Theatre Finalists Honored at National Kennedy Center Festival

KEENE, N.H. 4/30/02 - Two finalists in the New England regionals of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, hosted by Keene State College earlier this year, were recognized at the national festival, April 15-21, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

Keene State faculty members Ronald Spangler, chairman of the Theatre, Dance and Film Department, and Daniel Patterson, associate professor of theatre, attended the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KC/ACTF), as co-chairs and hosts for the Region I KC/ACTF festival held Jan. 30-Feb. 3 on the Keene State campus. Keene State will host the 2003 Region I Festival around the same time next year. The 2002 regional festival drew nearly 600 students and faculty from colleges throughout New England.

The Region I finalist for the Student Playwriting Award, Ronan Noone from The Boston Playwright’s Theatre of Boston University, won the National Student Playwrighting Award for “The Lepers of Baile Baiste” at the KC/ACTF National Festival. This original play takes place in a quiet Irish town on Baile Baiste, which means “come day, go day,” and deals with sexual abuse of children by priests, a highly topical subject matter considering recent developments in Boston and throughout the United States.

“Kite” by Patrick McKay from Stonehill College, Mass., performed at the Region I festival, was featured in the Fourth Annual Ten-Minute Play Festival at the Kennedy Center.

Two Keene State students were honored as Region I finalists during the KC/ACTF festival. Joel Barnhurst of Gilsum was recognized for sound design for the Keene State Theatre fall production of “Marcel Pursued by the Hounds.” Daneé Grillo of Beacon Falls, Conn., was recognized for scenic design of the play “The Inspector General.”