version of "Sweet" pose with the "Best of Festival" award after the Minnesota Association of Community Theatres festival in Austin last weekend. They will represent Minnesota next month at the American Association of Community Theatres regional festival in South Dakota.
Jennifer Soukkala and Greg Anderson won for "Outstanding Achievement in Acting."
The County Seat Theater Company's production of "Sweet" won "Best of Festival" at the Minnesota Association of Community Theatres festival held in Austin this past weekend. The cast will move on to compete at the American Association of Community Theatres Region 5 competition in Aberdeen, S.D., April 25-28.
"It was a surreal experience," director Joel Soukkala said. "You never really know what the adjudicators are looking for so you just go in and do your best performance."
He said the cast did not disappoint. "I sat in front of the house with a smile on my face and very calm feeling knowing they had the show in total control."
"Sweet" is centered around three generations of the Carter family, headed by former boxing champ "Sweet" Clemmet Carter, played by Michael Rosen. When an enthusiastic sports writer (Greg Anderson) enters their life asking to write a book about Clemmet's boxing days, he discovers that some family secrets are better left buried.
In 2017 the County Seat Theater was selected as one of five community theaters from around the country to produce a winning production of the American Association of Community Theatre "New Play" festival. Cloquet was home to the world premiere of "Sweet" in September.
That show was pared for the recent festival.
"Since then we have been working with playwright Denise Hinson to cut the show to a one-act and prepare it for contest," Soukkala said. "She originally cut 40 pages and we put eight back in. Once we discovered were will still over in time, we had to cut more before we could take it to contest."
The state festival happens every two years. CST has participated since 2005. Contest rules state that each participating theater gets 10 minutes to raise a set inside a 10-x10-foot space. The group has 60 minutes to perform and another 10 minutes to strike the set.
"There is a lot of planning that goes into a production like this," Soukkala said. "In some aspects it is more work than producing a full-length play. When audiences come to our encore performances next week, they will get a chance to see this process unfold as the cast and crew assemble the set prior to the production."
In addition to the "Best of Festival" award, the production also won for "Outstanding Achievement in Acting Ensemble." Soukkala was recognized for "Outstanding Achievement in Directing," and scenic and sound design. Actors Jennifer Soukkala and Greg Anderson also won for "Outstanding Achievement in Acting."
This is the third time the County Seat Theater Company has advanced to the Region 5 American Association of Community Theatres festival. The first time was in 2011 with their production of "Wiley and the Hairy Man," a production that advanced to the national festival and an international festival in Japan in 2012. Only nine Minnesota community theaters have advanced to the national level and only three of those went on to international festivals.
"I am so proud of our cast and crew for their professional work," Soukkala said. "It makes me proud to be part of such an amazing community theater. He is the County Seat general manager and the theater's only full-time employee.
The County Seat Theater Company will present an Encore performance of "Sweet" at the Encore Performing Arts Center in Cloquet at 7 p.m. March 28-30 and at 2 p.m. March 31. Proceeds from the showings will be used for travel expenses to the regional festival. Tickets can be reserved by calling the box office at 218-878-0071 or online at http://www.countyseattheater.com.
County Seat Theater Company is located in the Encore Performing Arts Center at 2035 Hwy. 33 South (on frontage road) in Cloquet.
The theater offers a full season of local performances, youth productions, musical acts and has an art gallery featuring work by local artists.
If you go
The County Seat Theater Company will present an encore performance of "Sweet" at 7 p.m. March 28-30 and 2 p.m. March 31 at the Encore Performing Arts Center in Cloquet. Reserve tickets by calling the box office at 218-878-0071 or going online to http://www.countyseattheater.com.
