Theater students to compete at Kennedy Center
Kevin Bonneville
Due to their works in two fall productions, Death in a Landslide and Dracula, 19 members of MCC’s Theatre Arts and Film Department will be competing at the Regional Kennedy Center American College on Feb. 9-14 on the campus of California State University/Fullerton.Eight of the 19 students will be competing in the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship competition. Four of the students are acting nominees while the remaining four are scene partners for the actors. The actors are coached by performance faculty member Kevin Dressler.
The scholarship is named after Ryan, who is best known for her role as Granny on the 1960’s show, The Beverly Hillbillies, and also known for her acting on Broadway.
“Before she died, she wanted to have a scholarship named after her that would be a personal legacy. She got involved with it back when it was called the College Theatre Festival before the Kennedy Center was involved in it,” Dressler said.
According to Dressler, the competition begins with 300 actors per region.
The competition is then eventually trimmed down to two actors per region and the 16 finalists compete in the final round, which takes place on the final night as the culminating event of the festival.
Despite the scholarship only being worth $2,000, Dressler said that it’s not about the money, but something much more.
“Being an Irene Ryan Scholarship winner or runner-up brings a lot of prestige when looking at grad schools and things of that nature. It has a lot to do with status as far as that goes,” Dressler said.
Besides the acting entries, the remaining 11 students will be competing in set design, lighting design, stage management, sound design, make-up design, sound design, props design and dramaturgy.
Those 11 students are being coached by Kara Thomson, part of the design faculty.
The production entries are currently putting together their presentations, which consists not only a visual but a speech as well.
“Basically, we’ve done the majority of the work during the production as far as research and renderings. Now what we have to do is compile that work into a presentation that we’ll take with us to the competition,” said Michael Anaya, a production entry for lighting design.
Despite going up against many top schools in the past, including schools like UCLA, Stanford and others; MCC has done well in the production part of the competition.
“Two years ago, we had an honorable mention in costume design as well as sound design. As far as the community colleges that are there, we are definitely in the top tier,” Dressler said.
Anthony Jannuzzi, who is also a production entry for lighting design and competed in the event last year, credits both students and instructors for the success in the past.
“When we go, we don’t always win, but we’ve done well in the past. For a community college to do that against graduate students, it just goes to show you the quality of students we have here and also the instructors that we have here,” Jannuzzi said.
