South Sound theater landed a big fish this week when Tacoma Little Theatre, Tacoma Musical Playhouse and The Washington State Community Theatre Association joined forces to bring more than 600 theater enthusiasts, advocates and performers from around the country to Tacoma to celebrate the power of community created theatre in June of 2009. The effort will mean Tacoma will host the American Association of Community Theatre’s 2009 biennial festival: AACTFest 2009.

The local partnership presented a formal bid proposal to the AACT in January.  TMP founder Jon Douglas Rake and former TLT artistic director Judy Cullen attended the group's winter meeting in Fort Worth, Texas to state their case.

It worked. They learned this past weekend the Tacoma delegation was informed that their proposal had been accepted.

“Tacoma has a great tradition of community theatre, and Washington is one of the western states that is most active in the AACT, “ said Cullen, who is also the WSCTA president.  “ This festival will be a great event for our local theatres and our state organization.  I am incredibly excited about the task at hand and all of the terrific northwest hospitality that we will share with our guests.” â€" Steve Dunkelberger