Northeast Alabama Community College recently hosted the Alabama Youth Theatre Experience (AYTE) for its annual One Act Musical Theatre Festival in the Tom Bevill Lyceum on campus.

NACC was honored to be chosen as the location for this year’s spring festival. Nine youth theatre companies from all across the state travelled to Northeast for the two-day event. To qualify for the AYTE competition, theatre companies must be comprised of performers ages 18 and under. Most groups that competed were youth community or children’s theatre groups. Audience members were treated to performances by all nine companies during the competition.

Upon arrival to the college on Friday, AYTE allowed each group a one hour “tech time” to spike the set and rehearse with a closed set. The group’s set must fit in a 10x10 box, and all members must be touching the box before their time begins. During the competition, each group is given 15 minutes to build their set on stage and return to the box. Then, the performance time begins.

Festival organizer Kelleybrooke Brown began the Alabama chapter of AYTE, and AYTE has been hosting competitions for at least a decade. This was NACC’s first opportunity to host AYTE, but the college is looking forward to hosting more events in the future.

The following groups all competed in the One Act Festival:

- Beyond The Lights Theatre Company
- Around the Curtain Children's Theatre
- Ghost Light Theatre Company
- CAST Kids (CAPA)
- Sunny Side Theater
- The Lighthouse Theatre Company
- Alabama Repertory Theatre
- Art Alive Children's Theatre
- Act Up! Studios

One Act Winners:

1^st – CAST Kids performing Oklahoma
2^nd – Sunny Side Theatre performing Peter Pan
3^rd – Lighthouse Theatre Company performing Chicago