I mean, I’m just always going to remember the connection, human connection,” Bullis said. “The commitment to the moment was next-level. Winning best overall production in the nation was just a bonus. This yearlong endeavor turned the troupe into a well-oiled machine with its sights on one goal: to communicate a story. Victories there ushered them to a regional showcase in March, where they again took home the trophy and qualified for last week’s national competition. For the first time in the troupe’s history, the team swept the competition, earning titles in lighting, sound, set design, acting, direction and overall production. After positive reception from local audiences, the team decided it would be a fitting entry to AACTFest’s preliminary, a statewide competition in February. The theater performed the play in its regular season last June. “It still ends with a Black body on the ground, murdered in front of their community.” Stage Left Theater actor Dahveed Bullis, center, talks with competitors in the youth portion of the AACTFest 2023 competition. It just keeps happening, and even though it might look like it’s not happening the same way, the end results are still the same,” Bullis said. “I don’t think history repeats, but it rhymes. The perpetual cycle of violence mirrors the cycle the protagonists find themselves in, he said. Having worked on the play for over a year, Bullis, who plays Moses, said it gained new relevance at every rehearsal after the latest mass shooting or instance of police brutality. Originally written by Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu, inspired by the killing of Trayvon Martin in 2012, the play offers inescapable social commentary through obscurity and humor in uncomfortable truths. “Pass Over” is a modern retelling of “Waiting for Godot,” starring two Black men on a street corner commiserating about their experience stuck in a cycle, waiting to “pass over” into the promised land. It features 12 theaters from across the nation, each champions in their respective regions, vying for victories in several categories like set design, lighting and costuming. The competition, AACTFest 2023, is a biennial weeklong festival put on by the American Association of Community Theatre. The troupe won the grand title of Overall Outstanding Production for “Pass Over.” Director Malcolm Pelles won Best Director, and the cast of Matthew Slater, Dahveed Bullis and Danny Anderson received the title for Best Ensemble. Spokane’s own Stage Left Theater is the best in the nation.Īt least according to judges at a national community theater competition last week in Louisville, Kentucky, where the troupe’s performance of “Pass Over” was decorated with various honors, including a best of show award.
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