Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts today announced four invited productions and the Short Play Festival as part of the 43rd annual Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF), April 19-23, 2011. In January and February of this year, artists from colleges and universities, from eight regions across the nation presented their work and select productions have been chosen by the national selection team to be showcased as the finest amongst their peers at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
Developed by Roger L. Stevens, Kennedy Center Founding Chairman, KCACTF is dedicated to encouraging, recognizing, and celebrating the finest and most diverse work produced in college and university theater programs. The eight regional festivals and national festival provide an opportunity for college and university theater departments to present their work, especially new or student-written work, and to receive outside assessment. Since its establishment in 1969, KCACTF has reached all 50 states and almost 18 million theatergoers, students, and teachers nationwide.
Information about the invited productions, John Cauble finalists, and Ten-Minute Play festival appear below. Scholarship and award finalists will be announced shortly.
Invited Productions
This year, the national selection team chose four productions to receive expenses-paid trips to the Kennedy Center to be showcased at the national festival. The 2011 national selection team, which saw 57 productions throughout the eight regional festivals, consisted of Debra Otte of Montclair State University, Thomas Mitchell of University of Illinois, and Bryan Willis of the Northwest Playwrights' Alliance. KCACTF Artistic Director Gregg Henry attended each production with the national selection team. A description and performance schedule of the four invited productions follows.
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Debris by Dennis Kelly, California State University-Stanislaus
An odyssey of loss and love, Debris chronicles a bizarre, fantastic series of events resulting in betrayal and bloodshed. Over the course of an hour, two siblings take us on an unreal journey through their dysfunctional family life, the death of their mother, their relationship with their father, and most critically, the appearance of the baby who changes their lives forever.
- Tuesday, April 19, 7:30 p.m.
- Kennedy Center Family Theater
- Tickets $10
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Las Meninas by Lynn Nottage, University of Maryland-Baltimore County
Set in the glittering court of Louis XIV, Las Meninas tells the true story of the seduction of Queen Marie-Thèrése, and the consequences of her scandalous affair with Nabo Sensugali, her African servant. Irreverent and ironic, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage shines a fiercely imaginative beam on a fascinating but forgotten bit of history that reveals contemporary truths about the racial divide.
- Wednesday, April 20, 7:30 p.m.
- Kennedy Center Terrace Theater
- Tickets $10
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The Odyssey adapted by Mary Zimmerman from Robert Fitzgerald's 1963 translation of Homer's original poem Minnesota State University-Mankato
The epic story of The Odyssey focuses on the Greek hero Odysseus and his 10-year journey home following the Trojan War. In his absence, it is assumed he has died, and his wife Penelope and son Telemachus must deal with a group of unruly suitors competing for Penelope's hand in marriage. Playwright Mary Zimmerman (basing her work on the vibrant translation by Robert Fitzgerald from Homer's original poem) elevates the goddess Athena as the benevolent narrator of this sweeping and often violent adventure that ultimately becomes a very human quest for a final and loving peace.
- Thursday, April 21, 7:00 p.m.
- Kennedy Center Terrace Theater
- Tickets $10
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Fallujah by Evan Sanderson, Boston University
The National Student Playwriting Award
An American journalist, embedded with a combat unit in Iraq, becomes captivated by the stories of the people he encounters overseas. He returns home, but his heart cannot abandon the deserts of Baghdad and Basra. Following a powerful encounter with a dead soldier, the journalist is compelled to return to Fallujah on the eve of its destruction.
- Saturday, April 23, 4:00 p.m.
- Kennedy Center Family Theater
- Tickets $10
The Short Play Festival
The KCACTF 13th Annual Short Play Festival includes four of the national finalists of the John Cauble Award for Best Short Play and the National Finalists of KCACTF Ten-Minute Play Award. Awards will be announced in a presentation at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 23, 2011.
The John Cauble Short Play Awards Program recognizes outstanding one-act plays. Four finalists have been selected to show their work at the national festival at the Kennedy Center of which one playwright will be awarded a $1,000 prize.
This year's national finalists of the John Cauble Award for Outstanding Short Play are:
- Nights On The Couch, by Matthew Fotis, University of Missouri
- Tuesday, April 19, 9:00 p.m. (following Debris)
- Kennedy Center Family Theater
- Free admission, by invitation only. (For an invitation, please contact 202-416-8852)
- The Reality Fallacy, by Chris Shenefelt, Weber State University
And
The Best Secret Santa Present Ever in the History of Peckinpaw High School, by Ira Gamerman, Ohio University- Wednesday, April 20, 5:00 p.m.
- Kennedy Center Family Theater
- Free admission, by invitation only. (For an invitation, please contact 202-416-8852)
- The Rwandans' Visit, by Daniel Sauermilch, Middlebury College
- Saturday, April 23, 11:00 a.m.
- Kennedy Center Theater Lab
- Free admission, by invitation only. (For an invitation, please contact 202-416-8852)
Approximately 120 student-written Ten-Minute Play submissions are received at each of the eight KCACTF Regional Festivals (totaling over 960 submissions). Each of the eight regions will typically select only 10 playwrights to be showcased at the regional festival and a select few will be chosen as a national finalist. One playwright will receive a cash award of $1,000.
This year's national finalists of the KCACTF Ten-Minute Play Award are:
- 58 & 59, by Matthew Fotis, University of Missouri
- Spaceships And Things That Look Like Them, by Molly Hagan, Ohio University
- Nancies, by Adam Groff, Florida State University
- The Ballad Of 423 & 424, by Nick Pappas, San Francisco State University
- The Coyote Stratagem, by Guadalupe Flores, Texas State University
The staging for the Ten-Minute plays will be presented in the Kennedy Center Family Theater on Friday, April 22 at 5:00 p.m.
The Kennedy Center Education Department
For more than 35 years, the Kennedy Center Education Department has provided quality arts experiences for students, teachers, families, and the general public throughout the United States. In the past year, the Center's education programs have directly impacted more than 11 million people. The resources of the Department focus on producing, presenting, and touring performances and educational events for young people and their families; school- and community-based residencies and other programs that directly impact teachers, students, administrators, and artists through professional development; systemic and school improvement through the arts and arts integrated curricula; partnerships; creating and providing educational materials via print and the Internet; the development of careers in the arts for young people and aspiring professionals; and strengthening the management of arts organizations. For more information, visit the Center's web site at www.kennedy-center.org/education.
Additional Events Open To The Public
Ten-Minute Plays
- Friday, April 22, 5:00 p.m.
- Kennedy Center Family Theater
- Tickets $10
The Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Auditions
- Friday, April 22, 7:30 p.m.
- Kennedy Center Terrace Theater
- Tickets $20
KCACTF Awards Ceremony
- Saturday, April 23, 1:00 p.m.
- Kennedy Center Theater Lab
- Free admission, by invitation only. (For an invitation, please contact 202-416-8852)
KCACTF Support
The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, part of the Rubenstein Arts Access Program, is generously funded by David and Alice Rubenstein.
This program is also supported by the U.S. Department of Education; Dr. Gerald and Paula McNichols Foundation; The Honorable Stuart Bernstein and Wilma E. Bernstein; the Kennedy Center Corporate Fund; and the National Committee for the Performing Arts.
The Rosa Parks Playwriting Award is made possible by Beatrice and Anthony Welters and the An-Bryce 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.
