Purdue News

January 14, 2000 Theater company brings home top technical prize WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – A Purdue University theater company comprised of graduate and undergraduate students, along with faculty and staff, captured the top technical award at the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival Region III on Saturday (1/8) in Milwaukee. The Golden Hand Truck Award was bestowed upon the entire Purdue Theatre contingent at an awards ceremony in the historic Pabst Theatre. The award recognizes the best load-in and strike of a production in the festival's showcase. Pabst Theatre Technical Director Bob Zenoni and his crew judged the competition. Each production in the showcase had a four-hour window in which to load in its set and a one-hour window to strike. Companies were judged for efficiency, innovation, safety and politeness. The Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival selected Purdue Theatre's "The Gut Girls" for its Region III competition. The production played to a house of 1,200 patrons on Thursday, Jan. 6, in the Pabst Theatre. "Participating in the ACTF Regional Festival was a wonderful experience for Purdue Theatre," said Russ Jones, chairman of the Theatre Division. "I'm very pleased that the entire company was recognized for its hard work and excellent performance. It is a tribute to all of those present who came together and worked so well to achieve our common goal. Our students represented Purdue in an excellent fashion. I am most grateful to Department and Visual and Performing Arts Head David Sigman and to School of Liberal Arts Dean Margaret Rowe for their support of our participation." Two students were recognized in individual competitions as well. Kristina Tollefson of Huron, S.D., a third-year master of fine arts candidate in production design and technology, received honorable mention in the Barbizon Award for Theatrical Design Excellence competition for her costume design for "The Gut Girls." She also received honorable mention in the Design 2000 competition for non-produced costume design. Her brother, Jason Tollefson, a third-year master of fine arts candidate in production design and technology, received honorable mention for his lighting design for "The Gut Girls" in the Barbizon Award for Theatrical Design Excellence competition. KC/ACTF is a national theater education program, which aims to identify and promote quality in college-level theater production. Regional festival productions are seen by a national selection team, chosen by the Kennedy Center and the KC/ACTF national committee. The panel selects four to six of the best and most diverse regional festival productions to be showcased in the spring at the annual national festival at the Kennedy Center. Schools from Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin comprise KC/ACTF Region III. "The Gut Girls" played in Purdue's Experimental Theatre Nov. 11-21. Kristine Holtvedt, associate professor of theater, directed the production. CONTACT: Lori Sparger, Purdue Theatre publicist, (765) 494-3084, theatre@purdue.edu To the Purdue News and Photos Page