UA Drama Students Advance To Regional Theater Festival Competition

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The University of Arkansas University Theatre production of Pterodactyls by Nicky Silver has been selected to compete in the Region VI Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival scheduled for February 21-26 at the University of Texas—Tyler. Region VI is comprised of schools in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas. The UA production was one of only seven chosen from a field of 81 competing college productions staged earlier this year to advance to the Region VI Festival.

"The American College Theatre Festival, which is in its 32^nd year, is supported by the Kennedy Center as an effort to showcase the best college theatre productions in the country," said Andrew Gibbs, chair of the drama department. "Equally important, though, is the opportunity the Festival provides for our student actors, critics, designers, and playwrights to test their skills against those of their peers and to reach a much wider audience."

When produced at the state level during the Arkansas College Theatre Festival in October 1999, Pterodactyls took the top awards. The production received the Director’s Choice and the Critic’s Choice Awards, as well as awards for scene design, costume design, lighting design, sound design, and ensemble acting. Two actors, Mark Smith of Jonesboro and Jennifer Smith of St. Louis, Missouri, were nominated for the Irene Ryan Acting Auditions, enabling them to compete for a spot during the national Irene Ryan Competition at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Chuck Gorden, assistant professor of drama, directed Pterodactyls. Scenery was designed by Michael Riha, associate professor, and costumes were designed by Patricia Martin, assistant professor. Laura Dowling, a junior drama major from Little Rock, was in charge of lighting design; Tony Lawson, a junior drama major from Malvern, handled sound design.

The cast included Mark Smith, first-year MFA student; Jeremy Shouldis and Jennifer Smith, second-year MFA students; Chris Fritzges, third-year MFA student from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Rebecca Brooksher, senior drama major from Lafayette, Louisiana. Stage manager was Ginger Gilmore, a graduate drama major from Longview, Texas. Eight additional students assisted in running the production.

About a seemingly normal, upper middle-class family, Pterodactyls offers a sarcastic and often funny look at family life and denial, Gibbs said. "Alcoholism, drug abuse, homosexuality, adultery, incest, child abuse, and suicide all mark the lives of this 'normal' family," said Gibbs. "The situation presents tremendous opportunities for actors as well as a bitingly ironic, often humorous but highly critical look at our inability to cope with reality."

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