Theatre NDSU production to be featured at Kennedy Center festival

Photo by: NDSU
Photo by: NDSU

(Fargo, ND) -- Theatre NDSU’s recent production of “Alabaster” has been selected to perform at the regional Kennedy Center American College Festival in January.

The national program is sponsored by the Kennedy Center to recognize and support excellence in college theatre.

“Having a production selected to perform at the regional festival is a huge honor. This year, seven schools were selected from our region to participate,” said Mark Engler, theatre arts department head. “There are eight regions across the country, each regional festival showcases the work of students in all areas of performance and theatrical design – 125 students are selected from the regional festivals and invited to the Kennedy Center in the spring for the national festival.”

Theatre NDSU is scheduled to remount the production on January 20th at 7:30 p.m. in the Walsh Studio Theatre. “This will be an opportunity for people to see it again, or for the first time, before we leave for the festival,” Engler said.

"Alabaster" was directed by Jess Jung, associate professor, with scenic and properties design by Tiffany Fier, associate professor, and sound design by Engler.

Region 5 includes Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.

The regional festivals include workshops and competitions for the students and professional development opportunities for students and faculty. The event also has a college fair for students who are currently in two-year degree programs.

The Kennedy Center festival is a national theater program involving about 18,000 students annually from colleges and universities across the country. The festival aims to recognize and celebrate the finest and most diverse work produced in theater programs and encourage productions of new plays, especially those written by students, the classics and experimental works.

Since its inception, the festival has given more than 400,000 college theater students the opportunity to have their work critiqued, improve their dramatic skills and receive national recognition. More than 16 million theatergoers have attended approximately 10,000 festival productions nationwide.

The production will be featured at the Region 5 festival scheduled for January 22nd-28th in Des Moines, Iowa.