For the first time ever, Siena theater students made it to the semi-final round of an acting scholarship competition sponsored by the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF).
Fifteen Siena students attended the KCACTF regional festival in Cape Cod last week to share their work in a variety of theatre-making areas. In the Irene Ryan acting scholarship competition, Mike Denihan ’22 and Emily Furlong ’21 reached the semi-final level, performing a scene from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, and a monologue from The Long View.
They were coached by Krysta Dennis, Ph.D., producer of creative arts and Sandra Boynton, guest artist at Siena. The first round included 203 pairs of students; Denihan and Furlong joined the ranks of just 30 who moved on to the semi-final level.
The original play Yours for the Oppressed by Heather Frederick ‘21, Hunter Frederick ‘21, and Olivia Waldron ’19 is in the running for several awards at the national KCACTF festival, to be held in April in Washington, D.C.
In addition to displaying their own skills, the students attended workshops with theatre practitioners from around Region 1 (New England and eastern New York), as well as attending productions of Pass Over, for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf, The Wolves, and Revolt, She Said. Revolt Again.
Also attending were Andraya Perez '20, Will Curley '20, Max Adelman '21, Michael Anderton '21 Leah Roth '23, Alyssa Bergman '20, Olivia Burns '22, Dominic DiCaprio '21, Fiona Hoye '21, and Connor Rock '21.
Denise Massman, M.F.A., associate professor of creative arts, coached the technical students, and Tim Reno. D.M.A., associate dean of liberal arts, coached for musical theater.
“Going to KCACTF was super nerve-wracking because I had never done anything like this before, but all of our hard work paid off and it was an experience I will never forget!”
Emily Furlong '21
“I felt completely prepared to compete against other schools and feel that this shows how great the Creative Arts department at Siena is.”
Mike Denihan '22
