Regional theatre festival returns to MCC
An annual festival of the performing arts saw Mesa Community College’s Communication, Theatre & Film Arts department host the event for the first time since 2018.
The Region VIII Conference of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF) united performing arts students for five days of theatre performances and workshops. These students represented colleges in Arizona, Central and Southern California, Hawaii, Southern Nevada, Utah and Guam, according to the festival’s website.
Students showcased their talents in different categories ranging from performance to stagecraft and even theatre journalism.
“Our festival is a celebration of all things theatre,” said Region VIII chair Shaunte Caraballo. “We have the opportunity to provide students a chance to learn, to grow, to have workshops and guest artists, but it also gives them a chance to compete as well.”
While it is technically a competition setting, event organizers prefer not to describe it as such, according to Caraballo.
“That’s because we want to celebrate it,” Caraballo stated. “But for people who are outside of our organization, competition is the best way to explain what it is.”
In addition to the competition, students from Eastern Arizona College (EAC), Concordia University Irvine, California State University (CSU) Dominguez Hills, and College of the Sequoias (COS) each came to showcase their renditions of different theatrical productions, according to Caraballo.
EAC presented “The Play That Goes Wrong,” a comedic murder mystery by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields.
Concordia University Irvine showcased “Girls Like That,” a contemporary drama by Evan Placey.
CSU Dominguez Hills performed “Hurt Village,” an Afrocentric family drama by Katori Hall.
Lastly, COS showed their rendition of “Reefer Madness,” a satirical musical by Kevin Murphy and Dan Studney.
The competition segment does not end at regionals. Category winners at regionals will represent their regions at the national level in Washington, D.C. in April.
Among the prizes are scholarship opportunities, which MCC theatre program director and residential faculty Kara Thomson says offers even greater opportunities for students at the community college level who plan to transfer to university.
“There are connections to figuring out where’s the next place to go,” Thomson claimed. “They get to meet the [university] faculty through this venue.”
The festival occurred from Feb. 11 to Feb. 16. At the end of the festival, the competition winners were announced, among them many MCC students.
The winning MCC students and their categories are:
- Design, Technology, and Management
- Ava Hendricks, KCACTF Award for Theatrical Excellence in Costume Design (Finalist) for “Appropriate”
- Kinsey Moore, KCACTF Award for Theatrical Excellence in Lighting Design (Finalist) for “Appropriate”
- Brian Wayne, Society of Properties Managers Award for “She Kills Monsters”
- Sarah Salmi, Society of Properties Managers Award for “Appropriate”
- Jennipher Rodowca, Student Choice Award for Makeup and Hair Design for “She Kills Monsters” and Heart of the Art for Makeup and Hair SFX for “She Kills Monsters”
- Musical Theatre Initiative (MTI) & Cabaret
- Thea Moore, MTI Finalist in Singing and Dance
- Owen Grover, MTI Finalist in Singing and Dance
- Gavin Kennedy, MTI Finalist in Singing and Dance
- Elise Migacz, MTI Finalist in Dance
- Nick Jones, MTI Finalist in Dance
- Camren Martinez, MTI Finalist in Dance
- Sydnie Navaho, MTI Finalist in Dance
- Rodrigo Alonzo Regalado, MTI Finalist in Dance
- Porter Molinar, MTI Finalist in Dance
- Dramaturgy
- Ransom Allen, Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas KCACTF Student Dramaturgy Region VIII Nominee
In addition, several students also ranked high and received honorable mentions in their categories.
The national festival will occur in April with plenty of representation from MCC.
