The Online Reflector

By Manny Casillas | Editorial Assistant

UIndy’s theatre department journeyed to Saginaw, Mich., over the holiday break to participate in the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. 

The festival, hosted by Saginaw Valley State University, invited the department to perform its production of Teresa Rebeck’s “Spike Heels”, which opened in December of 2008. 

This marks the second consecutive time the department has been invited to present a production at the festival. 

The department took its production of Neil LaBute’s “The Shape of Things” to last year’s festival, and its production of Samuel Beckett’s “Endgame”. 

“I’m extremely proud of all of our students, faculty and staff , because they represented the university and the department in an outstanding way,” said Jim Ream, chair of the theatre department.

“Spike Heels”was invited as a participating production, meaning it was eligible to be considered for the national competition.

The schedule for the “Spike Heels” performance included a 4 hour load-in that Friday evening, and three consecutive performances that Saturday at 9 a.m., noon and 4 p.m.

“I think our week in Saginaw at the festival was extremely successful,” said Brad Wright, associate professor and director of theatre at UIndy. “In terms of “Spike Heels”, it was a brutal schedule. We had our load-in [of the set] on Friday evening, and performances the next morning. [But] it was a hit with festival audiences.”

 

“Spike Heels” was not the only story to come out of Saginaw. UIndy theatre student Stephanie Kucsera participated in the Barbizon Design competition for Theatrical Design. 

Kucsera was awarded first place for her costume design for UIndy’s production of “Into The Woods”. She is the first designer from the department to compete in the national competition. She displayed a few of her pieces from “Into The Woods’”for the festival’s costume parade.

“[I was] shocked. When it was announced, I just sat in my chair and covered my mouth. To me it was unreal; it’s still kind of unreal. Going into it I didn’t expect anything—I didn’t expect to win” Kucsera said.

The department also claimed a certificate of merit from the festival for Cast Ensemble for “Into The Woods”.

“It’s just fantastic that Stephanie won the costume design competition for the region. We’ll be going to The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. She made it the elite eight, one of eight people competing in Washington,” Ream said. “I think sometimes she doesn’t realize how good she is.”

 

Student Alex Oberheide also claimed a spot as one of the finalists for the Irene Ryan Acting Competition, a nomination he claimed from UIndy’s production of ‘Hedda Gabler’. 

 

“It’s an honor,” Oberheide said, “It’s out of so many really good actors in the region. It’s nice to make it to the top 16. You can hold your head up high after that.”

Currently, the department is at work on its latest dinner theatre production, ‘Leading Ladies’, set to open Feb. 20.