Twink Lynch Award | AACT

Twink Lynch Award

Twink Lynch Organizational Achievement
Recognizes AACT member theatres for successfully completing major steps in new directions, expanding services to their communities, or moving to the next level of organizational development.

2023 Honorees

Beaumont Community Players logoBeaumont Community Players (Beaumont, Texas) has been entertaining and educating audiences for nearly 100 years in southeast Texas. Beaumont and the surrounding area is a diverse place and the theatre has worked to be reflective of its community. One performance of every show is interpreted by a local American Sign Language group. Its child summer camps include one for neurodivergent children across the spectrum (in partnership with Lamar University). It loudly and proudly supports the LGBTQIA community through partnerships with PFLAG, provides Black History Month programing to local schools, and practices race and gender-neutral casting, striving to be a safe haven for anyone who enters its doors. “A good show can change lives,” says a theatre spokesperson. “That's why most of us are drawn to theatre and to telling these stories—because they are powerful. But we also believe that the 'community' in community theatre, is life-changing as well.”

Kettle Moraine Players logoThe Kettle Moraine Players (Slinger, Wisconsin) was officially formed.in 2008. That same year, the company produced two shows, and in 2009, participated in AACTFest, receiving four awards at the Wisconsin state festival, and advancing to the Region III festival. Kettle Moraine Players (KMP) soon accepted an invitation from the Schauer Center in Hartford, Wisconsin, and produced a show there each October for many years. In 2016, KMP purchased a 125-year-old church in nearby Slinger. Renovation began the following year, with contractors used for major construction and KMP volunteers providing painting, interior framing, and all stage and catwalk construction. Work was completed in just four months, and in October 2017 the first production opened.  Currently, there are seven productions each season, with 53 performances. Annual attendance is now 3,000. The company has set a goal of 10% of its profits to be contributed to a capital facility fund, and KMP has returned to participating in AACTFest.

Market House Theatre logoMarket House Theatre (Paducah, Kentucky), now entering its 60th year of operation, has completed a 12-year project to renovate and restore 11 historic buildings in downtown Paducah into a campus of theatre, dance and music classes, workshops, and performances. This historic preservation effort and its living history tours of the downtown and cemetery areas bring in people from all over the region. Market House Theatre (MHT) has expanded its region's access to the arts by offering Theatre in Schools across a three-state area and increasing its free-to-the-public programming. This includes the annual Kids Creative Arts Street Fair, drawing over 3,000 youth annually; summertime Shakespeare productions in its new courtyard theatre space; and Playtime performances in its newly expanded studio and event space, promoting early literacy efforts. MHT strives to bring the arts to people regardless of their socioeconomic status. As it celebrates 60 years of operation, MHT also celebrates its large footprint in the community.


Previous Recipients

2022   Stage Left Theater (Spokane, Washington)
2021   Prescott Center for the Arts (Prescott, Arizona)
2020   Shawnee Little Theatre (Shaw­nee, Oklahoma)
2019   Alton Little Theater (Alton, IL)
2018   Hale Center Theatre (Sandy, UT)
2017   Encore Stage & Studio, Inc (Arlington, Virginia)
           Theatre Lawrence (Lawrence, Kansas)
2016   Lincoln Community Playhouse (Lincoln, NE)
2015   Theatre Tulsa (Tulsa, OK)
2014   Aviano CommunityTheater, Aviano Air Base (Aviano, Italy)
           Mesa Encore Theatre (Mesa AZ)
           Tupelo Community Theatre (Tupelo, MS)
2013   Salina Community Theatre (Salina, KS)
2012   Amelia Community Theatre (Fernandina Beach, FL)
            Family Arts Center (Houston, TX)
            Manatee Players (Bradenton, FL)

2011  Fargo-Moorhead Community Theatre (North Dakota-Minnesota)
          Theatre Memphis (Memphis, TN)
2010  Twin City Stage (Winston-Salem, NC)
2009  Venice Theatre (Venice, FL)
2008  SHAPE Performing Arts Center,  
           Supreme Headquarters, Allied Powers
           Europe (Belgium)
2007  Stuttgart Theatre Center, Germany
2006  Chattanooga Theatre Centre
2005  Bay City Players (MI)
2004  Albuquerque Little Theatre (NM)
2003  Topeka Civic Theatre & Academy (KS)
           Quincy Community Theatre (IL)


Twink Lynch

Photo of Twink LynchThis award is named in honor of Twink Lynch, who devoted her life to community theatre and to serving as a mentor to both individuals and community theatres across the country. She helped shepherd the national organization's transition from American Community Theatre Association (ACTA) to AACT, served on the Board for six years, including a term as President and VP of Education and on AACT committees for an additional 19 years. Twink managed Topeka (KS) Civic Theatre for many years, retired, then came back during hard times and guided the theatre back to a stable organization. Her passion was such that she earned three degrees in theatre; it is said, she is the only person to earn a Ph.D. in Community Theatre Management. Twink shared her knowledge and experience through consulting and through her "Spotlight on Boards" column in AACT's newsletter, which she wrote for 14 years. In 2000, she edited her columns into a book, Boards in the Spotlight, the proceeds of which benefit AACT. Her book still educates those who are managing and governing community theatres.

 

 

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