January 19, 2001
VITERBO STUDENTS WIN AWARDS AT REGIONAL THEATRE FESTIVAL
LA CROSSE, Wis.— Three Viterbo theatre majors received honors at this year’s regional American College Theatre Festival (ACTF) in Milwaukee Jan. 9-15.
Senior Barry Moe was the regional winner in make-up and wig design for last year’s Viterbo production of Iolanthe. As a result, he will travel to Washington, D.C. April 23-30 to compete in the National ACTF.
Senior Jason Penix was the regional runner-up in scenic design while sophomore Emily Mark was named a regional finalist for original playwrighting for her play Secrets Don’t Make Friends.
The three were part of a group that included 19 students from Viterbo who entered and attended the competition. The others were:
- Nickolas Rapacz, Keely Wolter, Tony Love, Raisa Thornton, and Joel Powell who all performed a scene from She Stoops to Conquer.
- Keely Wolter and Joel Powell; Leslie Swancutt and Nadia Wahhab; Nickolas Rapacz and Jillian Palmer; Tony Love and Adam Terry who were all Irene Ryan Regional Acting Competition Nominees.
- Jesse Dreikosen, scenic design, and Kimberly Nysse-Gaska (two entries), costume design, entered the National Design Competition.
- Jesse Dreikosen, Joel Powell, Kimberly Nysse-Gaska, Sarah Goldstein, and Rebecca Kaasa entered the Regional Design Competition in costume design.
- Benjamin Minnis entered the National Critics Competition.
The students were accompanied to the event by Viterbo Theatre Arts faculty members Janet McLean, Lisa Newkirk-Reimler, and Dean Yohnk.
The annual festival is a regional competition involving 2,000 graduate and undergraduate participants from Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana.
The aims of the Kennedy Center’s American College Theatre Festival are to identify and promote quality in college-level theatre productions. During the past five years, Viterbo theatre productions and students have been awarded a number of regional and national awards in acting, design, playwriting, and directing. With more than 90 Bachelor of Fine Arts majors in theatre, Viterbo is home to the largest professional theatre training program in the state of Wisconsin.