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Albright College Students Honored at Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival

Jan 23, 2017 • by Albright College
Kasual Owens-Fields ’17 (Left) and Holly Hoover ’17 (Right)

The College’s Domino Players also invited to perform Make Democracy Great Again, a sketch comedy revue by assistant theatre professor Matt Fotis

Reading, Pa. – Two Albright College students were recently honored at the Region II Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF). 

Kasual Owens-Fields ’17, a digital video arts major from Upper Darby, Pa., was awarded the prestigious Stage Directors & Choreographers Society Fellowship. Holly Hoover ’17, an arts administration/theatre major from Reading, was awarded the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) Arts Management Fellowship.

The students were honored at the KCACTF Region II festival, held at Montclair State University in New Jersey, earlier this month. The KCACTF honors excellence in theatrical work of college students and faculty.

As fellowship recipients, both Owens-Fields and Hoover will attend the week-long KCACTF national festival in Washington, D.C., in April.

In addition to the student honors, the Domino Players, Albright’s resident theatre company, was invited to perform its sketch comedy revue Make Democracy Great Again, or, The Most Important Election of Our Lifetime…That Is Until the Next One as part of the regional festival’s Fringe invited productions, a showcase for non-traditional work.

Directed by Albright assistant theatre professor Matt Fotis, Ph.D., Make Democracy Great Again, staged at Albright on the eve of the election, explored the 2016 presidential race in all of its grandeur, glory and absurdity.

At the national festival this spring, Owens-Fields, awarded the fellowship based on her direction of a scene from The Stonewater Rapture by Douglas Wright, will participate in workshops and master classes taught by some of the best directors in the country. She is also eligible for a national fellowship from the Stage Directors & Choreographers Society.

“I feel very excited overall. It’s an amazing opportunity,” said Owens-Fields, an aspiring video editor and producer.

Hoover, who was awarded her fellowship based on a panel interview, will explore various aspects of arts leadership at the national festival. The LORT initiative works to promote diversity in arts leadership positions.

Hoover aspires to work as an artistic director or general manager of a theatre.

Numerous Albright theatrical productions have been showcased at the regional and national KCACTF festivals over the years, with awards bestowed both on the shows as a whole and on individual students and faculty members for contributions on and off stage.

In 2016, the Domino Players’ production of Clybourne Park was named one of the best collegiate theatrical productions in the country, receiving the national KCACTF Outstanding Production of a Play award. Albright artist in residence Jeffrey Lentz ’85 was named Outstanding Director of a Play, while his creative collaborator Cocol Bernal was honored for Outstanding Scenic Design, for their work on Clybourne Park. Albright sophomore Natalie Torpey ’19 was honored with Outstanding Performance by an Actress for her work on the production.

Founded in 1969, the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival is a national theater program involving 20,000 students from colleges and universities nationwide annually. The organization serves as a catalyst in improving the quality of college theater in the United States. KCACTF has grown into a network of more than 700 academic institutions. 

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