UW-Parkside Theatre Arts wins multiple awards at KCACTF Festival

The University of Wisconsin-Parkside Theatre Arts department was well represented at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival Region 3 competition.

Senior Briana Livesay (Wauconda, Ill.) won the prestigious Irene Ryan Best Classical Performance acting award. Colton Smith (Lawrence, Kansas), also a senior Theatre Arts major, earned the Irene Ryan Best Comedic Performance award among hundreds of acting students who traveled to Flint, Mich. to attend the competition. 

KCACTF is a national organization that celebrates the finest and most diverse work produced in university and college theatre programs. Region 3 includes students and faculty from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and western Ohio. 

Star Howard (Milwaukee) and Kammi Kringle (Kimberly) earned gold medals in the Games of The Technological Olympiad for their technical theatre work. Howard also received the Stage Management Fellowship Honorable Mention for “The Wolves” by Sarah DeLappe and reached the finals for their work on “She Kills Monsters” by Qui Nguyen. 

Along with Livesay, Smith, Howard and Kringle, five additional students made it into the festival’s final rounds in acting, directing, theatre design and technology, and stage management competitions:

• Delaina Kuzelka (Kenosha) — Irene Ryan Acting Competition semifinalist
• Elisebeth Sparks (Milwaukee) — Musical Theatre Intensive finalist
• Travis Siepl (Twin Lakes) — Stage Directors and Choreographers National Student Directing Fellowship finalist
• Lucero Martinez (Waukegan, Ill.) — Design, Technology, and Management Finalist for Sound Design for “As You Like It” by William Shakespeare (co-designed with Phil Wooding)
• Allison Hayes (Macon, Mo.) — Design, Technology, and Management Finalist for Sound Design for “The Wolves” by Sarah DeLappe

Parkside’s Theatre Arts faculty and Artistic Director Fabrice Conte-Williamson received the KCACTF Region 3 Faculty Service Award for the state of Wisconsin. 

Several UW-Parkside Theatre Department faculty members are also very involved with KCACTF. Associate Professor Misti Bradford serves as National KCACTF Vice-Chair of Design, Technology, and Management. Assistant Professor Rachael Swartz serves as Musical Theatre Initiative (MTI) Coordinator for KCACTF Region 3.