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American College Theater Festival

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About the Program

Artists:

American College Theater Festival

The best of American college-level theater is showcased at the Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater and Theater Lab during this national festival celebrating educational theater excellence.
Visit the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival website for additional information.

MONDAY, APRIL 12, 7:30pm and TUESDAY, APRIL 13, 11am
KENNEDY CENTER THEATER LAB (1 hr. 50 min.)
The David Mark Cohen Playwriting Award- Second Place (tie)
A PLAGUE OF ANGELS
By Mark St. Germain, University of Evansville
The story of Mary Mallon, better known as "Typhoid Mary" and her struggle with the Public Health system of New York City. It is an exploration of the clash between individual and public rights that continues in ethical issues of medicine today. Beginning in 1909 when the City of New York shifted all responsibility of "releasing" Mary Mallon from her incarceration in Riverside Hospital on North Brother Island onto the shoulders of the doctors treating her. Mary would be released only when she was "cured" and of no future danger to anyone. But since Mary refused to accept the concept of "germs" and her own responsibility in causing deaths in the families she cooked for, the doctors and the stubborn immigrant woman were at loggerheads. The play explores the relationship between the Doctors, Mary and Father Michael McKuen, a young priest trying to teach Mary about the Bible but, instead, learning from her.

MONDAY, APRIL 12 and TUESDAY, APRIL 13, 7:30pm
KENNEDY CENTER TERRACE THEATER (1 hr. 15 min.)
Recommended for mature audiences only.
BURIED
Conceived by Colette Searls, University of Maryland-Baltimore County
An original puppet performance about the casualties of war mixing actors with animated objects and humanoid puppets. Buried takes us into a world where spirits enter objects, long-scattered bones rejoin, and abandoned possessions reach out to the living.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14 and THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 7:30pm
KENNEDY CENTER TERRACE THEATER (2 Hrs. 40 min.)
Recommended for mature audiences only.
The National Student Playwriting Award, The Mark Twain Prize for Comic Playwriting, The David Mark Cohen Playwriting Award- Second Place (tie) and The KCACTF Musical Theatre Award
GOOD MORNING ATHENS: A ROCK MUSICAL
Book, Music and Lyrics by Sean Keogh, University of Wyoming
At Cassandra and Makareus' wedding, everyone has high hopes for the bride and groom until General Tantalos and his Second, Jason, put a damper on the celebration by drafting Makareus and the groomsmen. It's up to their wives, Lysistrata and Medea, to get themselves on Aristophanes' daytime talk show, "Good Morning Athens," and stage a nationally televised battle for love, peace, and the big O. Characters from Ancient Greek Classics unite with historians, playwrights, muses, and celebrities of the old world in this war torn socio-political satire where no television, religion, or happy ending is safe.

FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 7:30pm
KENNEDY CENTER TERRACE THEATER
KCACTF AWARDS NIGHT and the IRENE RYAN EVENING OF SCENES

SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 12:30pm
KENNEDY CENTER THEATER LAB (1 hr. 10 min.)
Recommended for mature audiences only.
DANNY AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA
By John Patrick Shanley, University of Texas-El Paso
An explosive, deeply affecting study of alienation and the redemptive power of love. The setting is a rundown bar in the Bronx, where two of society's rejects, Danny and Roberta, strike up a halting conversation over their beer. He is a brooding, self-loathing young man who resorts more to violence than reason; she is a divorced, guilt-ridden young woman whose troubled teenage son is now being cared for by her parents. As their initial reserve begins to melt, and they decide to spend the night together, the possibility of a genuine and meaningful relationship begins to emerge—the first for both of them. In the end there are no facile, easy answers, but thanks to the playwright's skill and compassion, both characters are able to probe within themselves to find an exorcism and forgiveness that, while painfully achieved, offers the hope of a future touched, at last, with more than the bitterness and loneliness that had been their lot before their fateful meeting.
"...the play is the equivalent of sitting at ringside watching a prize fight that concludes in a loving embrace." —NY Times.
"...a funny, frightening, hypnotically fascinating evening of theatre..." —Drama-Logue.

SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 2pm
KENNEDY CENTER THEATER LAB
THE SIXTH KCACTF TEN-MINUTE PLAY FESTIVAL

STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN by Gregory Fletcher , Boston University
A SAD SONG by Anna Ziegler, New York University-Tisch School of the Arts
WHO IS RUTH? by Matthew J. Hanson, Beloit College
HAROLD AND HERMAN MET ON A FALL AFTERNOON by Austin Sanders, Middle Tennessee State University
THE STORY OF IZANAGI AND IZANAMI by Kristen Wirsig, English Alternative Theatre at the University of Kansas
BREAKFAST WITH FRED AND ETHEL by Benjamin Lutz, Southern Methodist University
BUTTERCUP by Delondra Johnson, Central Washington University
THE FIRST PAGE by Jan Probst, San Francisco State University

SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 7:30pm and SUNDAY, APRIL 18, 2pm
TERRACE THEATER
The Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award supported by VSA arts
The John Cauble Award for Best Short Play
QUID PRO QUO (1 hour)
By Garrett Zuercher, Marquette University
The play chronicles the relationship between two college students, Lucas (who is deaf) and Lindsey (who is not). With a "magical realist" twist, this is a warm, often funny but hard-hitting look at being deaf in a hearing world. The actors on stage use only sign language as two other actors speak the lines off-stage.

with
Margolis Brown Company's
THE HUMAN SHOW (45 minutes)
University of Nevada-Las Vegas
It is a minute before midnight and twelve people find themselves dressed for a party with nowhere to go. Connected by circumstance, they discover a place where a minute lasts a lifetime—a place with no address, no host and no exits. This unlikely group of characters can only rely on their intuition as they navigate through a sea of interactions and unexpected happenings, which in the end—are all of their own making. Through the lens of absurdist text, bold dramatic choreography, and multimedia magic THE HUMAN SHOW takes a twisted sociological look at what makes us who we are. This exciting original ensemble work was developed with award-winning director/ playwright Kari Margolis, the Margolis Brown ensemble and twelve exceptional students from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' theater and dance programs. THE HUMAN SHOW promises to be an evening of unforgettable, provocative and often hilarious theater.

SUNDAY, APRIL 18, 4:30 TO 6 P.M., Terrace Theater
KCACTF is going to host a celebration of the life of DAVEY MARLIN-JONES. It will be followed by a "mingling" opportunity in the Terrace Gallery for Family and Friends. DAVEY MARLIN-JONES was a member of the College of Fellows of the American Theater and a major contributor to the KCACTF National Playwriting Program. Mr. Jones was a director-professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, and was the first artistic director of the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, died March 2 in Las Vegas.

This schedule is subject to change

All events and artists subject to change without prior notice.

Group of 20 or more? Group Sales offers special terms and discounts for most performances.

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