Southeastern students to compete in regional Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival
Contact: Christina Chapple
2/13/07
HAMMOND – Three Southeastern Louisiana University students have been selected to participate in the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Competition at the Region VI Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival in Tulsa, Okla., Feb. 26-March 3.
Actors Shiloh Klein of Hammond, Sara Boykin of Covington, and Marjorie Parker of Baton Rouge were selected for the prestigious competition based on their performances in Southeastern Theatre’s production of “4.48 Psychosis.” The controversial drama by the late British playwright Sarah Kane was staged last November at Southeastern’s Vonnie Borden Theatre.
A fourth student, Lydia Caballero of Slidell, will also participate at the regional festival in a competition for stage managers. Caballero was stage manager for “4.48 Psychosis.”
All four students were chosen for regional competition by a panel of visiting judges who viewed “4.48 Psychosis” and, in the case of Caballero, evaluated a portfolio of her work, said James Winter, Southeastern theater instructor and director of “4.48 Psychosis.”
The KCACTF’s Region VI includes Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma.
Winter said the Southeastern actors face a rigorous three-round competition. With an acting partner each student will perform a three-minute scene in the first round, repeat the scene along with a second contrasting scene in the second round, and deliver both scenes as well as a monologue in the final round.
Two regional winners will be chosen to compete at the national Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival in Washington, D.C.
Also attending the festival as the students’ acting partners are Danny Thomas, a Southeastern alumnus who will partner with Klein; Parker’s partner, Jaren Mitchell of New Orleans; and Boykin’s partner, Lanie Moore of Baton Rouge.
Winter, who was selected for the national competition while a student at the University of New Orleans, said he is excited that his students have the opportunity to experience the festival and competition.
“With the exception of Shiloh, this is a first for them,” he said. “It’s a week full of theater with hundreds of students, and great opportunities for networking.”
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