The ACTT

A film crew documents the performers and stage crew of a community theatre, leading to awkward and dramatic moments.

Martin (Medeiros) is the founder and one of the performers of the ACTT, a small theatre organisation and he has invited a team of filmmakers to film himself and his colleagues as they have their first meeting of the year and work on a theatrical production for the official video submission for the 2024 Rhode Island Performing Theatre Arts Grant. So Martin takes the crew to the theatre, where his associates are ready to get to work. However, things will not go smoothly due to disagreements regarding this and that between actos and crew and further complications will emerge with the unexpected arrival of an actress.

Filmed as a mockumentary, this short comedy focuses mainly on the performances and minor arguments between the characters in order to have an effect. The vast majority of the narrative takes place on a theatre stage, with people interacting with each other (to be more specific: either talking or quarrelling with each other). Who are the protagonists then? First, there is Martin who is mentioned above, a nice guy who tries to keep thing calm on the stage. Then there is Shelly (Long), a friendly, cheerful and naive actress who is not too keen on Jamie (Meer), the experienced performer who shows up after she discovers that auditions are taking place. Finally, there is Don (Cyrus), the director, a man who is proud of his work and comes across as a bit of a narcissist. The characters argue about the qualities of good acting and filmmaking, tell jokes and insult one another and the subject of wealth also pops up.

With the exception of the beginning, the actors do not acknowledge the camera, however, the film often cuts from the story to a scene where one of the protagonists (either Shelly, Jamie or Don) is addressing the audience, talking about themselves and their experiences. Thanks to this technique, the film explores these characters more thoroughly.

This is another collaboration between Cyrus and Medeiros and the result is a story about the world of theatre and a creative team that appears to be dysfuntional. There are funny moments and serious drama and the heart-warming ending seems to indicate that even though people can have differences, they can still unite and help each other.