‘Berg Student Director’s Play Selected for Festival Production
Vaclav Havel's The Increased Difficulty of Concentration, directed by Vanessa Lancelotti '10, has been selected to perform at the regional meeting of the American College Theatre Festival (ACTF).Friday, December 11, 2009 02:21 PM
The production was chosen in a competitive peer review process against scores of other productions in the region, most of which were directed by faculty. Approximately 20 Muhlenberg College students will travel to the festival, held on January 12-16 at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
“I focused on building a strong ensemble in the beginning of the rehearsal process. I worked very physically with the actors, developing a movement vocabulary together that allowed us to create the larger than life characters in this absurdist farce,” said Lancelotti. “The department definitely provided me with the training I needed to approach this text, as did my experience studying physical theatre abroad at the Accademia dell’Arte in Arezzo, Italy.”
In January and February of each year, regional festivals showcase the finest of each region's entered productions and offer a variety of activities, including workshops, symposia, and regional-level award programs. Regional festival productions are judged by a panel of three judges selected by the Kennedy Center and the KCACTF national committee. These judges in consultation with the Artistic Director select four to six of the best and most diverse regional festival productions to be showcased in the spring at the annual noncompetitive national festival at the Kennedy Center, all expenses paid.
Since its inception, KCACTF has given more than 400,000 college theater students the opportunity to have their work critiqued, improve their dramatic skills and receive national recognition for excellence.
Muhlenberg College’s Department of Theatre & Dance is recognized by Fiske Guide to Colleges and the Princeton Review as one of the top programs among small colleges across the nation. The faculty’s unique approach to education infuses rigorous artistic training with the intellectual breadth and ethical vitality of the liberal arts, and the dedication to student-centered and student-developed work encourages students to use their intellectual, artistic, and interpersonal skills to become independent thinkers and dynamic creators.
