Venice Goes Global

By Beau Denton

Community theater groups from 11 different countries have descended on Venice for the AACT International Theatre Festival, continuing until Saturday. Tuesday’s opening event was a gleeful celebration of the art, actors and crews from six continents ignoring language barriers to mingle with each other and local theater fans. The Venice Theatre parking lots were overflowing and the lobby was filled to capacity as people wandered through  the crowd, drinks in hand. “It’s a lot of fun with all the different languages here,” said bartender Paul Bekkenhuis. “Earlier I was taking drink orders in Russian, which is new for me.”

In the main auditorium, the full house buzzed in anticipation. “It gives me goose bumps, seeing these young people from all over the world,” whispered Marge Leavitt of Punta Gorda as the lights dimmed. “And how often can we go to a play where the brochure is in three different languages?”
 

The Who's Tommy

After opening words, a flag processional, and thunderous applause welcoming each team, the festival kicked off with a condensed version of The Who’s Tommy by the Sarasota Players (which our own Kay Kipling reviewed earlier this year), followed by productions from Italy and Brazil. Each play is presented in the group’s native language, but the works selected are highly visual, telling stories through images and movements. With Sarasota’s circus heritage, locals might be especially interested in Brazil’s Circo Poeira , which promises to mix “the language of circus, theater and puppetry.”
 

Circo Poeira

You can find a full schedule at www.venicestage.com. The festivities also include daytime workshops and late-night parties, where you can mingle with the energetic actors, crews and viewers. Before you know it, you might be laughing and nodding your head at a scene—or remark—in a language you don’t even understand.