With the final round of competition approaching the next morning, nerve-wracked acting major Dale Van Slyke realized his previously perfected monologue for the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) was too long. Van Slyke reached out to his trusted professor Shaheen Vaaz in the middle of the night and began to cut down his script.
Vaaz said the judges placed strict time constraints on contestants.
“It must’ve been pretty traumatic. The first person who went up, she got called on time,” Vaaz said. “My palms were sweating, I was sitting there with the team and nobody was timing Dale. We were freaking out.”
KCACTF hosts 18,000 students annually from colleges and universities nationwide and about 30 students from the LAPC Theatre department attended this year’s festival. The program strives to celebrate collegiate productions and hone students’ skills while encouraging professionalism.
The students were contenders in a variety of categories such as directing, acting and musical theater. Contestants also participated in behind-the-scenes work such as design, scenic design and stage management.
Though the event took place during the weekend of Feb. 16, Pierce’s theater program began preparing as early as the 2023 fall semester.
Theater Professor Shaheen Vaaz said students went through a lengthy creative process from choosing monologues to selecting musical pieces.
There were a lot of technical and skill improvements in the months leading up to the festival, but Vaaz said collaboration and mutual support also played a key role.
“It was so amazing that they had each other and they were so supportive and not competitive with each other,” Vaaz said. “We try to cultivate that in class and their work.”
Students were involved in on-the-spot rounds but KCACTF also chose four productions to be revived for the Region 8 presentations. Pierce College’s production of “Ironbound” was selected to be performed during this year’s festival.
This added another layer of difficulty during the prep process for students like Joshua Goulde, who had to balance monologue rehearsals along with the revival.
Vaaz said juggling several moving pieces proved to be challenging.
“We started with our winter class which was just hard-core heavy prep,” Vaaz said. “He was also rehearsing ‘Ironbound’ so he could only come to me one day a week. That was stressful.”
Once the festival began, students competed in three total rounds. Their ultimate goal was to make it to finals and walk away with a prize. Of the 16 students who proceeded through to finals, four students were Brahmas.
Pierce’s theater program collectively received three first-place awards and three honorable mentions within their respective categories.
Van Slyke received first place for Student Directing and the award for Classical Acting in the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship competition. In addition to the accolades, Van Slyke was given the opportunity to attend the National KCACTF festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, which will be held on April 21, 2024.
Van Slyke said it was a happy shock and very rewarding.
“They also gave me membership into the directing union,” Van Slyke said. “It’s almost as if they’re giving you a jump start for your career, which is invaluable in this field.”
Jordyn Kieffer, a recent winter 2023 graduate, received first place in the Design, Technology and Management program for her projection design of “RENT,” and was also given the Student Choice Award in the same category.
For Kieffer’s portion of the competition, she was required to create a poster and present a speech to a panel of judges. The preparation process for Kieffer differed from those of actors—instead of rehearsing monologues, she explored different ways to infuse aspects of characters into projections.
After the festival, Kieffer felt empowered in her talents and was also invited to the United States Institute for Theatre Technology, a tech theater convention in Seattle, Washington.
“I won,” Kieffer said. “That is just amazing connection building. It is better than winning a piece of paper, and to have access to these industry leaders is going to be a great opportunity for me.”
Pierce students received standing ovations for each of their performances and incredible responses from the judges, according to LAPC Theatre Managing Director Michael Sande.
