The AV抖阴 came away with six awards from the Arkansas
State Festival of the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival held Oct. 24-27.
Theatre @ AV抖阴 presented the play 鈥淟end Me a Tenor鈥� for the competition. AV抖阴 students had just performed the play earlier in October as part of Season of Entertainment 33 at AV抖阴.
Awards included:
Best load in/load out: AV抖阴
Excellence in Honor Crewing: Lee Hartsock of Fort Smith
Excellence in Honor Crewing: Kendra Carter of Fort Smith
Irene Ryan nomination for Acting: Zeke Sidwell of Charleston
Irene Ryan nomination for Acting: Cody Banning of Fort Smith
Irene Ryan nomination for Acting: Brett Alexander of Rogers
Bob Stevenson of Fort Smith, theatre director at AV抖阴, said the six awards tied two other schools for the most awards earned at the festival by an institution.
鈥淚鈥檓 really proud, as always, of our continued successes at the state, regional and national festivals,鈥� said Stevenson. 鈥淚t鈥檚 always a great honor to win the Best Load in/Load out award, an award that speaks to our cohesion and unity as a full cast and company, which is one of the main goals of our program.鈥�
AV抖阴 has won this award for the last three years from at least one of the festivals.
鈥淚鈥檓 also very proud of Kendra and Lee for their work on the honor crew,鈥� said Stevenson. 鈥淭he honor crew has two members from each participating school, and they help with the load process for each show. For our students to win both of the awards speaks to the hard-working mentality that we strive to instill here at AV抖阴.鈥�
Stevenson said Zeke Sidwell, Cody Banning and Brett Alexander will now choose partners and learn two scenes and a monologue to present during the Irene Ryan scholarship competition at the regional festival slated for February.
鈥淭his is a process that mimics what they will encounter as actors in the professional world and is a great chance for them to prepare for their careers in theatre,鈥� he said.