Festival festival!

Believe it or not, the Theatre League of South Florida has thrown a Theatre Festival for the last three years. If you didn't know that, you're not alone; it basically amounted to declaring any shows by member theatres in a certain date range to being part of the festival, and a party being thrown at some point. There wasn't a whole lot of cohesiveness to it.

But that was then: this is now.

“We hope this year’s Festival will bring a whole new body of fans to the many theatrical venues in the tri-county area,”

- Meredith Lasher, TLSF President.

This year, there are two opening night programs at opposite ends of South Florida on Monday, October 12th; the 24 Hour Theatre Project at the Miracle Theatre in Coral Gables, and the local presentation of the nationwide reading of The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later at Florida Stage in Manalapan. The program in Coral Gables is also a fundraiser for the Naked Stage, and includes the kind of lavish pre-show party and post-show reception as only Actors' Playhouse could put together.

That's pretty festive, right? "But Wait, There's More...."

At least 8 South Florida Theatres will be participating in the national Free Night of Theatre on Thursday, October 15th. This will be the Theatre Communications Group 5th year of promoting theatre across the country: participating theatres put aside blocks of tickets to lure in first-time theatre goers - or long time patrons who call far enough in advance to take advantage of the deal - in to see a show FOR FREE. But before you go off to see a free show, there's an open party and trade show at America's Backyard in downtown Fort Lauderdale.

So now it's really starting to feel like a Festival - but there's MORE:

On October 19, there's a party at MuseoVault in Miami's Design District, hosted by MiamiARTzine.com , a Press club luncheon at the Miami Shores Country Club, and last - but not least - a closing party on October 26th at Revolution Live in downtown Fort Lauderdale which will include presentation of the Silver Palm and Remy Awards.

Other events for the festival are still in the works; you can find details about the 5th Annual South Florida Theatre Festival on SouthFloridaTheatre.com, the Theatre League website.

No word on whether they're throwing in steak knives or melon-ballers at this time.