1. Art and Diseño

Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
January 29, 2015
47th Annual Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival
Welcomes 1,200 Students and Faculty from
Colleges and Universities in Alaska, Northern California,
Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Northern Nevada,
Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming
at the Region Seven Festival
February 17–21, 2015
Hosted by Central Washington University, Ellensburg, Washington
Featuring Keynote Speakers
Jay Duckworth and Brian Quijada
with Dramatists Guild Guest, Anne Washburn
Full-Scale Productions Presented by:
Diablo Valley College, Linfield College, and University of Wyoming,
With
a special international collaboration project between
Western Washington University and
Universidad Nacional Autonoma De Mexico
(WASHINGTON, D.C.)—Central Washington University will host 1,200 students and
faculty from colleges and universities in Alaska, northern California, Colorado, Idaho,
Montana, northern Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming at the Region Seven festival
of the 47th annual Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF), February
17–21, 2015. This is the seventh of eight consecutive weekly celebrations of excellence and
achievement of theater in higher education. Individual participants and full-scale productions
are eligible for awards in a number of disciplines 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 13–18, 2015 at the
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. A comprehensive listing of awardees will
be announced in mid-March 2015.
Props Master and the United States Institute for Theater Technology’s (USITT) keynote
speaker Jay Duckworth will speak at the Region Seven festival on February 20. American
playwright Anne Washburn will also give a keynote address on February 20. Also scheduled
is a performance of actor Brian Quijada’s autobiographical solo show, Where Did We Sit on
the Bus? on February 21. Brian Quijada will also be in residence throughout the Region
Seven Festival. In addition, there will be a special presentation open to the public by Planet
Earth Play Festival producer Michael Fried with Director and Dramaturg Jayne Wenger on
February 18 discussing the Bay Area initiative that engages playwrights around the region to
write about issues related to the environment, sustainability, and climate change.
Productions invited to be showcased at the Region Seven festival are presented by Diablo
Valley College, Linfield College, and University of Wyoming. The three invited productions
were selected from 33 eligible shows from the region. A special international collaboration
between Western Washington University and Universidad Nacional Autonoma De Mexico,
will present two productions at Teatro Universidad Nacional Autonoma De Mexico (the
Mexican equivalent of KCACTF) from February 7-17 as well as at the Region Seven
festival.
Now in its 47th year, the KCACTF national festival will bring together award recipients from
regional festivals around the country to the Kennedy Center, April 13–18, 2015. 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, and auditions for
scholarship and residency opportunities, and the national award ceremony recognizing:
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The Hilton Award for Outstanding Production of a Play, a Musical, a Classic,
a New Play
The Hilton Award for Outstanding Devised Work
The Hilton Award for Outstanding Scenic, Costume, Lighting, and Sound Design
The Hilton Award for Outstanding Choreography
The Hilton Award for Outstanding Direction of a Play, or a Musical
The Hilton Award for Outstanding Performances by an Actress and Actor
REGION SEVEN PARTICIPATING PRODUCTIONS:
Diablo Valley College (CA)
The Pillowman by Martin McDonough
Linfield College (OR)
Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom by
Jennifer Haley
University of Wyoming (WY)
The Exit Interview by William Missouri Downs
AND A SPECIAL INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION PROJECT:
Western Washington University (WA) and
Universidad Nacional Autonoma De Mexico
(MX)
Aliens by Annie Baker
Gospel of the Spangled Banner by
Diego Alvarez Robledo
FESTIVAL KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Sponsored by the Traveling Masters program, Dramatists Guild Fund, and the United States Institute for Theater
Technology (USITT)
Jay Duckworth has been the Keynote Speaker for the Kennedy Center American College
Theater Festival, as a guest of the United States Institute of Theater Technology (USITT),
headed master classes in Properties at many Universities. The roll call of shows he has
created original work for starts in re-mastered Classic Greek Theater, re-imagined
Shakespeare plays, and musicals up to stark Brechtian shows and continues with
contemporary and ink wet works at his residency at The Public Theater in New York City.
He boasts 20 years’ experience in LORT and off-Broadway theater, fast paced summer
stocks, and over 50 off-Broadway shows credit his name as a Props Master and Props
Designer.
