March 12 Newsletter - Actors Theatre of Louisville

Page 2
On Cue at Actors
36th Humana Festival is Underway By Terry Conway and Patti Slagle
The 36 th HUMANA FESTIVAL OF NEW AMERICAN PLAYS is upon us and the excitement grows with
every passing day! Festival Manger Stephanie Spalding lead a festive kickoff meeting February 28 th that
was part informational and part pep rally! Over 200 people all associated with the festival attended in
the Pamela Brown Theatre that was temporarily cleaned up from set construction. Every department was
called upon to stand and be recognized for their work as well as members from each cast and several
playwrights.
Informational handouts were distributed and highlights pointed out in order
to make the event runs as smoothly as possible. Policies, time tables, people
to be contacted and an overview of events were all part of sharing the
knowledge. Among the many presenters were Actors Associates Co-
President’s Patti Slagle and Terry Conway. Terry thanked Stephanie for explaining
to the attendees all that goes into putting on a huge event like this.
After all, urban legend has the Humana Hospitality Kitchen and grilled
cheese as the main reason for the festival! For those who work at Actors or
have been here before, the mention of “FOOD” and “GRILLED CHEESE”
brought people to their feet cheering and screaming with delight! The rest
sat in their seats looking bewildered, but they too were soon educated and
on their feet after Patti explained what the Associates do and how their lives
have been or will be touched with our services. Banana pudding and
kahlua brownies were clearly crowd favorites.
36th Humana Festival T-shirt
(On Wednesday night at the opening of “The Veri**on Play,” first-time Humana actors from “How We
Got On” sought out Patti and told her everyone was telling them about the grilled cheese sandwiches
and how excited they were about trying them. With everything else they had to be excited about, it
seems the grilled cheese stood out. Associates Rock!)
Intermingled between presentations and a well “interviewed panel” of humorous theatre insiders moderated
by “James Lipton” of “Inside the Actors Studio” renown, facts about the festival were shared and
included:
• The 2011 Festival crews logged 237 hours of technical rehearsals in 27 days.
• This averages to be approximately 4740 total staff hours in technical rehearsals.
• There were 102 total Festival performances in 2011 with 70 scenic changeovers within the 5
weeks of the Festival.
• In 2011, Humana Festival Press Coverage included more than 140 news and feature articles,
resulting in more than 36.7 million impressions.
• International media presence has included Germany, Guyana, Italy, Russia, Spain, Venezuela
and the UK.
The annual Humana Festival, generously underwritten by the Humana Foundation, showcases Actors Theatre
and Louisville to the world. Actors Associates is privileged to be part of this exiting festival!