University News

Nick Vienna as Joe in "Angels In America, Part 1" 2003
[Download Print-Quality Image]

Western MFA Student to Kennedy Center for National Acting Competition

January 23, 2006

Share |
Printer friendly version

MACOMB, IL - - Nick Viane (Galesburg, IL), a second year MFA student in Western Illinois University’s theatre and dance department, will be among 16 collegians nationwide competing for the prestigious Irene Ryan Acting Scholarships at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. in April.

Viane, who performs under his professional name Nick Vienna, received one of two regional nominations for the Ryan Acting Scholarships at the 38th annual Great Lakes Region Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF) held Jan. 10-15 at Illinois State University.

Some 350 actors nominated for the Ryan Scholarships plus their acting partners participated in the Region III Festival, which included workshops, competitions and productions for students from universities and colleges in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Finalist Vienna, with his acting partner Christian Krauspe (Elburn, IL), a WIU senior theatre major, now advance to the KCACTF National Festival April 17-23, along with Region III finalist Matt Renskers from Ball State University and 14 other actors - - two from each of seven other regions. Each finalist performs with an acting partner.

“Student successes at regional ACTF competitions demonstrates the quality of talent we have studying and teaching in our theatre programs. I am pleased and happy for Nick Viane and wish him much success at the Kennedy Center in the national competition,” said Paul Kreider, dean of Western’s College of Fine Arts and Communication. “Nick is a versatile actor with excellent skills. I am confident that he will represent Western extremely well.”

Irene Ryan, the actress who played the feisty Granny on the television show "Beverly Hillbillies," left an endowment to the Kennedy Center to promote college acting. Scholarships have been awarded in her name to outstanding student performers since 1972.

“This is the greatest honor that has ever been bestowed upon me in my academic or professional life,” Vienna said. “And it is certainly a shared award; shared between myself, my partner Christian, the entire theatre and dance department and our amazing, committed faculty, and all of the alums who have gone through here. I am so thrilled to be representing this exceptional department and this school.”

“It is truly a spectacular opportunity and speaks well of the whole department,” said Bill Kincaid, head of acting at Western. “Nick is a diligent and committed actor with the ability to bring his emotional life meaningfully to his onstage work. I know he will represent our department and our college exceptionally well in the national competition, helping to draw wider attention to the great things that are going on in WIU’s department of theatre and dance.”

Vienna and Krauspe are the first Western Illinois students to advance to the National Festival since 1986, when Shawn Durr (B.A. Theatre 1987) was a Ryan candidate and Michael Boatman, a 1997 Alumni Achievement Award winner, was his acting partner. Boatman, a versatile actor with credits in television, film and theatre, returned to Western last fall to share an afternoon of insight and ideas with theatre students.

“I was one of eight students who got to work one-on-one with Michael,” Vienna said. “It was a real thrill. I’ve always felt a kinship with him because of the WIU connection. Notes that he gave me on the monologue that I did that day I incorporated at this year’s ACTF - - and look what happened. It was one of the coolest experiences of my professional life, probably only second to the Ryan nomination. I keep a picture of him and me on my desk at school to remind me of what’s possible with hard work and a bit of luck.”

Vienna, a 2001 B.A. theatre graduate of Western, has been to the Great Lakes Region Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival each of his undergraduate and graduate years. He had advanced to the 2000 regional finals as an acting partner.

Western had a total of nine Irene Ryan nominees, plus their acting partners, in the KCACTF Region III competition, for which Western Illinois adjunct professor of theatre Michael Swanson serves as chair and overall coordinator. MFA students Melody Betts (Chicago) and her acting partner Kelli Crump (Holly, MI) advanced to the finals; and MFA student Jen Drew (Knoxville, IL) and her partner Tristan Tapscott (Hampton, IL), a senior music theatre major, advanced to semifinals.

Others acting teams included nominee MFA student Ben Cole (Michigan) and his partner MFA student Erin Roe (Martinville, IN); nominee Eileen O’Connor (Evergreen Park, IL), a junior musical theatre major, and partner Sam Weller (St. Louis, MO), a junior theatre major; nominee Alison Gritz (Fairfield, IA), a senior musical theatre major, and partner Holly Weikal (Woodstock, IL), a junior theatre major; nominee Maren Lundgren (Rockford, IL), a sophomore theatre major, and partner Drew Kopas (Cleveland, OH), an MFA student; nominee MFA student Sheridan Essman (Jonesboro, AR); and nominee MFA student Sheryl Tucker (Hoover, AL) and partner Beth Edelstein (Geln Ellyn, IL), a senior journalism major.

Four students participated in design competitions at the regional festival.

Graduate student David Makuch (Ohio) was entered into the lighting design competition for “The Three Penny Opera,” “The Seagull” and “Henry IV, Part I;”

Freshman management major Jacob Schenk (Rockton, IL) was in sound design for “The Skin of Our Teeth;” and

Graduate student Jada Hoskins (Chicago) was entered into costume design for “The Seagull” with senior Sarah Morrison (Carthage, IL) entered for “Blithe Spirit.”

MFA students Jess Griffith (Indiana) and Ben Cole (Michigan) led a workshop about graduate school; Assistant Professor Carolyn Blackinton led a workshop on “Acting for the Camera;” Assistant Professor DC Wright led a “Stage Combat” workshop, assisted by Griffith; and Donna Hare, theatre and dance secretary, lead a “Monologues” workshop, assisted by graduate student Lou Hare (Rock Island, IL).

Western Illinois President Al Goldfarb, a theatre history professor and former provost at Illinois State, served as a respondent at the festival.


Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
Office of University Communications & Marketing