Meramec Theatre Troupe Attends The KCACTF Conference:
OLIVER PULCHER ONLINE EDITOR:
Between Jan. 20 and Jan. 26, Meramec’s own theatre troupe headed to frosty Sioux Falls, South Dakota for the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF). Meramec’s theater program was a part of Region Five of the conference, which also has schools from Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. Every year, eight regions host their respective theater festivals from January through February, and in April, the National Conference convenes in Washington with participants from all eight regions. This time around, the festivities for Meramec’s theater members included everything from workshops to stage crew showdowns. Specifically, The Meramec Theatre Troupe showed up and performed in the Improv Intensive and the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship competitions. Pat Ryan was Meramec’s representative in the Improv Intensive for KCACTF 2019. When asked about how he had prepared for the conference, Ryan said, “Preparing for KCACTF was mainly just making sure I had enough clothes for the week, bringing a coat, making sure you have layers, making sure you have snacks for the bus. But for Improv Intensive, it’s kind of hard to prepare for it because with improv, you can’t [prepare]. You don’t really want to go on with anything prepared, because that defeats the point of improv. To me, the most rewarding part was taking part in the improv showcase.” Evan Turek and Kyra Pearson were the two finalists from Meramec in the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship competition. “The Irene Ryan acting scholarship competition is where people submit their shows to be adjudicated, respondents come and respond to our shows and then they adjudicate actors to go and compete in the competition, and there are three rounds. There is preliminary, semi-finals, and finals. And, if you win that, you go to the Kennedy Center and perform there. This is my third year doing it, and I liked it the first two times, and I was nominated to be a Ryan again, and I wanted to compete, and I just love it because it’s fun and I enjoy doing theater with my friends,” said Turek. The Meramec Theater group also participated in invitation performances and scenes from all of the other schools, including a drag show which was labelled as an event exclusive to Region Five. One-acts — new plays written and submitted by students — were also performed at the conference, alongside a faculty showcase. Workshops on all things theater-related were available, and an 80s-themed prom was organized so that characters could interact with the members attending. By the end, the theatre troupe from Meramec attended six days and nights, obtaining theater knowledge and expertise from schools that are renown throughout Region Five for their theater programs. Those who went on the trip have now returned to Meramec with experience that can be applied to future productions and the program itself.
