Daron Letts
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (June 17/05) - The curtain closed on auditions for the 11th annual NACC One Act Festival this week.

The event will present more than a half dozen short performances from July 7-10.

Festival organizer Amanda Dei says this year's schedule will feature an eclectic mix of drama, music and comedy. She is working on one of the half-hour long plays, Excaliber Unplugged, with the Efpeedee Players.

Dei has been involved with NACC and the One Act Festival for the past six years as a technician, performer and writer. It's her fourth year as festival organizer.

"I stumbled on theatre and just sunk into it, I guess," she said. "I'm the volunteer that never went away."

Dei pursues Theatre and Native Studies during the year. But she says she values the opportunity to return to NACC each season.

"People who get involved with this festival tend to come back year after year," she said.

Set designer and thespian Brian Wainwright has returned every year since helping launch the first festival in 1995.

"The festival is about challenging the audience with unique material and it's also about challenging the performers," he said.

Minimalist sets, experimental scripts and a fast pace stretch the actors' talents, he said.

Wainwright helps out with high school theatre productions in Yellowknife, building sets and advising young stage technicians.

He uses the One Act Festival to introduce students to the NACC stage.

This season he's working with students from Sir John Franklin high school to present Carol Shields' Departures and Arrivals and a drama called Jason.

Admission to the plays is $5. Each production is guaranteed two performance dates.

The schedule will be announced soon.