MSUM students shine at KCACTF

Fourteen MSUM University Theatre students recently attended the Region 5 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF) in Des Moines, Iowa. Students participated in several days of workshops and lectures, attended various performances, and competed in the Irene Ryan acting competition. 

More than 400 students began the acting competition with only 18 advancing to the final round, including MSUM students Christopher Knutson and Kali Klimek. Knutson was awarded the Voice and Speech Trainers Association for his exemplary work in this area.

Caleb Reich participated in the Musical Theatre Dance Intensive and was a featured soloist in “God, I Hope I Get It” from A Chorus Line. Joe Schwartz, Jeanna Zenze, Caleb Reich, and Emily Carlson received high accolades for their work in the Devised Theatre Project.

Started in 1969 by Roger L. Stevens, the Kennedy Center’s founding chairman, the Kennedy Center American College Theater (KCACTF) is a national theater program involving 18,000 students from colleges and universities nationwide which has served as a catalyst in improving the quality of college theater in the United States. The KCACTF has grown into a network of more than 600 academic institutions throughout the country, where theater departments and student artists showcase their work and receive outside assessment by KCACTF respondents.