Rotary business award

At the Pell City Rotary Club Meeting on Aug. 3 the Pell City Chamber board of directors presented the organization with a business of the month award.

Don Smith, former president, accepted the award on behalf of the current president, John W. Rea.

“Pell City is very blessed to have two incredible organizations that work so well together,” said Smith.

“They do so much to give back to the community, and they give back to other nonprofits in the community. They are very active, and we are happy to recognize their contribution,” said Urainah Glidewell, executive director of the Pell City Chamber of Commerce.

Jeff Thompson, executive director of the Center for Education and Performing Arts (CEPA), shared a screening of a short film that Spotlight Studios has spent the last year producing. Spotlight is an extension of CEPA that allows citizens of any age within the community a chance to learn more about the art of performing.

Across the county CEPA does 10 plays a year and has 300 members.

“These are opportunities people would not have without this organization. We are touching a lot of lives that way,” said Thompson.

Due to the pandemic, Spotlight has spent the past year developing opportunities outside of the theater to teach script writing and auditory performances. Several scripts written by club members have been produced into podcasts for “The Black Box by Spotlight.”

He described this as a long plan that started at the beginning of the pandemic.

According to Thompson, the program was interested in exploring the relationship of performance arts and film past what can take place on a stage. With this in mind, Spotlight created The Black Box by Spotlight, and eight episode podcast, each episode featuring a script written by club members in St. Clair County.

Thompson said that the program offered many different aspects of film creation, and put an emphasis on people who want to lead programs.

“Leaders are really what we’re after with this program. We want people in Spotlight to be able to work with their peers to practice their crafts, and hone in on their project to be better after they leave us than when they come to us,” said Thompson.

Among the podcasts created, Lacey Pierson, a high school student from St. Clair County High School, developed her podcast performance into a short film called “Miss Christmas Business.” This is Pierson’s comedic take on classic Hallmark Movies.

The film has been accepted into Alabama’s Sidewalk Film Festival in Birmingham. Sidewalk is the largest film festival in Alabama. The festival will play “Miss Christmas Business” during this year’s features on Aug. 28.