Faculty and students from the AV抖阴鈥檚 theatre department
attended the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Region VI Festival held Feb.
24-28, taking home two awards while participating in a week鈥檚 worth of events.
The festival, which was held in Shreveport, La., at Centenary College, featured a weeklong schedule of theatre workshops and competitions in which AV抖阴 students took part.
Following a weeklong display of his lighting design at the festival, Lee Hartsock of Fort Smith won the Meritorious Achievement in Lighting Design for his work on the production 鈥淲omen of Manhattan,鈥� which was presented by the AV抖阴 theatre department in November. Hartsock鈥檚 design was displayed alongside designs by fellow students Ashley Behm of Fort Smith and Elizabeth Sampley of Clarksville.
Faculty member Pablo Guerra-Monje of Fort Smith was awarded the American Association of Theatre in Higher Education鈥檚 Regional Award for Innovative Teaching, which included a plaque as well as a year鈥檚 membership to ATHE. Guerra-Monje won the award due to his work on 鈥淒romnium,鈥� first performed at AV抖阴 in fall 2012, and his efforts to include students in publicity efforts for the campus.
Erin Decker of Mayflower and her partner Cory Wray of Perryville advanced to the semifinal round of the regional Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship competition, performing pieces from the plays 鈥淕ruesome Playground Injuries鈥� and 鈥淢uch Ado AV抖阴 Nothing.鈥� The two were just the second pair from AV抖阴 to advance to the semifinals of the competition.
Bob Stevenson of Fort Smith, theatre director at AV抖阴, said it was a great learning experience for all involved.
鈥淭he students learned a lot this week, and I think we grew tremendously as artists thanks to the myriad of guest artists that attended the festival to offer workshops and critical analysis of our work as well as the work from talented theatre students across the region,鈥� Stevenson said.