Theatre 'Smokes' Competition, Advances To Regionals

For the fourth year in a row, the SHSU theatre department has been invited to perform at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Regional Festival, to be held in February 2005 at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

Their rendition of “Smokey Joes Café” received 20 awards at the KCACTF competition hosted by the SHSU theatre and dance department Nov. 18-20, including “Director’s Choice” and “Respondent’s Choice.”

The play was directed and choreographed by theatre and dance faculty member Jonathan Charles, with musical direction by SHSU School of Music instructor of voice Laura Avery-Hill.

Three theatre students received Irene Ryan Scholarship nominations, including Eric Mota, Onyie Nwachukwu and Matt Tompkins, and SHSU faculty members, staff and students received “excellence” awards for direction and choreography, musical direction, lighting design, sound design, costume design and stage management.

The KCACTF is a national theatre program involving 18,000 students from colleges and universities nationwide and was founded in 1969. The festival serves as a network for more than 600 academic institutions throughout the country, where theatre departments and student artists showcase their work to receive outside assessment by festival respondents.

“Smokey Joes Café” is the fifth show in four years SHSU has been invited to perform on the festival’s regional level. In April 2003, the department’s production of “The Laramie Project” was invited at the regional festival to perform at the national level.

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SHSU Media Contact: Jennifer Gauntt
Dec. 17, 2004
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