FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                            March 12, 2008

NORTHWESTERN THEATRE STUDENTS LEARN FROM PROFESSIONALS AT ACTF

From acting classes with professionals to learning new techniques, Northwestern Oklahoma State University theatre students consider their attendance at the American College Theatre Festival (ACTF) on Feb. 25- March 2 a success.

Northwestern theatre has been involved in ACTF since 2004 and has attended seven festivals in total.

“The ACTF is one of the best educational opportunities our students have,” said Kimberly Weast, assistant professor of theatre. “Since we are a small school with limited faculty, the students are able to study under academic, professional and specialized instructors.”

This is the first regional festival since Weast was appointed vice-chair of the Region VI Committee which includes university theatre programs from New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma.

“It required responsibilities of leadership at regionals,” Weast said. “I hosted some sessions and assisted in organizational areas. Most of my work is done in the fall, several months before regionals.”

At each festival, the students get to see many other university productions. Northwestern has competed against some of the larger theatre departments in Oklahoma, such as University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma City University, and has come home with many awards.

At the state ACTF festival, OU and OCU received nominations to move on to the regional festival held at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville Texas.

“I was very proud to know that out of all the shows, four of the eight were Oklahoma shows,” Weast said. “To me, this states that we have a very strong collegiate theatrical system, and I am glad that Northwestern is among these universities.”

Aside from watching the top eight shows from the five states, there also were a variety of workshops offered to the students.

“There were acting workshops, set design, stage management, dramaturgy, and even an acting for Shakespeare workshop,” said Lewis D. Mize, Follett, Texas, senior.

Ashley Ottensmeier, Duncan senior, who has attended all seven festivals, attended the stage management classes.

“One thing that I learned and that I will incorporate in my senior performance is a code of ethics that people will sign for each show,” Ottensmeier said.

Mize, who also attended all seven festivals, said he still learns from each one.

“They told us a lot of things that you don’t usually hear,” Mize said. “For instance, you should build your resume before you say ‘yes’ to your union card.”

The students also were able to work with professional actors.

 “One of the professionals that we worked with was John Plumpis, who played Timon in the traveling Broadway show ‘The Lion King’,” Mize said.

Kasey Russell, Texhoma freshman, also attended the workshop led by Plumpis.

 “I loved it; it was so much fun,” Russell said. “I learned so many new things.”

Russell said it was a good experience to learn the different aspects of theatre.

“When I came here, I was interested in acting, but now I know that you have to be able to help with everything,” Russell said.

Russell wasn’t the only new student to find something new about theatre. Bobby Dean, Waynoka freshman, also picked up a new interest.

“I learned that I have a passion for designing costumes,” Dean said.

Over the seven years that Northwestern has attended ACTF, many students have shown a passion for the other aspects of theatre.

Grant Bowen, a 2006 graduate from Alva, took his set design for the production of “A Stick Wife” to the festival. He received an excellence in set design at the state tournament and was first runner-up in region VI.

Brooke Weiss, a 2007 graduate from Anthony, Kan., and Heather Munn, Duncan senior, took projects to the 2006 state festival. Weiss displayed her costume designs, and Munn received excellence in scene painting and graphic design.

Erin Cheney, Fresno, Calif., sophomore, took her costume design to the 2007 state festival.

 Weast encourages students to take an active role in the whole process.

“My goal is that the shows we take to ACTF are more student-oriented shows,” Weast said. “I’d like to be able to step back and assist students with their own set designs, costume designs or lighting designs.”

Weast said that she already is talking to a student about designing the set for next year’s show.

 Weast has attended nine ACTF festivals since she started teaching at Northwestern, and said that she still picks up new styles and technical aspects every year.

“I liked the fact that they were using electronic call boards,” Weast said. “I have tried in the past, but I can’t seem to get them as functional as I would like them to be. With an electronic call board, I would be able to have all the production design research in the University web page. Everyone could call up the page and see how the designs were progressing.”

Weast said that having an electronic call board could help prevent miscommunications and save a lot of time.

“With the show ‘Foolin’ Around with Infinity,’ having a daily visual of how the costumes were progressing would have saved us a lot of time,” Weast said. “A few years back, during the production of ‘Harvey,’ the student-designers had a miscommunication with set colors and costume colors, and a few of the actors disappeared into the set.”

The students said that attending these festivals has made the department stronger.

“I think we have earned the right to expand,” Mize said. “I have seen the department improve from my freshman year [2003] to the quality of work that we do now. We have had quality student-directed plays that show the strength of our department.”

Mize said that he believes that university support for the theatre department has increased immensely in the past four years.

“The support from the University and Presidential Association has helped us a lot,” Mize said. “They paid a big chunk of our way to attend the festival.”

Mize also said that he hopes the university knows how much the theatre department appreciates the help.

“We really do take what we learned and put it into practice,” Mize said.

-NW-

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