2012 State Theatre Champs Announced From:  News Release   1/24/12  GCN   STARKVILLE, Miss. –– The Mississippi Theatre Association held its 2012 Theatre Festival in Gulfport, MS January 12-15 at MS Gulf Coast Community College.  This year’s festival saw an increase in the number of attendees maxing out at over 650 people representing 11 community theatres and 17 high schools. Theatres from Hattiesburg, Oxford, Greenville and Tupelo were awarded top honors in the community theatre and secondary divisions. According to MTA Executive Director Stephen Cunetto, “The Board was very pleased with the turnout at this year’s state festival, both in terms of the number of attendees as well as the number of theatres represented at the festival.” In addition to the theatre competition, which resulted in 7 community theatre productions and 6 high school productions, the four-day event also featured a 10-minute Play Festival, Theatre for Youth Festival, workshops, networking opportunities and staged readings of two original works, which were selected as part of the organization’s annual playwriting competition for adults and youth.  The guest playwriting adjudicator, New York actor and playwright Frank Blocker, offered a special performance of his critically acclaimed one-man show.   The highlight and major focus of the festival was the community theatre and secondary theatre competitions. Adjudicators from outside the state selected winners for both divisions, as well as numerous acting and technical awards. In the Community Division, Greenville’s Delta Center Stage production of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Was Enuf won the Warren McDaniel Award for Best Production. Tupelo Community Theatre’s production of God of Carnage won first runner up. Best Director and Best Actress went to Delta Center Stage’s Margaret Carey-McCray and Zina Kelly, respectively.  Best Actor went to Chris Wooten from Just Over the Rainbow Theatre in their production of Crimes of the Heart, and Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress went to Tupelo Community Theatre’s Lisa Martin and Mark Maharrey from God of Carnage. In the Secondary Division, Oak Grove High School’s production of Jungalbook won the Dominic J. Cunetto Award for Best Production, while Oxford High School’s Scenes from Metamorphoses won Runner Up Best Production. Suzanne Allmon, Oak Grove High School, won the Best Director award while the Best Actor award went to Xavier Martin (Oak Grove); Best Actress went to Mary Frances Devoe (Oxford); Best Supporting Actor went to Tyler Griffis (Starkville ) and Best Supporting Actress went to Savannah Showalter ( Picayune).  For a complete listing of awards visit the MTA website at http://www.mta-online.org.   During the awards ceremony held on Sunday, Cunetto noted to the 600 attendees that,  “Mississippi may be on the bottom of many national rankings, but we are not on the bottom when it comes to the number of talented individuals we have in our state.”    MTA is sponsored in part by grants from the Mississippi Arts Commission, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. Sponsors included BancorpSouth, Theatrical Lighting Systems and Mainstage Theatrical Supply.  For more information, visit the MTA website at http://www.mta-online.org or contact Stephen Cunetto, executive director of the Mississippi Theatre Association, at (662) 418-3870 or scunetto@gmail.com.