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Welcome!
Thank you for your interest in Southeast Alabama Community Theatre’s TheatreFest! Our competitive theatre festival grants schools, drama clubs, community theatre groups, and independent performers grades 3-12 an educational opportunity to share their talents and receive constructive feedback from highly qualified adjudicators. We offer an intimate, supportive environment for participants to present their best work with the goal of facilitating learning, professionalism, and teambuilding. We hope you will join us!
Dates: November 6-8, 2026 (Friday-Sunday)
Location: Cultural Arts Center (909 S Saint Andrews St., Dothan, AL 36303)
Deadlines:
Friday, September 18 - Early Bird Special (10% Discount; enter code EARLYBIRD at checkout)
Friday, October 2 - TheatreFest Registration Form and Non-Refundable Payment Due
Friday, October 16 - Email Event Entry Form to billyh@seact.com
After you submit your registration form, you may pay in two ways:
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Pay with credit card online
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Pay by check
Checks should be made out to:
SEACT TheatreFest
ATTN: Billy Hutto
909 S Saint Andrews Street
Dothan, AL 36301
Questions? Contact Festival Director, Billy Hutto at:
Phone: 334.794.0400
E-mail: billyh@seact.com
Schedule
Performing groups can check in up to one hour prior to their start time. Doors open 5 minutes before your group begins for guests and audience members. Viewing passes can be purchased at the door for $5.
Please note that the schedule is subject to change. Some groups may start slightly later depending on the cadence of performances and adjudications. No group will start earlier than their scheduled start time, but some might start later.
Friday, Nov. 6
TBD
Saturday, Nov. 7
TBD
Sunday, Nov. 8
TBD
Adjudicators
Dr. Elizabeth Ann Benson is recognized as a dynamic scholar, pedagogue, and performer. Her book, Training Contemporary Commercial Singers is hailed as “a remarkable and long-awaited contribution to the world of voice pedagogy” (Journal of Singing). Along with Dale Cox, she is co-editor of the forthcoming collection, Voices of Belonging: Inclusive Practices in the Voice Studio (Routledge), for which she is also co-author of three chapters. Elizabeth is a Professor of Musical Theatre Voice at Auburn University, where she teaches applied voice lessons for musical theatre majors and class voice in singing fundamentals. She regularly serves as vocal director and vocal health consultant on university theatre productions, working to safeguard and empower student voices during periods of heavy vocal load. Recent highlights include Sweeney Todd, Violet, and Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812. She is the owner of Benson Music Studios LLC, specializing in singing voice rehabilitation, teacher mentorship, and voice lessons for musical theatre, popular, and contemporary styles. Elizabeth is among only a handful of practitioners in the world to have earned three certifications through Vocal Health Education (U.K.): Voice Rehabilitation Specialist, Vocal Habilitation Professional, and Vocal Health First Aid. She also holds the Recognized Vocologist designation from the Pan American Vocology Association (PAVA-RV). She was an invited plenary speaker for the 2026 National Association of Teachers of Singing conference, and she is the 2026 keynote speaker for the Canadian Pan-American Vocology Association’s chapter conference in Toronto. As a master class clinician, Elizabeth has presented for the Singapore Performing Arts Academy in Singapore, The New York Singing Teachers’ Association (NYSTA), Wilfrid Laurier University (Canada), The University of Colorado (Boulder), and Queensbury Theatre (Houston). A versatile singer herself, career highlights include opera (Carnegie Hall), musical theatre (Symphony Center), and rock (The Hard Rock Cafe Atlanta). www.elizabethannbenson.com
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Angela Allen Dickson is starting her third year as Theatre Director/Instructor at Chipola College. She has her MFA from the University of Alabama and she is a certified Meisner Acting Instructor from the True Acting Institute with Larry Silverberg. She comes to Chipola having been involved in over 200 productions both onstage and behind the scenes. On stage some of her favorite roles include Marmie in Little Woman, Mrs. Malaprop in The Rivals and Amanda in The Glass Menagerie. She was most recently seen performing in New York City for the book launch of Marquee Moments, Essays by Theatre Lovers, which includes two of her theatre memories. She has presented and lead numerous workshops at the Florida Theatre Conference, the South Eastern Theatre Conference, the Alabama Institute for Education in the Arts, the Alabama-Korea Education and Economic Partnership, and the Network Schools of America. She has also been seen on the stage at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, most recently in The Sound of Music. She is Equity eligible and a member of the Dramatist Guild. Her musical, Mama Hewitt’s Family Reunion and All Night BBQ was accepted as part of the ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop where she met and worked with musical theatre dignitary Stephen Schwartz. She believes completely in the transformative power of the arts and the need for arts in education. She has one son Aidan, and is an avid pickleball player!
Dréa Lewis is an award-winning producer, writer, actor, director, educator, and founder of Dream of Dréa. With more than 20 years of experience in theatre, film, and creative entrepreneurship, she has dedicated her career to helping artists build sustainable and authentic creative lives.
A Festival de Cannes-accredited filmmaker and 1 of 170 members of the 2026 Producers Network at the Marché du Film, Dréa recently achieved international distribution for her feature film "The Delilah Factor" after its screening in select AMC Theatres. Her work has earned recognition from the Kennedy Center, John Hopkins University Theatre Press, Invest Atlanta, the BeyGOOD Foundation, and numerous arts organizations.
As the author of "The Mathematics of Acting" and host of the Hyphens Haven podcast, Dréa continues to empower artists on stage, on screen, and behind the scenes. Visit https://sociatap.com/DreamofDrea/ for more info.