Playwrights in the News

Congratulations to some of our favorite Riverdogs! Perhaps you know these folks from The Evidence or goat show?

(First posted at http://news-releases.uiowa.edu/2008/may/050108kennedycnt.html)

May 1, 2008

UI students win awards at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival

University of Iowa Department of Theatre Arts students Sean Christopher Lewis, Jennifer Fawcett and Jessica Dart won awards at the national American College Theatre Festival, held in late April at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Lewis won the Rosa Parks Playwriting Award for "The Aperture," Fawcett won the National Science Playwriting Award for "Twenty Moments in the Space Between" and Dart won the O'Neill Playwrights Conference Fellowship in dramaturgy.

The goals of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) are to encourage, recognize and celebrate the finest and most diverse work produced in university and college theater programs; to provide opportunities for participants to develop their theater skills and insight, and achieve professionalism; to improve the quality of college and university theater in America; and to encourage colleges and universities to give distinguished productions of new plays, the classics and experimental works.

Through 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.

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.

The UI Department of Theatre Arts is among the most-honored programs in the history of the KCACTF, receiving many of the organization's highest honors in playwriting, design, acting and production. The UI was the inaugural winner of an award for support of student playwrights, administered by ACTF for the Association for Theatre in Higher Education.