Attending faculty: Andrea Robertson and Karla Frederick. Attending students: Rachelle Dart, Delfinia Valdenegro, Megan Sutton, Gustavo Flores, Nick Claudio, Micah Thomas, Elizabeth Hogsed, Emile Trudeau and Courtney Kenyon.
In February 2016 PVCC Theatre Faculty Andrea Robertson and adjunct Karla Frederick took nine PVCC students to the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. This was the first year the PVCC theatre department participated in this Festival. The Festival for our Region was held at the University of Honolulu, Hawaii. The acting students worked with their partners for about two months before we left on preparing two scenes and a monologue while our stage management student made sure her prompt book was incredibly detailed and full of everything on the production for which she was nominated.
Once in Hawaii we all kept busy with workshops, meetings, acting competition rounds, interviews, watching shows and rehearsals. Two of our students, Nick Claudio and Courtney Kenyon, were selected to participate in the ten minute play festival while we were there. The students also made new friends from around our region including Southern California, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Hawaii and Guam. Rachelle Dart, one of our Irene Ryan acting nominees and her partner Megan Sutton made it to finals of the Acting competition. Out of about 300 pairs they were one of sixteen to show their scene in finals. Our stage manager Courtney Kenyon was alternate to nationals out of about forty forty five managers.
The Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival or KCACTF is a celebration of the creative process and a shared experience of a community of theater artists. KCACTF honors excellence of overall production and offers student artists individual recognition through awards and scholarships in playwriting, acting, stage management, dramatic criticism, directing, and design.
In January and February of each year, regional festivals showcase the finest of each region's entered productions and offer a wide range of activities, including workshops, symposia, and regional-level scholarship and award programs. At this year's Festival PVCC students were nominated to compete at the Regional level through the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Auditions and Stage Management after being selected via a response to our shows here at PVCC by a KCACTF Respondent who witnessed the student’s work. Students competing at the regional festival have the opportunity to appear at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC in April of 2016.