Three seniors were passed onto the final round at the ACTF competition this past week in Humboldt, California. Although UP will not be represented in the national competition in Washington, D.C., the UP Theater program is very proud of their showing at the competition.
"Having six nominees make it to semi-finals, including every single Drama major in the class of 2011, was huge for UP," Danielle Larson said. "There is definitely a buzz over UP right now in the theater world."
UP Theater students who made it to the final round are...
Larson with her partner Phil Orazio
Senior Connor Bond, who was also partners with Orazio
Senior Alex Kirby with partner freshman Jordin Bradley
These three students were required to perform two scenes and a monologue. They were in the final competition with 16 other students from theater departments from Alaska, Northern California, Colorado, Idaho, Northern Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming.
The two students who won the competition from ACTF, and will move onto the national competition in Washington D.C., were from University of Wyoming and Sacramento State University.
Although students from UP Theater were not selected for the national competition, ACTF was a good chance for the students to showcase their talent and acting skills.
"When we got to the rehearsal for the Final Round I was overwhelmed looking around the room at all of these wonderful actors who I'd seen in preliminaries and semifinals," Larson said. "I am incredibly honored and delighted that I was keeping company with them."
Larson, through her performance at ACTF, received a $1,500 scholarship to study with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival this summer.
UP Theater students also excelled in other ways at the week long competition. Graduate student Erin Lucas was runner up in the directing competition at ACTF. Senior and playwright Conor Eifler also received accolades for his one-act play "It Happened at Mickey's" which was one of six plays to have a reading at ACTF.
Next up for UP Theater will be there performance of William Shakespeare's "Two Gentleman of Verona" which will begin its run March 3.
Kudos to the participants,though I'm a little happy one of the contestants heading to D.C. attends my hometown university of Sac State.
ReplyDeleteThe accomplishment of all six Drama majors making the semifinals is justifiably lauded.
Having attended only a few productions in Mago Hunt due to conflicts, this accomplishment will make me a little more critical of their work here, just to make sure they are not slacking.
Great update!
This is awesome! The fact that more and more students are moving onto the semifinals and final rounds shows that UP's theater department is definitely thriving and growing. Definitely proud of the seniors for their hard work; I know a lot goes into preparing for this competition/festival.
ReplyDeleteGreat post ROYA!