We want to remind you that show registration for MACT*Fest 2027 is now open. MACT*Fest will be held February 19-21, 2027 at the Reif Center for the Performing Arts in Grand Rapids, hosted by the Reif Center and Grand Rapids Players. Presenting theatres may need to be there as early as Wednesday, February 17, depending on number of shows and rehearsal schedules. The deadline for entering a show is December 1, 2026.
MACT*Fest is MACT’s biennial festival of 60-minute shows. Each show will have 10 minutes to setup, 60 minutes to perform and 10 minutes to strike. The sets for each show must fit in a 100 square foot area, usually a 10 foot by 10 foot box. The set must start and end in that box. Each show will be adjudicated by a panel of three adjudicators immediately after their set strike. Actors may not belong to Actors’ Equity, SAG or other professional actors’ organization. Presenting theatres must be members of MACT.. Theatres must also be members of AACT or pay an AACT participation fee. The festival will be limited to 12 shows. Theatres must be a community (non-professional) theatre, have existed for at least one year and presented at least two shows prior to their festival entry. Additional rules apply. MACT*Fest follows the AACTFest rules as outlined in the AACTFest Handbook available here. We suggest you review this manual, especially if you have not presented a show in MACT*Fest recently. The rules are reviewed and updated every festival cycle.
You will be assigned a rehearsal time block of 80 minutes. Rehearsals may start as early as Wednesday, February 17, depending on the number of shows entered. During your show’s rehearsal time slot, you will need to setup any lighting, sound or other tech requirements that your show may have. In addition to the festival standard lighting plot, you may have up to 6 lighting specials.
Performances will likely be Friday and Saturday afternoon and evening. (If there are more than 10 shows, we may have to start performance on Thursday evening.) There will also be workshops Friday and Saturday morning and social events after the evening performances. Awards will be presented on Sunday morning.
Registering a show for MACT*Fest involves filling out several AACT forms available via the MACT*Fest 2027 page on the MACT website and paying the registration fee. If you have presented a show at a MACT*Fest in the last 5 cycles (10 years), registration is $250. To encourage participation by theatres that have never presented a show at MACT*Fest, or at least not at the last 5 festivals, we offer a special registration price of $150. The registration deadline for a show is December 1. Shortly thereafter, we will hold a drawing from the show entries received by the deadline to determine performance order. We will fill the last performance slot first and fill backwards until all shows have been placed or all performance slots have been filled. If all performance slots are not filled by the December 1st deadline, we will continue to accept show registrations until the earlier of January 1 or all performance slots are filled. Late registrations will fill available performance slots on a first come, first served basis. The late registration fee is $350 for shows entering between December 2 and January 1. (Dates listed are received by dates, not sent dates.)
In addition to your show registration, all participants are required to purchase tickets to at least the performance session they are performing in. But we hope they will want to purchase a full package so they can attend all the events (workshops, performances, socials and the awards) at the festival. One full package is included with each show registration. Full package and individual event pricing have not been set yet, but will be before the show registration deadline.
MACT*Fest is the first leg in the trifecta of community theatre festivals, all of which will be in Minnesota in 2027. Two shows from MACT*Fest will advance to the Region V AACTFest, which will be in Worthington, April 1-3, 2027. From the regional festival at least one show will advance to the national festival, AACTFest 2027, which will be at the Mayo Civic Center Theatre in Rochester June 22-29. This is a pretty unique opportunity for your theatre. Your show could advance all the way to the national festival without having to leave Minnesota.
For more information on the festival, the rules and registration, visit the MACT*Fest ’27 page on MACT’s website or contact Matthew Kraft, Festival Chair, at matthew.e.kraft@gmail.com.