Seeking productions for MACT short play festival

Respond by:
MACT Fast*Fest 2024 logo

Fast*Fest, the MInnesota Association of Community Theatres' (MACT) biennial festival of 20-minute plays

will held August 16 (welcome social) and August 17 (workshops, performances and social) in Cloquet. It will be hosted by our friends at County Seat Theater Company at their facility, the Encore Performing Arts Center.

This is a great opportunity for playwrights and theatre groups to try out new material and get feedback from a very supportive audience.  Start planning now to participate in and attend this fun event.

Fast*Fest Rules

  1. Shows will be limited to 20 minutes, with 5 minutes allowed for setup and for strike.
  2. MACT will provide 1 table and 4 chairs.  Theatres may bring only ONE additional set piece.
  3. Only the standard light plot can be used (six areas of warm and cool light).  Sound is up to each theatre.
  4. There is no time for rehearsals in the space.
  5. There will not be an adjudication.  There will be a moderated colloquy after each play.
  6. The festival is open to all non-professional groups, be they community theatres, colleges, high schools or ad-hoc groups.
  7. There is no registration fee for MACT member theatres.  There is a $25 registration fee for non-member groups.  Participants are expected to register for at least the session they are performing in (but we hope they will want to attend the full festival).  Single session registration will be $20 and full package price is $50 before August 13th (single session $25, full package $65 thereafter).  Full package includes Friday night welcome social, Saturday morning workshops, afternoon play session, evening play session and the Saturday night social.
  8. Performers and technicians must meet the AACT Festival Guidelines (not paid, non-equity).
  9. Theatres must represent that they have the rights to use any copyrighted materials including performance rights by signing the registration form.
  10. Except as stipulated above, all AACT Festival Rules will apply.
  11. If ASL Interpreters or Audio Describers are requested for the festival, you will need to provide 2 copies of your script by July 27th.

General Information

  1. There will be a social/networking event Friday (August 16th) at the Encore Performing Arts Center.
  2. All Shows will be on Saturday.  Depending on the number of entries, there could be up to 3 sessions.  Performance order will be determined by random drawing, with the last position in the Saturday evening session filled first and working backwards through the available sessions.  There could be 4 to 6 performances in each session.
  3. There will be breaks between sessions for meals (on your own) and networking.
  4. There will be a social gathering Saturday evening after the final session.

Theatre Registration Deadline is June 15th.

To register your theatre for Fast*Fest 2024, mail the completed registration form from our website (with $25 registration fee if not a MACT member) to: 

FastFest
c/o Larry Pint
704 Main St W
New Prague, MN 56071-2340

The registration fee may also be paid online via our ticketing site accessible from the Fast*Fest page on our website.
You must still complete and mail or e-mail the registration form to us so we can get the show and contact information.
The schedule, attendee registration forms and additional information will be sent out in July.