Brian Quijada is a New York based, Chicago born actor and musician. Most recently Brian
was seen in Playwright’s Realm’s production of My Mañana Comes in New York, directed
by Chay Yew. Some of Brian’s acting credits include: Victory Jones and The Incredible One
Woman Band by Idris Goodwin (The Denver Theatre Center’s Colorado New Play Summit),
How We Got On by Idris Goodwin (Actor’s Theater of Louisville’s Humana Festival), Beat
Generation by Jack Kerouac (Merrimack Rep), The Solid Sand Below by Martin Zimmerman
(The Eugene O’Neill’s National Playwright’s Conference), No More Sad Things by Hansol
Jung (Seven Devil’s Playwright’s Conference), and Informed Consent by Deborah
Zoe Laufer (The Baltic Playwright’s Conference in Estonia). Quijada’s autobiographical solo
show, Where Did We Sit on the Bus? began development at the Nuyorican Poets Café.
Further development continued at TerraNOVA Collective’s SoloNOVA festival, Victory
Garden’s Ignition Festival in Chicago, and at the Kennedy Center. Other acting credits
include: (New York) Ensemble Studio Theatre, Repertorio Español, The Lark, The Brick,
Page 73, Playwright’s Horizon, Up Theatre, Astoria Performing Arts Center, F*It Club,
TerraNOVA Collective, and LAByrinth, (Chicago) Steppenwolf, Victory Gardens, and The
People Speak, Live! With Matt Damon at the Metro Theater. Television credits include: Blue
Bloods, and Manhattan Love Story.
Anne Washburn’s plays include Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play, A Devil at Noon,
Apparition, The Communist Dracula Pageant, I Have Loved Strangers, The Ladies, The
Internationalist, Little Bunny Foo Foo, The Small, and a transadaptation of
Euripides’ Orestes. Her work has been produced by Actors Theatre of Louisville, Woolly
Mammoth, 13P, American Repertory Theatre, Cherry Lane Theatre, Clubbed Thumb, The
Civilians, Dixon Place, London’s Gate Theatre, The Folger, NYC’s Soho Rep, DC’s Studio
Theatre, Two River Theater Company, and NYC’s The Vineyard Theater. Support includes a
NYFA Fellowship, a Time Warner Fellowship, residencies at MacDowell and Yaddo, and a
Guggenheim. She is a member of 13P, an associated artist with The Civilians and New
Georges, and an alumna of New Dramatists. She is currently commissioned by Playwrights
Horizons, Soho Rep, The Civilians, and Yale Rep. A Devil at Noon was developed at the
2010 Eugene O’Neill Conference and was produced at the Actors Theatre of Louisville’s
2011 Humana Festival of New Plays.
The Dramatist Guild Traveling Masters Program is a national outreach program that
sends prominent dramatists into communities across the country for writing workshops,
master classes, talkbacks, and other public events. In partnership with leading regional
theaters and universities, Traveling Masters creates local programs that give theater
professionals and the public first-hand experience with renowned artists. The Dramatists
Guild and Dramatists Guild Fund believe that a vibrant, vital, and provocative theater is an
essential element of the ongoing cultural debate which informs the citizens of a free society.
If such a theater is to survive, the unique, idiosyncratic voices of both men and women who
write for it must be cultivated and protected. As part of our outreach to theater artists across
the country, the Guild and DGF established The Traveling Masters Program to engage in
conversations with early and mid-career artists.
The Dramatists Guild Fund is the public charity arm of the Dramatists Guild of America.
Its mission is to aid and nurture writers for the theater; to fund non-profit theaters producing
contemporary American works; and to heighten awareness, appreciation, and support of
theater across the country. Each year, DGF awards grants to non-profit theatrical
organizations across the country that produce works by American writers, provides
emergency aid to writers facing illness or other unforeseen circumstances, and supports
numerous educational programs and writing development opportunities for dramatists. The
Dramatists Guild of America is a national organization dedicated to promoting the vitality
and vibrancy of the American theater by asserting the dramatist as its driving artistic force,
advocating for their rights and working to create opportunities so that every playwright
can realize their dream, take pride in their work and enjoy the respect they deserve. The
Guild was established over 80 years ago, and is the only professional association which
advances the interests of playwrights, composers, lyricists, and librettists writing for the
living stage. The Guild has over 7,200 members nationwide, from beginning writers to the
most prominent authors represented on Broadway, off-Broadway and in regional theaters.
