Getting Closer to Competition

Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship 411 The Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship audition is a competition for theatre students nominated to compete for a scholarship at the American College Theatre Festival. Students get nominated during one of each of the shows on the main stage of Allaert Auditorium by an adjudicator. This year the festival for Region V will be at the University of Omaha in Lincoln, Neb., Jan. 20-26. The competition has three parts. The preliminary round is done on the first day; every nominee gets 3 minutes to perform a scene with their scene partner. For the semi-final round a cut is made and only 64 teams continue. They then get five minutes to do their two scenes. After the semi-finals, the competition drops down to only 12 nominees. These nominees have six minutes in which to do two scenes with their partner and their solo piece which can be a monologue or a song. The winner of the competition receives a $500 scholarship and continues on to compete for the $3,000 scholarship at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

This year's lineup of Irene Ryan competitors

 

Grace Allen '12
Allen was chosen for her role as in Jobi "The Plagiarists." Allen has chosen Cody Johnson '13 as her partner. Allen will give an update as soon as she chooses her pieces.

Molly Conrad '14
Conrad was nominated for her role of Helena in last spring's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Conrad has selected Jonathan Smith '13 as her partner in the competition. Since we last heard from them Conrad and Smith have picked scenes from Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and Neil Simon's "Reasons to be Pretty." Conrad's final monologue is from the one act, "Cast Spell."

Kelsey Francis '13
First-year senior transfer student Francis was nominated for her role as Tourvel in this fall's production of "Les Liaisons Dangereuses." Francis has chosen Amanda Kochanny '13 as he scene partner. Francis and Kochanny are going to be performing scenes from Frank Galati's translation of "A Flea in her Ear" and Donald Margulies' "Time Stands Still." She still is searching for her perfect final monologue.

Cami Sackett '14
Sackett was nominated for her role of Nell in Samuel Beckett's play "End Game" at Kirkwood Community College. Sackett still is deciding on a partner but is looking to do a contemporary and a classical piece. For her classical piece she is looking to Shakespeare's "Richard III" or Moliere's "Tartuffe." Sackett hasn't completely decided on her final monologue, but right now she is favoring a monologue from "Serenading Louie," by Lanford Wilson.

Stephanie Seward '13
Seward was nominated for her portrayal of Titania in last spring's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Seward will be partnered by Johnson. Seward and Johnson are planning on doing a scene from Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure" and Neil Simon's "The Good Doctor." Seward is planning on singing "I Know the Truth" from Elton John and Tim Rice's "Aida."

Tony Stratton '12
Stratton was nominated for his role of Tony in "The Plagiarists." Stratton has selected Morgan Griffin '12 as his scene partner. They will be performing a scene from "Betrayal" by Harold Pinter and a comic selection from "Hard Candy" by Jonathan Rand. Stratton still is searching for the perfect monologue. He and Griffin have been working on getting their scenes cut to the right time for the competition.

Shannon Rourke '15
First-year student Rourke was nominated for her role of Merteuil in this fall's production of "Les Liaisons Dangereuses." Rourke has selected Kochanny as her scene partner. In the last month, Rourke and Kochanny have selected scenes from "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" and Richard Greenberg's "Eastern Standard," and Rourke is planning on her final monologue coming from Shakespeare's "Henry V."