Two years ago, Stage Left Theater sent a production of Pass Over westward to the Kaleidoscope festival in Tacoma.
Their staging of Antoinette Nwandu's sociopolitically charged play, which was directed by Malcolm Pelles and featured local actors Danny Anderson, Dahveed Bullis and Matt Slater, ended up taking top honors at the biennial statewide community theater competition.
Pass Over's success didn't stop there. It quickly went on to win the regional competitive leg in McMinnville, Oregon, and finally the national round at the American Association of Community Theatre's AACTFest in Louisville, Kentucky. More recently, the same production of Pass Over was selected to represent the United States at the noncompetitive World Festival of Amateur Theatre in Monaco this coming August.
In hopes of repeating that journey toward national and even international accolades, theater troupes from across Washington state are converging on Spokane next week when Stage Left hosts this year's Kaleidoscope.
"It's kind of a full circle moment for us," says Jeremy Whittington. He was the artistic director at Stage Left during Pass Over's ascent and is now chair of the current Kaleidoscope festival.
"With Pass Over being the current reigning national champion, I think one of the things that having it here in Spokane and hosted by Stage Left Theater does, is it points out to smaller theater companies that it's a real possibility that your little theater production can take something all the way to nationals and actually win."
To underscore that possibility, Stage Left is concluding this year's festival with a showcase performance of Pass Over.
Leading up to that moment, eight productions from as many statewide community theaters will vie for the adjudicators' favor: Lord of the Flies (Bright Comet Theatre, Spokane), Constellations (Theatre33, Bellevue), The Case of the Crushed Petunias (Resonance Studio Theatre, Redmond), Fool for Love (Richland Players), Sweeney Todd (New Prospect Theatre, Bellingham), My Name is Rachel Corrie (T...NADA, Walla Walla and Prosser), I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change (Tacoma Musical Playhouse) and You Didn't Hear This from Me (Bellingham Theatre Guild).
The top two Washington-based troupes will then go up against productions from Oregon, Alaska and Idaho at the regional competition in Boise next month. From there, one entry will advance to Des Moines, Iowa, for AACTFest in June.
Chris Serface is a past president of AACT and the artistic director at Tacoma Little Theatre, which hosted Kaleidoscope in 2023. He says that the festival is more than just an opportunity for local community theaters to show their mettle.
"From a patron standpoint, it's giving them exposure to more shows than they would probably see in a three-day period. They're like, 'Wow, I can see several shows for the cost of one, and they're hourlong snippets of it? That's great.' And so it really draws even your armchair theater enthusiasts," he says.
"The festival process is the other thing that makes it fascinating to see. It's a 10-60-10. What that means is that you have 10 minutes to set up, 60 minutes to do your show, and 10 minutes to strike everything. And everything used in the show must come out of a 10-by-10-foot square on stage. Watching what people create out of that square is amazing."
Those strict requirements introduce an element of tension and risk. If a production exceeds any of those time limits by even a second, it will be disqualified. But the performers won't be told that they've gone over time until their show is completed.
Kaleidoscope isn't all high-stakes drama, though. During the three days of performances, there are also workshops that are free and open to the public. This year's topics include youth safety, writing and publishing, monologues, critically assessing plays, body diversity and casting.
With Pass Over now such a "a well-oiled machine," according to the show's lighting designer and interim artistic director of Stage Left, Alana Shepherd, the theater has been able to concentrate fully on organizing those workshops and playing the host.
"For us, the festival is the production," she says.
That's one reason why the Kaleidoscope performances are taking place at Gonzaga University's Magnuson Theatre instead of Stage Left. The Magnuson offers more space for storage and setup, and its 218 seats provide almost four times the capacity.
And despite the competitive basis of the festival, Whittington and Shepherd are continuing Kaleidoscope's long tradition of support and creative collaboration. Each theater will be assigned a personal ambassador to act as an adviser and tour guide, and there will be nightly opportunities for social gatherings and conversation.
"I feel like it's in our nature to be welcoming and warm," Shepherd says. "[Kaleidoscope] doesn't often come to the east side, so we want to make sure everybody's taken care of." ♦
Kaleidoscope 2025 • Thu, Feb. 13-Sun, Feb. 16, show times vary • $15-$25/show; $45/festival pass • Magnuson Theatre at Gonzaga University • 502 E. Boone Ave. • stagelefttheater.org • 509-838-9727
