The West Liberty University Theatre program is going to nationals. This January, our students attended the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (region II) in Cleveland, OH. The festival includes thousands of theatre students from college/university theatre programs across the region (OH, WV, PA, MD, NJ, NY). With this many people, West Liberty students used to think they could never compete against the bigger arts programs. This year proved that they were wrong.
In 2010, the West Liberty University program took eight students to Indiana University of Pennsylvania to attend the regional conference of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival for the first time; and they have been attending festival every year since.
“The most interesting part for us is how much we have developed over the past few years,” said Michael L. Aulick, Associate Professor of Theatre. “In our first year, we were just happy to be there. Since then, we have worked hard to distinguish the WLU Theatre as one of the better schools in the region.”
The WLU Theatre participation in the festival has increased over the years. Students are now regularly competing in the Irene Ryan acting competition, the Musical Theatre Initiative, the New Playwright’s Project, and this year, the Student-Directing Initiative.
Notable success began in 2013 when Cassandra Hackbart was selected as one of the finalist of the Irene Ryan Acting competition (16 actors were selected out of the 230 who participated). Continuing that success, Maggie P. Dillon made it to the final 16 the next two years (2014 and 2015) and really helped solidify West Liberty University’s Theatre program reputation as a top-notch program.
“Having a finalist is a big deal, having one in the last three festivals is huge,” claimed Aulick. “We are recognized at festival now. It is cool. I was stopped in the hallway by an NYU faculty who saw my name tag. She wanted to tell me about the work our students did in her workshop. They stood out and she wanted to let me know.”
However, this year the program reached a new height. Jaccob Trifonoff, WLU senior, theatre major, took part in the Student-Directing Initiative. He was tasked with analyzing and directing a scene for the festival and he chose Samuel Beckett’s ENDGAME. Jake and three of the WLU actors (Geena Diomedi, Alex Frank, and Jedediah Shook) worked over the Christmas break to prepare the 10-minute scene. At festival, they performed the scene for the judges, Jake was interviewed by the judges, and then they performed for the judges again. Based on his work and interview, he was selected to represent the region at the national festival in Washington, D.C. this April.
“While I am terribly proud of Jake and thrilled he will represent WLU at nationals, I am proud of all of the WLU students work.” said Aulick. “West Liberty Theatre is a great program, developing theatre artists who can compete with students from any school in the region.”
Started in 1969 by Roger L. Stevens, the Kennedy Center’s founding chairman, the Kennedy Center American College Theater (KCACTF) is a national theater program involving 18,000 students from colleges and universities nationwide that has served as a catalyst in improving the quality of college theater in the United States. The KCACTF has grown into a network of more than 600 academic institutions throughout the country, where theater departments and student artists showcase their work and receive outside assessment by KCACTF respondents.