Theatre Students Earn Multiple Accolades at Region II Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival

Posted by: admin on February 1, 2016, No Comments

Students from East Stroudsburg University’s theatre department earned multiple honors, including two major awards, at the Region II Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF) held recently at West Chester University of Pennsylvania.

Founded in 1969, KCACTF is a national program that serves as a catalyst to improve the quality of college theatre through its network of more than 600 universities throughout the United States.

David Kunz, a junior from Stroudsburg, Pa. majoring in theatre and digital media technologies, earned a KCACTF Award for Sound Design Excellence, an honor that advances him to the national KCACTF competition in Washington, D.C. in April. He also earned a Stagecraft Institute of Las Vegas Award for Excellence in Technology and Design, which includes a one-week master class at the institute.

Rebecca Roeber, a senior from East Stroudsburg, Pa. majoring in theatre, also earned a spot at the KCACTF national competition in Washington as one of eight regional National Stage Management Fellows. She is the second National Stage Management Fellow from ESU’s theatre department in three years.

Both students earned their awards for their work on the theatre department’s fall production of Jackie and Me, a play that told the story of how Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier.
For the production, which mingled scenes set in 1947 with scenes set in the present, Kunz needed to choose music to identify the time period of each scene; create sounds and special effects to enhance the audience’s understanding of the scene; and also to create the illusion of offstage action for the audience.

“I spent a lot of time listening to 1940’s music to find pieces that fit the tone of the show,” Kunz said. “I also had to find the places in the script where the mood could be enhanced by the music.”

To help create the offstage soundscape, Kunz hung a speaker on the stage that brought the sounds of the ballpark and the streets to the audience. One of the special effects he created was for the “magic” baseball card that allowed one character to time travel.

For the competition, Kunz set up a presentation board and his laptop with the entire soundscape and the 121 cues used for the production. “The evaluators focused more on the artistic design than the technical elements of the design,” he said. “I didn’t know what the other designers would be presenting, but I knew they would be good.”

Usually, each KCACTF region sends only one designer in each category to the national competition, but this year, Region II received special permission to send two sound designers. “I’m honored to be going to nationals,” Kunz said. “The other sound designer selected, from Arcadia University, composed original music for their production.”

Kunz’s summer internship was also granted through a special exemption. “Normally, the Stagecraft Institute of Las Vegas only selects five student designers, but the representative called the school and received special permission to add one more. I found out at the final award ceremony,” he explained. “I’m still trying to process all of this, but I’m looking forward to experiencing the professional theatre world and making contacts for the future.”

Roeber also sees her National Stage Management Fellowship as an opportunity. “Last summer I was a stage management intern at the Hangar Theatre in Syracuse, N.Y., where I had the opportunity to work with professional stage managers, and this summer I’m looking for another internship with a professional company,” she said.

“Jackie and Me was a challenging show to stage manage,” Roeber explained. “Technically, it was a very complex production, and the technical director had to drop out because of illness. Because it was a play for young audiences, we had to keep their attention, so there were many more effects to keep track of.”

Roeber’s interest in theatre began with performing, but as she got older and did more backstage work, she saw how important the stage manager was to the production.

“I knew I could do that,” she said.

For the competition, Roeber needed to submit her promptbook for Jackie and Me, including all the blocking, the emergency contact sheets, the rehearsal and technical reports, cue lists, and the script with all the cues for the entire show. “I think it weighed 30 pounds,” she said.

Roeber received advice from two sources for the competition: Yoshi Tanokura, associate professor of theatre, and Kelsey Pulzone ’14, the previous National Stage Management Fellow from ESU who is now in the stage management program at Juilliard.

“In addition to our wins for sound design and stage management, our performers exceeded expectations in a nine-state region with some of the strongest theatre programs in the country,” said Margaret J. Ball, D.M.A., associate professor and chair of theatre.

“Out of approximately 200 students we had a pair of competitors. Jamil Joseph partnered with Destiny Washington, and they advanced to the final round of 16 in the Irene Ryan Acting Competition,” Ball said. “Additionally, Destiny advanced to the final round of 16, out of 96, for the Musical Theatre Initiative, the competition for singers.”

“Performing in the final round was nerve-wracking because not only the judges but also all of our peers were watching us, but we were able to build on the positive feedback from previous rounds” said Joseph, a senior from Brooklyn, N.Y. who is majoring in theatre “We were lucky to have Professor Stephanie French and Dr. Ball coaching us at the conference.”

Washington, a junior from Philadelphia, Pa. majoring in musical theatre, had to switch back and forth between being a solo performer to being a partner during the competition. “I spent a lot of time running from place to place throughout the conference,” she said. “I put a lot of my energy into supporting Jamil’s performance, because I spent a lot of time rehearsing with Dr. Ball beforehand.”

“Jamil and Destiny really shone as a performers and the amount of preparation that they had done really showed,” Dr. Ball said. “They were pitted against actors from much bigger programs, so to get to the final 16 was an honor.”

A second ESU Irene Ryan nominee, freshman theatre major Matt Namik, and his partner, senior theatre major Dontel Ducksworth, made it to the second round of the competition. Another ESU student, Katie Rose Reardon from Rockaway, N.J., a senior English major with a theatre minor, was selected to perform in the Musical Theatre Initiative’s cabaret presentation at the conference.

“All of our 31 students at the festival actively participated in many workshops, volunteered for the festival and saw several of the invited productions, and proved to be an incredible support for the competing students,” Dr. Ball said. “Our student success in KCACTF competitions showcases their talent, research and perseverance. They make us proud to be part of ESU theatre.”