Students and faculty from the University of Wyoming Department of Theatre and Dance competed at a regional competition in Oregon last month. Fourteen students in the department were nominated by outside reviewers to compete in performance, design and technical categories.
Seven of those students won awards or were finalists at the Region 7 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. The Region 7 festival encompasses the northwestern United States as well as Alaska and Hawaii.
UW Senior Bailey Patterson said she and her performance partner Katarina Tyler were up against 250 other competitors for the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Award. The award evaluates acting range and ability to act with a partner. Patterson said their performance featured comedy and drama scenes, as well as a monologue.
"That comedic piece was from a play called Anna and August by Dan Zolidis. We were playing two nine-year-old girls who were playing a card game called "True Love: A Game for Girls." It's a little bit social commentary with a little bit farce," Patterson said.
Patterson won the region's Mark Twain Comedy Award for that scene. She described what it was like to perform in front of her peers.
"Having a room of theatre students is unlike any other performance you are ever going to give, because it's people who understand and sort of appreciate the work that you've done in a way that no one else really can," said Patterson.
She and her performance partner Katarina Tyler were runners-up for the regional Irene Ryan Award. They are alternates for the national conference in April. Other UW students were finalists in the musical theatre category and received meritorious achievement awards for scholarly papers.
