Tacoma Musical Playhouse, the theater that can apparently do no wrong, with its sold-out shows, deep talent pool and state theater awards to hang on its walls will now play the role of host for the “Best of the Best” festival to celebrate all things community theater from across the Northwest.



Theater troupes from three of the states from Northwest Region 9 of the American Association of Community Theatre are set to take to the TMP stage to represent their states in the one-act regional festival Saturday, March 31.



Washington is represented by Spokane Civic Theatre’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s musical send-up “Assassins,” and Lake City Playhouse of Coeur d’Alene will represent the potato state with a staging of a scene from the musical “Forever Plaid.”



Oregon is represented by The Gallery Theater of McMinnville with a production of the hysterical comedy “Art.” The show looks at the question of what is art and what is just fun to look at when it hangs on a wall, for example streams of snot or Meg Ryan.



Alaska dogged out this year.



he theaters have only 10 minutes to set up their production, an hour to perform and 10 minutes to strike their sets. Failure leads to disqualification.



“This makes it fair for all,” says TMP Director and festival Chairman Jon Douglas Rake. “We will have three adjudicators who will then pick one production to go on to the national festival to be held in June in Charlotte, North Carolina.”



The festival starts at 10 a.m. with the Spokane production. Idaho’s musical show about dead singers taking to the stage, “Forever Plaid,” will start at 1 p.m., and the curtain rises on Oregon ’s production of “Art” at 3 p.m.



The festival will end with a banquet at TMP, which is now the largest community theater in the Pacific Northwest, at 7 p.m. when the awards will be announced.



Tickets may be purchased for one or all of the productions and/or the awards banquet.  They are available at TMP’s home stage of the Narrows Theatre located at 7116 Sixth Ave. Tickets are $18 for all three performances, $7 for individual shows and $20 for the banquet.

Reservations were required by March 28 for the banquet.  For tickets or more information, call 253.565.6867 or visit: www.tmp. org.



If you can’t attend, but want the latest in theater news, visit the Weekly Volcano’s blog — www. weeklyvolcanospew.com for updates on who won what and what troupe is heading to the East Coast.



[Narrows Theater, Saturday, March 31, 10 a.m., 1 and 3 p.m., banquet 7 p.m., $7-$20, 7116 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.565.6867]