Just in time for the start of the Spring Term, Hollins will overflow with campus guests from all across the Southern US. This year, Hollins University has the honor of hosting the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF). Hollins has been granted this opporunity after garnering multiple Kennedy Center awards last year, including the National Partners of the American Theatre Playwriting Award for the script of Decision Height, written by Meredith Levy, class of 2012. Decision Height was re-staged this past month, in part because the hosting school for KCACTF always stages a show for the festival, and Hollins’ January Short Term worked perfectly as a rehearsal period in preparation for the festival.
The festival, which will run at Hollins from February 4th to the 8th (although the 4th is reserved for setup and orientation), will feature a wide variety of events that showcase the work that American college students are completeing in the theatrical realm. Performances will be held each night of the festival, and the daytime schedule is filled with workshops, interviews, and expositions on all elements of theatre, from auditions, to set and costume design and more.
KCACTF is sure to take Hollins by storm–many students are arriving on campus right now, some for the first time. The festival will open only days after Spring Orientation and RA training, and students new and old are likely going to have some difficulty settling into the new routine of the semester when campus is twice as densely populated as normal.
Despite projected campus conjestion, the Hollins community is looking forward to the Kennedy Center Festival. As the Hollins theatre program gains more national recognition, events like KCACTF are sure to help it remain one of the top twenty college theatre programs in the country.