Students to compete at theater festival with fall play
February 9, 2015
Linfield’s fall theatre production, “Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom” is back by popular demand on and off campus.
After returning to Marshall Theater’s stage on Feb. 12 and 13 Linfield will travel to Central Washington University to perform on Feb. 16.
Linfield is one of three colleges that will put on their production at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF).
This upcoming trip will be Linfield’s third time to KCACTF since Janet Gupton has been the associate professor of theater.
“Neighborhood 3” is the seventh Linfield production invited to the regional festival.
After raising $8,325 in order to be able to attend KCACTF in Ellensberg, Wash.
“It’s a mix of a lot of different feelings. It’s both an honor and it’s intimidating. We were chosen out of a lot of other colleges plays by professionals, which is cool because they see the work we did as unique and special. But we’re also now going to be performing in front of hundreds of professionals in the theatre field,” Video Designer and junior Mic Cooney said.
KCACTF allows students to travel with props, sets, lights and costumes just as they would if they were with a professional group and gives students the opportunity to present their production to a new audience.
24 students, 2 faculty and 2 staff members will be attending KCACTF for a week.
“We are very excited to have this chance to perform for our peers and colleagues from other theatre programs throughout Region VII. it provides our students with a fantastic chance to see what it is like to take a show on the road and what goes into this kind of endeavor – the planning, reworking of the set, lights, costumes, sound, video projections, etc., and the logistics of working together as a theatre company to make theatre happen,” Gupton said.
For a lot of theatre students this will be their first time attending KCACTF.
“To be given the opportunity to go ACTF was great, and bringing a production to that, just makes it all the more worthwhile,” Assistant Stage Manager and sophomore Alyssa Lawrence said.
“Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom” was one of three productions selected to be performed at the annual Region VII festival.
Linfield competed against 30 eligible productions presented by colleges and universities from Alaska, northern California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, northern Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming.
More than 70 schools and 1000 individuals attend the annual Region VII festival and will be able to view Linfield’s theater production after a crowd-funding project that raised $1,325 more than the original $7,000 goal.
“This trop would not be possible without the financial support given to us by our alumni, family, friends, and supporters of the Linfield Theatre Program. They surpassed our expectations and we are truly grateful for their generosity. We will do our best to honor their support and represent them well,” Gupton said.
Several Linfield students will represent the college in a variety of competitions such as the Irene Ryan Acting Competition, Stage Management, Northwest Costume Design, Allied Arts in Theatre, The National Devised Theatre Project, and the Northwest Scholarly Paper Competition.
Winners of certain categories in the regional festivals are invited to compete at the National Festival held at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. in April according to KCATF.
“From what everyone is saying I think there is a lot to do there. Watching shows, performance courses, and lectures for all the design aspects of theater,” Actor of Trevor and Doug sophomore Murphy Jackson said.
Cooney had a special role in making Neighborhood 3 a success with videography, “Mic put a lot of time and effort into the videos, so he could mold them into the characters that he saw” Lawrence said. “[Cooney] is a truly amazing artist. I think those characters filled a space that would have been missing if we had the actual actors on stage.”
Cooney was the last one funded for in order to be able to attend the Regional VII Festival.
“It’s a very bizarre play and we performed it in a way very different to how it has traditionally been put on,” Cooney said.
“Our goal was to use the video to help blur the lines between reality and virtual reality. some of the different things I did as the designer were blending our natural actors with different natural elements and filming and projecting the entire final scene to be played simultaneously as the actors act out the scene on stage.”
On campus showings of “Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom” will be held on Thursday Feb. 12 and Friday Feb. 13 at 7:30 p.m. in Marshall Theatre.
Tickets will be on sale starting Feb. 11 and can be purchased for $5.
“[Bringing back an old play is] surprisingly not that hard. I think the actors are feeling good about getting back to this play and the modifications made to the set came out really well as far as I can tell,” Jackson said.
“It’s very exciting to take a show on the road again,” Stage Manager and senior Emily Meinel said. “Most colleges can’t offer that sort of opportunity. Everyone’s very excited. We are the sixth show to go from Linfield in 26 years so it’s not something every theater major gets to participate in.”