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Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival

Started in 1969 by Roger L. Stevens, the Kennedy Center's founding chairman, the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (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 goals of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival are:

Through state, regional, and national festivals, KCACTF participants celebrate the creative process, see one another's work, and share experiences and insights within the community of theater artists. The KCACTF honors excellence of overall production and offers student artists individual recognition through awards and scholarships in playwriting, acting, criticism, directing, and design.

The KCACTF is a year-round program in eight geographic regions in the United States. Regional activities are coordinated through eight KCACTF regional chairs and eight KCACTF playwriting awards chairs. With funding and administrative support from the Kennedy Center, the regional chair coordinates with the Co-Managers of KCACTF all aspects of the adjudication of productions on the local and regional level and supervises regional-level KCACTF award competitions. The playwriting chair works with schools that have entered new and student-written plays by providing expertise in the development of new scripts--assessment specifically designed for a developing play--and by providing information on the numerous playwriting awards offered.

In January and February of each year, regional festivals showcase the finest of each region's entered productions and offer a variety of activities, including workshops, symposia, and regional-level award programs. Regional festival productions are judged by a panel of three judges selected by the Kennedy Center and the KCACTF national committee. These judges in consultation with the Artistic Director select four to six of the best and most diverse regional festival productions to be showcased in the spring at the annual noncompetitive national festival at the Kennedy Center, all expenses paid.

Since its inception, KCACTF has given more than 400,000 college theater students the opportunity to have their work critiqued, improve their dramatic skills and receive national recognition for excellence. More than 16 million theatergoers have attended approximately 10,000 festival productions nationwide.

For more information, contact:

The KCACTF National Festival

Monday, April 14, 7:00pm Woolly Mammoth Theater
Address: 641 D St NW, Washington, DC 20004
Two Concert Readings
Winner of the inaugural Quest for Peace Playwriting Award
BEAUTIFUL AMERICAN SOLDIER by Dano Madden Rutgers University
Featuring Gabriela Fernandez-Coffey, Jennifer Mendenhall and Alexander Strain
Directed by Michael Russotto

Winner of the inaugural Rosa Parks Playwriting Award
THE APERTURE by Sean Christopher Lewis
University of Iowa
Featuring Colleen Delany, directed by John Vreeke

Tuesday, April 15, 7:30pm Terrace Theater
IN THE BLOOD by Suzan-Lori Parks, University of Alabama-Birmingham

Wednesday, April 16, 7:30pm Family Theater
ERNESTINE SHUSWAP GETS HER TROUT (a U.S. premier production) by Tomson Highway, University of Oklahoma

Thursday, April 17, 7:30pm Terrace Theater
ROSE AND THE RIME by Nathan Allen and the students of Hope College

Thursday, April 17 9pm Family Theater
Three Finalists of the John Cauble Award for Outstanding Short Play
BURYING BARBIE by Christopher Dimond, Carnegie-Mellon University
Directed by Michael Baron, Signature Theatre

AN OLD ALBUM by R. Paul Klein, Minnesota State University-Moorhead
Featuring Jenna Sokolowski and Kimberly Schraf, Directed by Lee Mikeska Gardner

DrEaMtRIPPIn by Thomas Michael Campbell, Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Directed by Kathleen Akerley, Longacre Lea Productions

Friday, April 18 7:30pm Terrace Theater
KCACTF Short Play Festival
DUST by Rob Smith, Carnegie-Mellon University
Featuring Kaitlin Hopkins and James Price, Directed by Colin Hovde plus:
Also featuring the readings of:

Featuring the National Finalists of the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarships
with selections from Weber State University's THE MUSICAL OF MUSICALS (THE MUSICAL!)
by Joanne Bogart and Eric Rockwell and the KCACTF Design Awards presentation

Saturday, April 19 11am Theater Lab
The Winner of the inaugural KCACTF National Science Playwriting Award, a concert reading
TWENTY MOMENTS IN THE SPACE BETWEEN by Jennifer Fawcett, University of Iowa
Directed by Anita Maynard-Losh, Arena Stage

Saturday, April 19 1pm Terrace Theater
The Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Auditions
with a showcase performance from
Wichita State University's production of Andrew Lippa's WILD PARTY
featuring Alex Michael Stoll and Emily Therrien as Burrs & Queenie

Saturday, April 19 7:30pm Family Theater
Winner of the National Student Playwriting Award
HOUSE FULL OF LETTERS by Kit Steinkellner, University of California-Los Angeles
with the presentation of the Michael Kanin Playwriting Awards

Theater at the Kennedy Center is presented with the generous support of Stephen and Christine Schwarzman.

The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival is sponsored in part by the Kennedy Center Corporate Fund, the U.S. Department of Education, the National Committee for the Performing Arts, and the Dr. Gerald and Paula McNichols Foundation

The U.S. Department of Education supports approximately one-third of the budget for the Kennedy Center Education Department. The contents of this document do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.