The Sedona International Film Festival announced on Oct. 29 that it has created the Sedona Professional Theatre Company in partnership with the Utah Shakespeare Festival, which will feature Actors’ Equity Association repertory performers presenting live theatrical performances to the Mary D. Fisher Theatre.
It will be followed by “What the Constitution Means to Me” in January, “Love Letters” in February, “Can I Say Yes to That Dress?” in April, “Miss Margarida’s Way” in June and “Gutenberg: The Musical” in fall 2025.
SIFF Executive Director Patrick Schweiss said he anticipates that the new company will announce four more shows for its inaugural season early next year. The partnership was formed after actor Michael Doherty performed “Every Brilliant Thing” at SIFF in April 2023. Doherty, who spent five seasons performing at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, enabled SIFF to network with actors who travel with small casts or productions.
In August, Schweiss and several of his board members and staff, including his daughter Christina, who Schweiss said took him to his first Utah Shakespeare Festival in 2018, met with the festival’s administration and some of their actors and came back with a list of performances that met their requirements.
“While this is all happening this summer, we installed our new short-throw projector in the Mary D. Fisher,” Schweiss said. “That will allow us to project scenes and backdrops so that there’s a sense of place in the plays, and then you build a three-dimensional smaller set around it.”
The theatre’s lighting system will also be receiving an upgrade for live theatre.
“We can’t light the stage with our existing lighting because it washes out the background screen,” Schweiss said.
Initial funding for the live theatre program was supplied by donations of $31,000 from Renee and Doug Leuthold, who also funded SIFF’s “Movies on the Move” truck; $19,000 from Chuck Marr and Susan Valletta; and $7,000 from Eddie Washkin. Schweiss said that his goal is to raise $100,000 for a new account to fund live theatre at SIFF in perpetuity.
“We’re thrilled to bring these shows to Sedona,” Schweiss said. “We are responsible for the actors’ housing, transportation, per diem and their insurance while they’re working for us. They get an extraordinary Sedona experience because they’re able to rehearse during the day until we start showing movies in the afternoon, and then they can go explore before their show.”
SIFF was also recently named one of the 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World by MovieMaker magazine on Oct. 22. Schweiss attributed the recognition in part to a 25% increase in the number of films submitted for consideration for Sedona’s 2025 festival, with about 1,500 films being reviewed this year, up from a more usual 1,200 or so. Only about 160 films will make it through to the festival in February.
“It is amazing to be given that moniker,” Schweiss said. “We’ve garnered a wonderful reputation for going on 31 years, and it’s nice to be recognized and noticed for the hard work. But the rating is really an accolade to Sedona and our audience … It’s not just a great film festival, it’s how this community treats filmmakers when they come and that’s what the industry is taking note of. So this can only help us in attracting better films, bigger films and it’s only going to help this community and what we can bring here.”
