“The Bible Women’s Project” wins national college festival awards
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After being selected for the northeast regional division of the Kennedy Center American Theatre College Festival (KCACTF), the theatre arts program’s original play “The Bible Women’s Project” went on to complete at the national KCACTF festival, which celebrates the top talent from eight regions across the country.
The national respondents from all eight regions met to discuss the productions submitted for consideration and gave “The Bible Women’s Project” three national awards: Citizen Artist Award, Distinguished Performance Ensemble and Distinguished Devised Play.
“I’ve been so proud of all our students all year long with the bold shows we’ve produced, but the vulnerability and risk-taking that ‘The Bible Women’s Project’ cast has to do on a regular basis when they perform this show makes me particularly humbled that they continue to give themselves to this work,” said Dr. Tara Brooke Watkins, assistant professor and coordinator of the theatre arts program.
The Citizen Artist Award, which is KCACTF’s top honor, recognizes programs in higher education using theatrical production to promote long-term societal impact through an artistic lens, to encourage empathetic exploration of the complex cultural and physical world, and to advocate for justice on campus and throughout the world.
According to Watkins, respondents were impressed that “The Bible Women’s Project” boldly challenged the structures of church and theater. “At the festival alone, they had to perform in back-to-back performances with very emotional post-show conversations with audience members,” she said. “Not only did they perform beautifully each time, but they held space for people to respond with their own challenging stories. Sometimes, they went into the audience and actually held people as they cried.”
Salve Regina students were also nominated for acting and musical theater categories. Anna Annese made it to the finals in musical theater at the regional festival and Nathan Nelson made it to the semifinals in acting.