Writing Students Sweep Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival

At the Region IV Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF) in Daytona Beach, all five MFA students in the Film School’s Stage and Screen Writing program who participated in the competition won awards.

“FSU completely swept the playwriting awards and the entire festival was abuzz about the extraordinary success of our writers,” said Sheri Wilner, visiting assistant professor of playwriting in the School of Theatre. 

Writing students in the Film School’s MFA program learn to write for both the screen and the stage, in a partnership between the Film School and the School of Theatre. Their playwriting talents and skills were heralded by the KCACTF, a national theater program boasting more than 600 academic institutions throughout the country, where theater departments and student artists showcase their work and receive recognition.

Five writing students competed in the One–Act Play and Ten-Minute Play competitions. The Ten-Minute Play Award included six nominees, but FSU dominated the competition as students Kristin Hornsby and Adam Groff shared the top spot, co–winning the event for their original works “Turn Left” and “Nancies.” Rachel Gleicher took the top prize in the One–Act Play Competition for her play “Moving Along,” and Alexandra Landers was selected as Runner–Up/Alternate. The kudos continued as Rebekah Suellau won the New Play Directing Award.

“We are so proud of our writing students and their much-deserved awards,” said Dean Frank Patterson. “They are a talented group."

The ten-minute plays by Hornsby, Gleicher and Groff will be entered into a national pool of 16 regional winners who will compete for an opportunity to have their plays produced at the National ACTF Conference, held at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Gleicher’s one-act play will be fully produced at next year’s Region IV ACTF Conference.

Several of the winning plays will be produced as part of the School of Theatre’s New Horizons: Original Works Festival in April.