E&H Theatre Students Going to Regional Competition

For the second year in a row, the Emory & Henry College Theatre Department will be represented by eight students at an upcoming regional competition.

More than 350 student actors are expected to audition for prestigious scholarships at the 10-state Region IV competition of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, Feb. 3-8, in Greensboro, N.C. Winners will advance to national auditions at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., in April.

In spring 2007 and fall 2008, two E&H main stage theatre productions—“Hippolytus,“ directed by Don LaPlant, and “Triumph of Love,” directed by theatre professor Biliana Stoytcheva-Horissian—were attended by external observers and the following students were nominated to participate in the regional competition: Laura Crockarell of Mount Juliette, Tenn.; Jamal Crowelle of Reston, Va.; Ashley Goodwin of Bluefield, W.Va. and Caitlin Morgan of Roanoke, Va.

The nominees are required to select acting partners and prepare two contrasting scenes as well as a monologue for the three-part competition. Acting partners participating in the competition along with the nominees are Emily Trainham of Damascus, Va., Sheldon Michael Brown of Antioch, Tenn.; Becca Litton of Abingdon, Va. and Anna Nichols of Knoxville, Tenn.

The theatre festival honors excellence of overall production and offers student artists individual recognition through awards and scholarships in playwriting, acting, criticism, directing and design.

“Nomination for participation in the festival serves as recognition of the high quality education and personal attention our students receive,” says Stoytcheva-Horissian, who is preparing the students for the competition. “In the past five years our students have had an excellent record while competing in regional and national competitions.“

Last year, Eric Eteuati, an E&H senior from Chesapeake, Va., received the competition’s prestigious Irene Ryan Scholarship. The award is given to one actor from among more than 400 students from throughout the southeastern United States who compete in the event. He also won the chance to compete against 16 other regional winners of the Irene Ryan Scholarship at the national competition.

“They have the training, the talent and the confidence to compete favorably with some of the finest theatre students in the South East and in the nation,” said Stoytcheva-Horissian.

Started in 1969 by Roger L. Stevens, the Kennedy Center’s founding chairman, the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival is a national theatre program involving 18,000 students from colleges and universities nationwide which has served as a catalyst in improving the quality of college theatre in the United States. The Festival has grown into a network of more than 600 academic institutions throughout the country, where theatre departments and student artists showcase their work and receive outside assessment by Festival respondents.