THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 2, 1995 TAG: 9503020061
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERESA ANNAS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
THE HILLBILLY PLAYERS have come all the way from Sutton, W. Va., to perform a script by a Virginia Beach playwright on a Norfolk stage.
Deborah Pryor's ``The Love Talker,'' set in the Virginia mountains, will be presented at 9 p.m. Friday as part of the Community Theater Festival, one of hundreds of regional theater events associated with the Southeastern Theater Conference (SETC), taking place in Norfolk through Sunday.
The Community Theater Festival, which takes place at Old Dominion University Theater tonight through Saturday, is the only SETC program open to the public.
For $5 per evening, patrons can witness two to four hourlong plays or musicals presented by amateur theater groups that won statewide contests. Eight of the 10 states in the southeastern region are represented, including The Castaways Repertory Theater of Woodbridge, Va., mounting Christopher Durang's ``An Actor's Nightmare'' at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
Tonight's shows are at 8 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. Friday's shows are at 5:30 p.m., 7:15 p.m., 9 p.m. and 10:45 p.m. On Saturday, performances at 10:45 p.m. and 12:30 p.m. The theater is at 4600 Hampton Blvd.; call 683-5305 for more information.
Admission to the rest of the conference, which includes a wide range of workshops, talks and panel discussions, is the cost of SETC membership ($40, individual) plus a $45 basic conference fee. Anyone may register any day, but must pay both the membership and conference fees; an exception is Saturday only, for which a one-day fee of $25 is charged.
SETC has nearly 4,000 members, said Marian Smith, the group's administrative director. As of Wednesday, 2,200 had preregistered, and Smith anticipated that walk-in registrations would bring the total to more than 3,000 participants.
Most programs take place at The Marriott Hotel and Omni International Hotel in downtown Norfolk.
At a luncheon today at the Marriott, Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim will proclaim the conference's stay ``Southeastern Theater Conference Days'' in Norfolk.
A major feature of the conference is auditions. Today through Saturday, nearly 1,000 student and professional performers will try out in various ``cattle call'' auditions for actors, singers and dancers. Representatives from 97 theater presenters, including major theme parks, regional theaters, dinner theaters as well as colleges and universities with thespian scholarships, will be among those observing the one- to two-minute performances.
Besides actor Woody Harrelson, who speaks on Friday, famed set designer Ming Cho Lee will be in Norfolk today and Friday to speak and judge a college-level costume and set design competition.
For more information, call the SETC registration desk at The Marriott, 627-4200, Ext. 6508. by CNB