CSUF Students at Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival

Regional Competition Set the Stage for this Month's National Contest

April 14, 2008 :: No. 211

What:

Four students from Cal State Fullerton's Department of Theatre and Dance have been invited to the national theater competitions at Washington, D.C.'s, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts being conducted April 14-20.

Who:

Design students Ray Gibson (sound design) and Lindsey Gassaway (scenic design) will join CSUF acting students Joe Gillette (regional acting finalist) and Peter Weidman (partner/regional acting finalist) at the festival. Gillette and Weidman will be competing in the National Irene Ryan Scholarship auditions. Adam Navarro was selected as an Irene Ryan Washington, D.C., alternate, along with his partner, LeeLee Lawler.

When/Where:

The students won their chance to compete at this month's Kennedy Center competition during the center's American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF) regional competition held Feb. 12-16 at Cal State Los Angeles.

More:

Joseph Holbrook was awarded the KCACTF Regional Award for Technical Direction; Michael Vitale was awarded the KCACTF Regional Award for Stage Management; and Deven Simonson won the KCACTF Regional Award for Best Partner/Acting. Regional honorable mention awards also were presented to Monica French (make-up design), Gassaway (technical direction) and Caitlin Neiman (playwriting).

In addition, Lawler, Navarro and Simonson were all awarded full scholarships to the California State University Summer Arts Program.

CSUF faculty member James R. Taulli served as the KCACTF Region VIII chair and leader of the regional festival. CSUF faculty member Eve Himmelheber was the Region VIII Irene Ryan coordinator, CSUF faculty member Susan Merson was the dramaturgy coordinator, and CSUF graduate student Meredith Hinkley served as the secretary for Region VIII. CSUF faculty members serving the regional Irene Ryan Scholarship Auditions process included Evelyn Carol Case, Maria Cominis, Dean Hess, Himmelheber and William F. Lett.

About KCACTF:

KCACTF is presented and produced by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, supported, in part, by the U.S. Department of Education. The aims of this national theater education program are to identify and promote quality in college-level theater production. To this end, each production entered is eligible for a response by a regional KCACTF representative, and selected students and faculty members are invited to participate in KCACTF programs involving scholarships, internships, grants and awards for actors, playwrights, designers, stage managers and critics at both the regional and national levels.

Background:

The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival was started in 1969 by Roger L. Stevens, the Kennedy Center's founding chairman. The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) is a national theater program involving 18,000 students from colleges and universities nationwide. It has served as a catalyst in improving the quality of college theater in the United States. The KCACTF has grown into a network of more than 600 academic institutions throughout the country, where theater departments and student artists showcase their work and receive outside assessment by KCACTF respondents.

KCACTF Goals:

To encourage, recognize and celebrate the finest and most diverse work produced in university and college theater programs; to provide opportunities for participants to develop their theater skills and insight; and achieve professionalism; to improve the quality of college and university theater in America; to encourage colleges and universities to give distinguished productions of new plays, especially those written by students; the classics, revitalized or newly conceived; and experimental works.

Scholarships:

The Irene Ryan Scholarships provide recognition, honor and financial assistance to outstanding student performers wishing to pursue further education. The Irene Ryan Foundation bestows 19 regional awards and two fellowships annually. Sixteen of the awards consist of a $500 scholarship for each regional representative of KCACTF. There are two scholarships of $3,000 each for the winners at the national festival in Washington, D.C. In addition, the student judged the Best Partner in the national auditions is awarded a cash prize of $250. The Irene Ryan Acting Scholarships, which help defray the cost of tuition and fees, are not necessarily limited to theatre arts.

Additional awards are made to Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship participants and their acting partners each year at the national level. Past awards include a fellowship to attend the Society of American Fight Directors' National Stage Combat Workshop, the Williamstown Theatre Festival Fellowship for outstanding minority candidates, the KCACTF National Partners Classical Acting Award, the Mark Twain Comedy Acting Awards, fellowships to attend the Margolis Method Summer Intensive in Minneapolis, the Dell'Arte School of Physical Theatre and Mad River Festival and an offer to become a member of the acting company of the Sundance Theatre Laboratory.

Media Contacts:
Jim Volz, Department of Theatre and Dance at (714) 278-3538