Emersonians Participate at Regional Theater Festival

Seven Emerson students and two staff members will soon be on their way to Fitchburg State University in Fitchburg, MA from January 25-30 for the 43rd Region 1 Kennedy Center American Theater Festival (KCACTF). The Festival provides opportunities for students to compete regionally and, if selected, nationally in all areas of theater, including design, acting, production, dramaturgy and playwriting.

Participating in this year’s regional festival are BFA Theatre Design/Technology students Jen Bertha, Suzie Calhoun, Tyler Kinney, Erik Skovgaard, and Liz Zevin. Kelley Holley, BA Theatre Studies, will participate in the area of dramaturgy and Michele Teevan, BFA Stage/Production Management, will be the first Emerson student to participate in the area of Stage Management at the festival.

Emerson Costume Shop Director, Rafael Jaen, will lead a workshop and serves as the Co-Chair of or the Design, Technologies and Management area. Emerson Stage Production Manager, Deb Acquavella, will lead two stage management workshops at the festival. Jaen, Acquavella, and professor Magda Romanska (Head of Theatre Studies) have advised the participating students throughout the festival process.

Started in 1969 by Roger L. Stevens, the Kennedy Center’s founding chairman, the KCACTF is a national theater program involving 18,000 students from colleges and universities nationwide which 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. The KCACTF regional festival showcases performances, design exhibits, workshops and seminars. In the past, topics have included playwriting, auditioning, voice, movement, stage combat, theater for children, scene painting, scenery construction, makeup effects and so on.