This past week was one of great excitement for many students and faculty in the Theatre Department as they attended Region 8 of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival in Mesa, Arizona. While the Theatre Department regularly attends this annual theatre festival of colleges in the greater western United States, this year's festival brought with it many accomplishments for the students and faculty. 

As only one of four invited shows, Concordia’s production of “Girls Like That” by Evan Placy that bowed last January on campus, was performed at Mesa Community College to an enthusiastic audience of college students and theatergoers. However, this invitation to perform at the festival and to revamp the show in a short window of time required lots of effort from students and faculty. “We were certainly in a time crunch to build the set, reprogram and edit cues for the new space, and perform two shows all in one day,” said senior Isabella Mangahis. Mangahis was the stage manager for “Girls Like That.”

Audiences in Mesa were deeply emotionally impacted by the two performances. For the actors, the experience of reviving the show a year after its original performance was very meaningful. “‘Girls Like That’ blessed a whole new community of people. After the shows, audience members wept for those women who had lost their lives due to bullying and suicide. Two women, who had never met before, were seen weeping and hugging [post-performance]. That is the purpose of theatre, to bring people together in empathy and grace,” said junior Camille Beeson. Beeson was a part of the ensemble for “Girls Like That.”

The Theatre Department’s accomplishments did not stop there. Three Concordia students and one alumna were semi-finalists for the Musical Theatre Initiative, a program that is designed to highlight the best of musical theatre in the western United States. From the 38 semi-finalists, a smaller group of finalists were chosen, one of which included Concordia alumna Anna Martin.  

“I learned that when you support the people around you and they support you during a nerve-wracking situation such as semi-finals, you have the capacity to be much more assured of your ability,” said sophomore and Musical Theatre Initiative semi-finalist Nicole Kramer.

Additionally, three Concordia students were semi-finalists for the Irene Ryan Scholarship, which awards excellence in acting. There was also one student from Concordia who served as an alternate or substitute if a semi-finalist could not compete. Beyond the semi-finals, alumni Catalina Tan and her scene partner Ashley Kosonen performed at finals for a large audience. “Being an Irene Ryan finalist partner helped me learn the importance of allowing my scene partner to be the center point of our scene. She did a wonderful job and I was so proud that she was able to make the top 17 out of over 260 people,” said Kosonen. 

While attending the American College Theatre Festival does include competition for scholarships and awards, even more importantly, it is a wonderful opportunity for students to network with professionals and peers from other surrounding universities. Much of the time spent at the festival included attending a variety of sessions on topics from theatre education, technical theatre, writing and entertainment business. 

“My favorite experience was the new TYA program, which stands for Theatre for Young Audiences. One TYA event I went to was the reading of a play called ‘The Yellow Boat’ by David Saar. This was such a beautiful and heartwarming experience where the audience laughed and cried together at the sheer read-through of a story of a young boy using art as healing through his struggles with hemophilia,” said Mangahis. 

For senior Meg Rocha, participating at the festival alongside other schools is a reminder of the strength of our Theatre Department. “We are so blessed at Concordia to have professors who believe so deeply in theatre that the talents of our peers can be held to the same standards of bigger programs. We definitely made our presence known this year,” said Rocha. 

Tags: Theatre, Alexander Carr, Performing Arts, Travel, Awards

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