January 18, 2022
The Region III Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF), which took place Jan. 5-9 and was held virtually this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, featured the work of several students from the Department of Theatre in the School of Music, Theatre and Dance.
Oakland had six students nominated for the festival's Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Competition: Kaye Hoffmeyer, Kyle Kiesler, Stanley Misevich, Rachel Sarles, Kennedy Vernengo and Jalen Wilson-Nelem. Three students and their partners moved on to the semi-final round: Hoffmeyer and partner Travis Darghali, Kiesler and partner Wilson-Nelem, Vernengo and partner Sarles.
Two OU students were selected to direct plays in the 10-minute play competition--Sarita Alvarado and Antonio Vettraino. Five OU students auditioned and were cast in the 10-minute plays: Noah Canales, Mason Gaida, Princess Jones, Haley Lucas and Cassius Merriweather.
In theatrical design competitions Oakland was represented by student designers Abigail Elliott (sound), Colin Franz (costumes) and Liv Kunkle (costumes and props).
Oakland finalists this year were:
• Kyle Kiesler (partner Jalen Wilson-Nelem), was a finalist for the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Competition.
• Liv Kunkle was a finalist for three Design/Technology/Management awards: National Costume Design Competition (realized design - Passage), Regional Costume Design Competition (paper projects - The Wiz), and Allied Design Competition (prop - ...Pirate). At the awards ceremony, she received an honorable mention for her costume design for Passage and the S.P.A.M. Props Award for her parrot design for How I Became a Pirate.
• Cayla Stus, was selected as one of 15 finalists for the Musical Theatre Intensive competition.
• Sarita Alvarado, was recognized with the KCACTF National Playwriting Program 10-minute Play Director's Award for her work on The Plot Beneath My Feet.
Also, Oakland’s Leah Wilson, Region III's Student Council president, coordinated 13 open and student-only events at this year’s festival. Cassius Merriweather will serve on the Student Council in 2023.
Several OU students were also presented with Certificates of Merit, which are awarded by KCACTF respondents to students whose work on adjudicated productions warrants special recognition. This year's recipients include:
• Kerri Joann - Certificate of Merit for Excellence in Dramaturgy for Servant of Two Masters
• Sarah Grace Odom, Jarvis Pitts and Karen Sheridan - Certificate of Merit for Excellence in Collaboration on a Student Project for The Mountaintop
• Colin Franz - Certificate of Merit for Excellence in Costume Design for How I Became A Pirate
• Liv Kunkle - Certificate of Merit for Excellence in Property Design for How I Became A Pirate
• Matilda Seagraves - Certificate of Merit for Excellence in Choreography for How I Became A Pirate
The KCACTF is a yearly, week-long event offering college and university students from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin the chance to participate in workshops, see other departments' work, and compete for scholarship money to complete their education.
“The participating schools include all students, which means our students often are in competition with graduate students from larger programs,” Karen Sheridan, professor of theatre said. “Oakland University has consistently placed well at the regional festival and we've often been invited to bring our productions as an example of excellent work being done in the region.”
The KCACTF was started by The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. in 1969 to encourage, recognize and celebrate the finest and most diverse work in university and college theatre programs; to provide opportunities to participants, to improve the quality of such theatre in the US and to encourage productions of new plays, the classics revitalized or newly conceived and experimental works.
“The festival is an educational and celebratory event,” Sheridan said. “When we are in-person, coaches and mentors from different universities often catch each other's eye across the large theatre and give a thumbs-up when one of their students' names is announced.”
For more information about the KCACTF, visit https://kcactf3.org.