Massasoit Theatre Company Participates in Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival

At the beginning of February, The Massasoit Theatre Company, including Students, Staff and Faculty participated in the week-long Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival hosted by Central Connecticut State University located in New Britain, CT.

Massasoit Theatre Company students smiling.

Massasoit Theatre Company Student Ensemble members, Coleen Malley (Little Women-with scene partner Alex Flanagan) and Sabrina Nedder (Othello-with scene partner Maggie Bastarache) were both selected to participate in the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Award Competition. Coleen and Sabrina both made it to semi-finals for the Irene Ryans.

Also, Massasoit Theatre Company Student Ensemble member, Olivia Browne (White Christmas) was selected to participate in the Design, Technology and Management Expo for Stage Management. Olivia placed 2nd Runner-Up as an alternate to the National Festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. should the winner be unable to attend. We are proud in our students’ achievements in this our first year of participating in the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF). Our Coordinator of the Buckley Performing Arts Center, Mark Rocheteau sits on the managing board for KCACTF-Region 1. Massasoit Students and Staff smiling at music festival.

The week-long festival for Region 1 was attended by over 650 students from 52 different colleges.

The KCACTF honors excellence of overall production and offers student artists individual recognition through awards and scholarships in playwriting, acting, criticism, directing, and design. To encourage colleges and universities to give distinguished productions of new plays, especially those written by students; the classics, revitalized or newly conceived; and experimental works.

Through state, regional, and national festivals, KCACTF participants celebrate the creative process, see one another’s work, and share experiences and insights within the community of theater artists. The KCACTF honors excellence of overall production and offers student artists individual recognition through awards and scholarships in playwriting, acting, criticism, directing, and design. KCACTF is a year-round program in eight geographic regions in the United States.

Regional activities are coordinated through eight KCACTF regional chairs and eight KCACTF playwriting awards chairs. With funding and administrative support from the Kennedy Center, the regional chair coordinates with the Co-Managers of KCACTF all aspects of the adjudication of productions on the local and regional level and supervises regional-level KCACTF award competitions. The playwriting chair works with schools that have entered new and student-written plays by providing expertise in the development of new scripts–assessment specifically designed for a developing play–and by providing information on the numerous playwriting awards offered.

In January and February of each year, regional festivals showcase the finest of each region’s entered productions and offer a variety of activities, including workshops, symposia, and regional-level award programs. Since its inception, KCACTF has given more than 400,000 college theater students the opportunity to have their work critiqued, improve their dramatic skills and receive national recognition for excellence. More than 16 million theatergoers have attended approximately 10,000 festival productions nationwide.