Dynasty in the making for SAU Theatre

Feb. 10, 2005
By Keith Claussen
Online Editor

Every January, a select group of members from the St. Ambrose theatre department makes the trek to the American College Theater Festival.  The trip is usually a several hour drive in rental vans, but this year’s trip turned out once again to be worth the effort and the wait.

For the second time in three years, an SAU student has taken top honors at the regional level.  Dan Sheridan won the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship on Jan. 12, in St. Louis where the festival was held.

Sheridan is no stranger to the stage. As a theatre major, he has acted in and directed several shows here at SAU and in theaters in the surrounding area. He spent this past fall semester studying abroad at the University of London.

The festival takes place every year, with each region holding its own festival. The country is divided up into eight different regions with about 300 students performing for two Irene Ryan nominations to perform at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.

Ryan, for whom the scholarship is named after, played “Granny” from the television show The Beverly Hillbillies. The two regional nominees win some scholarship money for further studies, with two fellowships consisting of $2,500, also going towards education, but not necessarily limited to theater.

“It’s not necessarily so much about the money as much as it is about the prestige of the award,” Sheridan said.  “Just getting to go the Kennedy Center is a huge honor.”

Sheridan is not the only person from SAU to win this honor. Dan Hale won the same award in 2003.

“It was an honor when Dan Hale did it, it’s an honor now that I get to do it," Sheridan said.

During the national festival, Sheridan and the other nominees from across the country will participate in weeklong workshops, starting April 18, in Washington D.C.  The competition and announcement of the two fellowship winners will take place on April 24.

All of the participants at the festival go through a nomination process based on their onstage performance. The department pays a fee of $250 for a respondent, or professor, from a neighboring state or school to critique the show.  The respondent then chooses two individuals that gave an exceptional performance. Those nominees then go on to perform at the annual regional festival.

The scholarship was not the only award or recognition earned at the festival.  Brian Golden, Sheridan’s acting partner in his performances, won the TVI Actor’s Studio Scholarship.

In addition, Dr. Corrine Johnson, a professor in the theater department, was nominated for the National Festival Faculty Fellowship award for her coaching and directing of the students.

The nomination committee does not look at the professor directly, but rather critiques and rates the success of their students.   “I think they almost exclusively look at the work my students have done, or our students,” said Johnson.

As far as understanding these achievements, however, some are afraid not everyone on campus may realize the importance or achievement received at the festival.

Kris Eitrheim, the theater department chair, fears that the achievements made by the students will go unnoticed.  In order to keep programs and degrees going here at SAU, there has to be students to participate and professors to cultivate the learning process. He hopes to use these recent achievements

to recruit new students and keep the theatre program running.

“The problem, of course, is when the football team goes to the championship game, everyone knows what that means," said Eitrheim.   "But when St. Ambrose goes to the American College Theater Festival, and does well, that does not necessarily have the same kind of automatic recognition."  Eitrheim hopes to have more participation with the arts and theatre here on campus.

“This is the Super Bowl for us,” Eitrheim said.

Johnson saw the overwhelming odds Sheridan overcame because of the wide variety of talent and number of students at the festival. The annual competition averages about 75 schools each year, bringing students to perform and win scholarships.

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