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Fourteen Lycoming College theatre majors and minors participated in this year’s Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF), Region 2 at West Chester University, Jan.17-21. The theatre department takes a group of students to the festival each year to provide them with the opportunity to showcase their talents, present their work, compete with students from over 50 other universities and colleges in the nine-state region, and attend workshops led by theatre professionals. This year’s student attendees included: Christian Becker, Sadie Bossons, McKayla Cobb, Douglas Dixey, Abigayle Greevy, Thatcher Gunnells, Shantel Hill, Kirsten Houseman, Hannah Bailey Martin, Julia Martin, Keigan Mulreaney, Zoe Pew, Laura Ulrich, and Rachel Wright-Miggett.
Lycoming students presented their work with great success and earned recognition and multiple awards.
Ulrich was selected as a finalist and received the Musical Theatre Intensive Recognition of Vocal Excellence award; Bossons received the Design, Technology and Management Regional Honorable Mention award in Stage Management; and Hill received the National Playwriting Program Outstanding Performance award for her performance in a 10-minute play, which was cast at the festival.
Cobb with partner Becker, and Bailey with partner Hill were selected as semi-finalists in the Irene Ryan acting scholarship auditions. Dixey, Gunnels, Cobb, and Hill were cast in 10-minute play project; and Martin was cast in the one-act presentations at the festival. All fourteen students participated in variety of professional workshops and received feedback on their presentations, which they submitted for review before the festival.
Leslie Gulden, Ph.D, visiting professor of theatre, and Bonnie Hall, costume designer at Lycoming College, supervised and provided transportation for the students while Jay Innerarity, associate professor of theatre, and Biliana Stoytcheva-Horissian, Ph.D., associate professor of theatre and chair of the department, continued serving the region in their KCACTF leadership positions as the DTM immediate past chair and Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship auditions coordinator.
“I am very happy that we finally had a chance to go back to an in-person festival after two years of remote experiences. Our strong presentations at the KCACTF Region 2 are a result of the hard work of our students and a testimony to the high quality, extensive, one-on-one mentoring provided by the faculty in our department,” said Stoytcheva-Horissian.
The KCACTF is a national theatre program involving 20,000 students from colleges and universities nationwide annually, and a network of more than 700 academic institutions throughout the country. KCACTF encourages, recognizes, and celebrates the finest and most diverse work produced in university and college theatre programs.