American
College Theater
Festival
http://kennedy-center.org/education/actf/
Monmouth College, along with all of the other colleges and universities in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin, is in the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts American College Theater Festival's (KC-ACTF) third district. The festival for the third district is held by various hosts throughout the Midwest every year. This year's (2000) district III competition was hosted for the second year by Marquette University's and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in Milwaukee, WI, from January 10 - 14. Events ranged from show performances, workshops of all kinds, Irene Ryan auditions, the critics competition, and the ever famous awards ceremony. The Wyndham Milwaukee Center Hotel, the Milwaukee Rep - Steimke Theater, the Pabst Theatre, and the Marquette University - Helfaer Theater were kind enough to house the different events of the festival. The top six shows of the nearly 40 entered that performed at this year's ACTF were: Candida by Purdue University, Spring Awakening, The Cripple of Inishmean, The Caucasian Chalk Circle by the University of Evansville, W;t by Ball State University, and Marat Sade by Western Illinois University. All were in competition to move on to nationals and perform at the JFK Center for the Performing Arts.
MC's entry this year, "What a Good Woman Needs: The Trials and Triumphs of Polly Trueheart," is an original piece written by Jeff Wirth, an occasional guest professor at MC. This show made its world premiere on the MC stage in early November, unfortunately it was not chosen to move onto Milwaukee. The play is an interactive piece, meaning that members of the audience play major roles in the production, which also means that the plot is often improvised and adapted for each performance and the new spect-actors it brings with it.
MC had three students competing in varying ACTF events this year. Matt Fotis and Lana Raines, competed in the Irene Ryan acting competition at the festival. The competition is structured as an audition and each student is responsible for acquiring scene material and a scene partner to aid them in duet performances. Fotis was recognized for his performance as a delusional brother of a cowhand that believes he is a horse named Thunder, and Raines will go for her performance as Floozy Chanteuse, a sensual barmaid from the west.
Bill Wanderer competed in the Critics Competition at the festival and was named first runner up in the competition. Bill wrote four reviews of the shows that appeared at ACTF, entering his best three critiques in the competition. Bill's outstanding work was chosen second out of a field of 27 critics including numerous graduate students. Congrats Bill!!!
For more information about ACTF visit these websites.
KC-ACTF home page http://kennedy-center.org/education/actf/
KC-ACTF District III http://marquette.edu/theatre/ACTF/2001actf/actf.html