The United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) connects performing arts
design and technology communities to ensure a vibrant dialog among practitioners,
educators, and students. USITT has been serving professionals and pre-professionals in
design, production, and technology for the performing arts since 1960. The organization
provides benefits, learning opportunities, and networking for over 3,700 members
worldwide.
ABOUT THE KENNEDY CENTER AMERICAN COLLEGE THEATER FESTIVAL
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. As part of this
year-long fellowship, the 25 fellows will attend the MFA Playwrights’ Workshop and Directing
Intensive, led by NNPN and KCACTF.
Since its establishment 47 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: Cleveland State University co-hosted by Playhouse Square, University of
Wisconsin–Milwaukee, Normandale Community College, Cape Cod Community College,
Darton State College and Albany State University, Dixie State University, Central Washington
University, and Angelo State University.
EDUCATION AT THE KENNEDY CENTER
The Kennedy Center retains its commitment as the nation’s cultural center to educating and
enlightening children and adults in Washington and around the country. The Center’s
national education programs include: Ensuring the Arts for Any Given Child, which works
with 14 municipalities and their school districts around the country to develop a long-range
strategic plan for arts education; ARTSEDGE, a website that offers standards-based materials
for use in and out of the classroom, Partners in Education, which forges relationships
between an arts organization and its neighboring school systems to build effective arts
education programs for teachers and teaching artists; Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts
Education Network works with 33 state organizations on arts education policy issues;
Explore the Arts, which provide insight into the cultural and historical context of the works
presented on stage and sparks dialogue between audiences and the artists who have created
the performances through participatory workshops, demonstrations, panels, master classes,
and open rehearsals; and the Kennedy Center Stephen Sondheim Inspirational Teacher
Awards, which acknowledge teachers of grades K-12 whose efforts have made a significant
impact on their students.
In and around DC, the Kennedy Center’s programs include Changing Education
Through the Arts, a program that works with 15 schools in the area to affect long-term
change in school culture through professional learning in arts integration; Professional
Development Opportunities for Teachers, which trains Washington-area educators to teach
the arts or other subject areas through the arts; and Washington, D.C. Partnership Schools,
where the Center provides resources and teaching artist residencies to 20 elementary, junior,
and senior high schools in Washington, D.C. The Center also mounts more than 100 events
and performances of theater, music, dance, and opera throughout the season for more than
100,000 local school-aged children.
In addition, the Center offers multiple skill development programs for young artists and
professionals both locally and nationally, including the National Symphony Orchestra’s
Youth Fellowship Program, Summer Music Institute, and High School Competition;
Washington National Opera’s Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program, Opera Institute for
High School Students, and Kids Create Opera Partnership; the biennial New Visions/ New
Voices forum for development of new plays for young people; Exploring Ballet with
Suzanne Farrell; Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead; VSA’s Playwright Discovery Program, Young
Soloists, and Visual Arts Programs; arts administration internships; and the Kennedy Center
American College Theater Festival which directly impacts thousands of university and
college theater students and faculty.
FUNDING CREDITS
The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, part of the Rubenstein Arts Access
Program, is generously funded by David and Alice Rubenstein.
Additional support is provided by The Honorable Stuart Bernstein and Wilma E. Bernstein;
the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation; the Dr. Gerald and Paula McNichols Foundation;
The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust; Hilton Worldwide; and Beatrice and
Anthony Welters and the AnBryce Foundation.
Education and related artistic programs are made possible through the generosity of the
National Committee for the Performing Arts and the President’s Advisory Committee on the
Arts.
For more information, please visit
Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.
Discover the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival on social media:
#KCACTF15
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PRESS CONTACTS:
Brittany Laeger
(202) 416-8445
[email protected]
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Stephanie Stohler
(202) 416-8446
[email protected]