March 17, 2003
Contact: Leslee Caul (509) 963-1760
ELLENSBURG, Wash. - Several members of Central Washington
University’s theatre arts department received top honors from the
Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KC/ACTF) for their
work in design, playwriting and acting competitions at the Northwest
Drama Conference in Bellevue, Wash.
“Our students were in top form this year,” faculty member Derek
Lane says. “CWU was well represented in all areas of the theatre with
competitive, professional-looking work.”
Two CWU students emerged from the highly competitive Irene Ryan
acting scholarship competition to advance to the semi-final round,
winning spots among the 32 selected from a preliminary round of more
than 200 participants.
Sallieu Sesay, a freshman theatre arts major, advanced with scene
partner Amy Rider, a junior theatre arts/performance major, as did
sophomore theatre arts majors Daniel Tigard and his scene partner
Heather Forseth. Sesay and Forseth are both performing in the current
CWU production of “The Laramie Project,” and Tigard and Rider were last
seen in the December production of “Rash Acts.”
The design competition included entries from students in each
state of the six-state region. Erin Westfall, a junior theatre
arts/design major, received top honors with a meritorious achievement
award for her lighting design on last season’s production of “Macbeth.”
Maureen Eller, a senior theatre arts major, also received a
meritorious award for her sound design entries for “Entertaining Mr.
Helms/Mud” and “Cloud Tectonics.”
CWU’s playwriting program also made a strong showing with five
plays that were invited for showcase performances. Ry Sherrell and
Ryan D. Scott, both Central theatre arts alumni, co-wrote “Happy
Birthday!” which was one of the three one-act plays sent.
Victor Velazquez Jr., another theatre arts alumnus, received high
praise for his one-act “Not Guilty,” which was touted as one of the
showcase’s “grittiest” productions. “Stepping In,” written by senior
theatre arts major Maureen Eller, was also well-received as an
“intriguing family drama.”
In the Ten-Minute Play Festival, Rider used humor deftly in her
social commentary “Painting On the Ground,” which won a favorable
response. Senior theatre arts/performance major Josh Schulz drew big
laughs with his play “Zonks!” which previously earned the Spotlight
Playwriting Award at the Theatre of Puget Sound’s Annual Expo.
Paul Bell, senior theatre arts/management major, won the Stage
Management Fellowship award, which will send him to Washington, D.C. to
compete at the national KC/ACTF conference in April. Bell has been a
dominating presence in the theatre for several years, stage managing
past CWU productions including “Cloud Tectonics,” “The Honorable
Urashima Taro,” and “Picasso At the Lapin Agile.”
In another design competition, students were given a script and 24
hours to meet with a randomly assigned design team and develop a
concept, which was entered into “Design Storm 2003.”
Will Alvin, a sophomore theatre arts/design major, won the
competition for his costume renderings for “Everyman.” For the
“Othello” competition, junior theatre arts/management major Justina
Schwartz won for her scene design, and junior theatre arts/performance
major Matt Milton won for the second consecutive year for his directing
work.
“The work shown at the Festival this year was fiercely
competitive,” department chair George Bellah says. “We are very proud
of the showing our students made, and look forward to more successes at
next year’s conference in Moscow, Idaho.”
