Tri-County News

GNTC Summer 2020


Great Northern Theatre Company is partnering with MN Association of Community Theatre (MACT) for FAST Fest, a statewide festival celebrating creativity in community theatre.

Great Northern Theatre Company is sponsoring a Youth Theatre Day Camp; Aug. 3-7 for students grades 8-12. Students will develop their own original play based on the theme of being a teenager in the time of COVID-19. The youth will also title their show. At the end of the week, the play will be recorded and entered into this year’s FAST FEST, which has gone virtual. 

The day camp will be co-directed by Jennifer Wirz and Amy Hunter. Jennifer has been teaching for 10 years, and directing plays with young people in the Paynesville school district for the last six years. Amy has been directing shows and working with youth for more than 40 years and is a MACT Board Member. Last summer, the two collaborated on GNTC’s first children’s theater day camp to produce two live shows, one of which was written by Jennifer. Later last summer, they teamed up to lead a high school group in Paynesville to develop an original script based on youth mental health issues. The show titled “Mental Health, Are You Crazy?” was well received and was performed numerous times throughout Minnesota. They plan to have 8-12 students involved in the development and performance of this summer’s show.

Students interested in registering for the Theatre Camp can call ROCORI Community Education at (320) 685-8631. FAST Fest will be held Saturday, Aug. 22, and is open to the public. It includes workshops and 11 performances with talk-back sessions, starting at 9 a.m. Costs range from $12-25, depending on level of participation. Information about FAST Fest can be found at the MACT website mact.net.

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