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Theatre & Dance Alumni

FACULTY NEWS:

Juliet Wunsch, design faculty, was recently elected to Chair of Region II of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.

Liz Staruch, dance faculty, presented her choreographic work "Come Clean" in the Spiel Uhr Dance Series this October in Philadelphia. Seven WCU dancers performed in a professional concert along with four other dance works.

Susan Lehman, adjunct, was awarded a 2008 Individual Creative Artist Fellowship by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts for a screenplay that is in progress.

CONFERENCE REPRESENTATION:

Department of Theatre and Dance student Margot Pollack was part of a five member student panel selected to represent WCU at the Undergraduate Research Day at the Pennsylvania Capitol on October 7, 2008 by the WCU Provost's Office. The work compares the extensive media accolades and rhetoric from the story of Elizabeth Smart, a white girl who was abducted from her affluent family in 2002, to the much less-known story of Erica Pratt, a six-year old African American girl from Philadelphia who also suffered child abduction and saved herself from her captors by chewing through the ropes which bound her. Mentor on the project was Dr. Lisa C. Huebner, Women’s Studies and Department of Anthropology and Sociology.

SUMMER 2008:

Several of our students have found theatre and dance work over the summer. Here's a sampling of what our students did:

Shannon Powlick was the props intern for the Fulton Opera House in Lancaster, PA. She did props for Brigadoon, varied children's shows, and made "hundreds of cornstalks" for Oklahoma.

Danielle Shinder spent her summer as stage manager for Elmo's World Live and Big Bird's Beach Party at Sesame Place in Langhorne, PA. She also got the role of a lifetime, portraying Elmo from time to time.

Caroline Scheider directed High School Musical and Grease at the Arts Camp of New England.

Ian Potter returns to the 71st season of the Lost Colony in Manteo, NC to play the role of Captain Amadas.

Frank Schierloh, Peter Collier, Melissa Castillo and Monica Simpson will be working at the Knoebels Amusement Resort.

Andy Truscott will be performing in 42nd Street and The Wizard of Oz in Ocean City, NJ.

Andrew Lowy will be the personal assistant to director Mark Waldrop on Paper Mill Playhouse's production of Little Shop of Horrors. He will also be attending the O'Neill Center Playwright's conference as the National Dramaturgy award winner from KC/ACTF.

Rachel Lichter received a summer internship with the Peterborough Players in New Hampshire. She will be stage managing, on run crew and working in the box office.

Several students will be teaching over the summer - Amanda Cowley will be teaching music at Theatre and Kids Camp in Lansdale, PA. She will also be directing Sleeping Beauty; Tabitha Allen and Jackie Chilcote will be working as voice teachers and counselors at the Belvoir Terrace Performing Arts Camp in Lenox, MA; Danny Marcheski will be directing a high school musical workshop with Center Stage Productions.

Abbie Jones, a special education major/dance minor and President of the University Dance Company, recently returned from spending three weeks of her 2008 summer as a Program Director in the area of Music and Dance at the Dragonfly Forest Camp. Dragon Flyforest is a non-profit organization designed for children with chronic or lifethreatning illnesses and disorders. This opportunity allowed Abbie to use both her strengths of special education and dance, ultimately providing an educational and rewarding experience of a lifetime.

WCU SUCCESS AT KC/ACTF :

At the 2008 KC/ACTF Region II Conference held at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA, several WCU Theatre and Dance students won awards for acting, dramaturgy and technical production:

Andrew Lowy '09 won the National Award for Dramaturgy for his work on Gypsy and will be presenting at the Kennedy Center in March. (WCU has won this national award for dramaturgy two years in a row)

Pat Kane '08 won Regional Awards in both Sound Design and Graphics for Bent.

Sara Clerico won a Regional Award in Make-up for her designs for Wit.

Zoi Ginneas '07and her partner Melissa Costello advanced to the finals round in the Irene Ryan Competition and Zoi won the award for Outstanding Classical Acting for her scene from Romeo and Juliet.

Congratulations to all!

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