ESU Theatre excels at Festival 39

Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival

Emporia State University Theatre has returned home following an outstanding showing at the Region V gathering of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.  The festival was hosted by Iowa State University in Ames January 21 - 27.  ESU Theatre’s production of Five Women Wearing the Same Dress was the featured production on the festival’s final evening.  Invited to compete with seven other productions from the region, national selectors are holding the production for the national festival to be held at the Kennedy Center in April.  The final slate of productions for the national festival will be announced soon.  The national team will select a slate of productions from the 8 regional festivals across the nation.  Only two productions are being held from the Iowa State festival and both are from Kansas.  The other held production is KU’s production of Hay Fever.

Five Women Wearing the Same Dress was first performed at ESU in November 2006.  It is directed by Theresa Mitchell and features the design work of four ESU theatre students: set designer Josh Christoffersen (Leavenworth); costume designer Cara Cusano (Leavenworth); lighting designer Michael Wilke (Atchison); and sound designer Pat Janssen (Emporia). 

Senior Maria Stukey (Wichita) won the regional Irene Ryan audition.  She will compete at the Kennedy Center in April as one of two finalists from the region.  The other finalist is Arber Mahmeti from Graceland University in Iowa.  Her scene partner Mychal Moore, a senior from Topeka, will support Maria in her audition.  They will compete with 15 other students and their partners for the Irene Ryan Scholarship at the national festival in April. The winner of the national audition will receive a $2000 scholarship. Last year, one of the two national scholarship recipients was Michael Swickard, a 2004 ESU theatre graduate. 

Stukey and Moore auditioned with scenes from Avenue Q, Tough Choices for the New Century and The Duchess of Malfi.  Ben Spalding, senior music major, accompanied their audition on the piano.  In addition to the trip to the Kennedy Center, Stukey was also presented with a $500 scholarship as the regional finalist and an additional $250 award for presenting the best musical theatre audition in the competition.

Stukey was one of 323 students in the region who auditioned for the honor.  Other ESU theatre students in the competition included Stephanie Braniff, Josh Christoffersen, Barbara Handy, Jamie McCabe, Robin Murphy, Erin Schmidt, Courtney Slater, and Emily Young.  They were selected for the honor by selectors in the region who viewed their work in ESU Theatre productions of Urinetown, Arms and the Man, Annie Get Your Gun and Five Women Wearing the Same Dress. 

After the first round of auditions at the festival, the original 323 was cut down to 35.  Three ESU students were in that group of 35.  All three were advanced to the final round of 16, as well.  The ESU finalists were Christoffersen, Robin Murphy and Stukey.  Only one other school, the University of Minnesota-Duluth, had three finalists.  The finals were held January 23.  Another ESU student, Megan McCurdy, was selected to stage manage that event.

Two ESU students were named the outstanding student designers in the region for their set design projects.  Eric Luchen was the first place winner for his set design for Cabaret.  Senior Aaron Kennedy was the runner-up for his set design for The Art of Dining.  Other ESU students entered projects in costume design, lighting design, stage management, makeup design and directing.

Two members of the theatre faculty were also honored at the festival.  Theresa Mitchell was selected for the national festival fellowship in directing.  She will attend the national festival as a guest of the Kennedy Center.  Nancy Pontius was named the region V nominee for the summer intensive set design fellowship. She is one of only eight designers across the nation cited for this honor.

Other ESU theatre people were noted for their outstanding production work during the year.  They were awarded certificates of meritorious achievement.   Theresa Mitchell was cited for her direction of Five Women Wearing the Same Dress, Nancy Pontius for her set design for Annie Get Your Gun, Cara Cusano for her costume designs for Five Women Wearing the Same Dress and Michael Wilke for his stage management of Annie Get Your Gun.

Mary Gaetz, a 2005 ESU theatre grad, also received recognition at the festival.  Her direction of Scooter Thomas Makes it to the Top of the World for the University of Nebraska was cited for meritorious achievement.  And, she was selected to attend both the Kennedy Center Theatre Festival in Washington, DC in April and the William Inge Theatre Festival.  She was awarded the directing awards from the Inge Festival and the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers at the festival.

Funding and in kind support for ESU’s participation in the festival was provided by the Performing Arts Committee, Thomas Transfer and Storage and friends of ESU Theatre.  Next year’s regional festival will be held in Omaha, Nebraska.  The following two years, the festivals will be hosted by Kansas University and Johnson County Community College.

Last Updated July 2, 2007>