Montclair State University to Host Region Two of 2017 Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival

Montclair State University will host 1.000 students and faculty from colleges and universities in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, and West Virginia at the Region Two festival of the 49th annual Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF), January 3-7, 2017.

This is the first of eight consecutive weekly celebrations of excellence and achievement of theater in higher education. Individual participants and full-scale productions are eligible for awards recognizing excellence in the art and craft of theater. Individual awardees and representatives from selected productions will be brought to Washington, D.C. for an expense-paid trip to the national festival, April 18-22, 2017 at the Kennedy Center. A comprehensive listing of awardees will be announced in mid-March 2017.

Productions invited to be showcased at the Region Two festival are presented by Arcadia University, Community College of Baltimore County, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Montclair State University, Queensborough Community College, Richard Stockton University, West Chester University of Pennsylvania, and West Liberty University. The eight invited productions were selected from 66 eligible productions from the region.

In addition to the invited productions, Tony Award-nominated director Liesl Tommy is delivering the Keynote Address at the opening ceremony on January 3. Born in South Africa, Tommy became the first woman of color to be nominated for a Tony Award for Best Director of a Play for Eclipsed. The show is the first to have an all-female cast, director, and playwright, and is focused on women struggling to survive during the first Libyan civil war.

The national festival includes master classes with leading artists from the American theater, an opportunity for the student participants to engage with colleagues from across the nation, attendance at productions at leading Washington, D.C. theaters, interviews, auditions for scholarship and residency opportunities, and the national award ceremony recognizing:

• Outstanding Production of a Play, a Musical, a Classic, a New Play
• Outstanding Devised or Company Generated Work
• Outstanding Scenic, Costume, Lighting, and Sound Design
• Outstanding Choreography or Movement Direction
• Outstanding Direction of a Play, Devised Work, and a Musical
• Outstanding Performances by an Actress and Actor

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REGION TWO PARTICIPATING PRODUCTIONS:

Arcadia University (PA)

Speech and Debate, by Stephen Karam

Community College of Baltimore County (MD)

Hamlet Lost and Found, devised by the Company

Indiana University of Pennsylvania (PA)

We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as Southwest Africa, From the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884-1915, by Jackie Sibblies Drury

Montclair State University (NJ)

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Music and Lyrics by William Finn, Book by Rebecca Sheinkin

Queensborough Community College (NY)

anOther, by J. Julian Christopher and the Ensemble

Richard Stockton University (NJ)

Accidental Death of an Anarchist, by Dario Fo

West Chester University of Pennsylvania (PA)

The Long Christmas Ride Home, by Paula Vogel

West Liberty University (WV)

Poe: Master of the Macabre, by John Hardy

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Developed in 1969 by Roger L. Stevens, the Kennedy Center's founding Chairman, the KCACTF encourages and celebrates the finest and most diverse theatrical productions from colleges and universities nationwide. Through the regional and national festivals, the KCACTF celebrates the achievements of theater programs, individual students, and faculty of colleges and universities throughout the United States.

The eight regional festivals provide opportunities for colleges and universities to showcase their finest work to diverse audiences of theater students and faculty from their regions. In addition to the invited productions, students and faculty attend workshops, master classes, juried design expositions, seminars, summer stock and graduate school auditions, and other professional development opportunities that build bridges between higher education and the professional theater community. In July 2014, the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center along with the Kennedy Center, National New Play Network, and Stage Directors & Choreographers Foundation announced the start of the National Directors Fellowship (NDF), a five-year joint initiative which will fast track the professional development of 25 early-career stage directors, five per year. As part of this year-long fellowship, the fellows will attend the MFA Playwrights' Workshop and Directing Intensive, led by NNPN and KCACTF.

Since its establishment 49 years ago, KCACTF has reached millions of theatergoers and made important contributions to the professional development of countless college and university theater students nationwide. This year, eight regional festivals will be hosted by the following institutions: Montclair State University; University of Indianapolis and Butler University; City of Des Moines in partnership with Grand View University; Western Connecticut State University; Georgia Southern University; Mesa Community College; University of Colorado Denver and Community College of Denver; and Angelo State University.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is the national champion for arts learning and creativity. Committed to increasing opportunities for all people to participate in, learn about, and understand the arts, Education at the Kennedy Center offers programs and events that strive to reflect the nation and communities and that are accessible and inclusive for all. From performances and exhibits on the Center's stages and in the community, to classroom and community partnerships, including the recent addition of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities Turnaround Arts initiative, to online resources accessible nearly anywhere, the Center serves the burgeoning artist, the exploring student of any age, the teacher and teaching artist, and even the local and national infrastructure-any person interested in arts learning and utilizing the arts for positive change. As an essential component of the living memorial to President Kennedy, the Center's Education utilizes the arts to embrace the ideals of service, justice, freedom, courage, and gratitude, and to activate and support the Citizen Artists in all our audiences. For more information, visit kennedy-center.org/education.

For more information, visit Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.

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