Theater programs at the Community School of the Arts and at John Brown University recently enjoyed success at two regional conferences.
CSA
The Community School of the Arts in Fort Smith was proud to send several students to the Arkansas State Thespian Festival.
The event offered more than 100 workshops with several guest artists from around the country. Workshops included acting, dancing, stage combat, puppetry, set design, and directing. Several theater professionals from around the country offered workshops on auditioning and getting into the theater and film business.
CSA Director of Theatre Cody Walls was awarded the Gail Burns Theatre Educator of the Year Award for the 2024 Festival. He was nominated by the students and chosen for this honor by a panel of judges.
One of the main events at Arkansas Thespian Festival is the Thespy competition. Thepsy Awards, named after Broadway's Tony Awards, gives students the opportunity to compete in a variety of singing, acting, and technical events. Aiden Hammonds, Psalm Yandell, Elizabeth Marine, Mylea Holmes, and Brooke Frost all received a superior rating for their performance in the Solo Musical Category. Drake Norris received a superior rating for his performance in the Solo Acting Category. Hannah Minor received an excellent rating for her performance in the Solo Musical Category. Emmy Justice and Ellie Grinnell each received an excellent rating for their performance in the Solo Acting Category. Maylie Martin received an excellent rating for her performance in the Solo Musical Theatre Dance Category. Sarah Goodman received an excellent rating in the Short Film Category.
In addition, CSA Students were awarded more than $57,000 to various universities around the country.
Students attending the festival were:
Fort Smith: Emmy Justice, Betsy Barr, Elizabeth Marine, Ellie Grinnell, Sarah Goodman, Maddy Cole, Mylea Holmes, Maylie Martin;
Alma: Drake Norris;
Greenwood: Aiden Hammonds, Hannah Minor, Jaycee McBride;
Muldrow, Okla.: Brooke Frost; and
Poteau, Okla.: Psalm Yandell.
JBU
Theater students at John Brown University in Siloam Springs were invited to the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Region 6 in February. The festival in Abilene, Texas, offered workshops, lectures and a chance to review productions from other colleges.
"We had a few select students who received some massive awards, rivaling large schools like Texas Tech and A&M," says JBU theater spokeswoman Mary Patterson.
Natasha Sakulyanonvitaya was named the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Regional Alternate. This award came with a $500 scholarship that she will use to pay for her spring break mission trip.
Tanner Zank won Outstanding Direction of a Ten-Minute Play Reading.
And Ella Fletcher was a finalist for Costume Design for her work on "The Play That Goes Wrong."
SNHU
Southern New Hampshire University congratulates the following students on being named to the fall 2023 Dean's List. The fall terms run from September to December.
Full-time undergraduate students who have earned a minimum grade-point average of 3.5 to 3.699 for the reporting term are named to the Dean's List. Included were:
Anthony Scotti of Harrison; Benjamin Schmidt of Fayetteville; Michael Wilson of Fayetteville; Aaron Doss of Fayetteville; Melany Cousins of Bentonville; Kimberly Anthony of Bentonville; Travis Koenig of Bentonville; Christin Swalve of Bella Vista; Julia Minnich of Centerton.
Keith Dachauer of Farmington; Bradley McDonald of Gentry; Jimmy Lopez of Lowell; Bryan Smyth of Rogers; Antoinette Bohanon of Fort Smith; Quatasha Medlock of Fort Smith; Tyler McDonald of Charleston.
Southern New Hampshire University is a private, nonprofit institution with a 91-year history of educating traditional-aged students and working adults. Now serving more than 225,000 learners worldwide, SNHU offers approximately 200 accredited undergraduate, graduate and certificate programs, available online and on its 300-acre campus in Manchester, N.H.
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UALR
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock has announced its fall 2023 Chancellor's List and Dean's List, both recognizing students with superior academic performance in a semester.
To be eligible for the Chancellor's List, students must earn at least nine credit hours and at least a 3.9 GPA. More than 630 UALR students were named to the Chancellor's List for the fall 2023 semester.
Local students included:
Mary Barker of Bella Vista; Robert Bartos of Berryville; Gillian Brooks of Springdale; Genesis Camargo of Springdale; Joyce Childers of Rogers; Abigail Gavina of Waldron; Emma Gulstad of Siloam Springs; Brandy Jackson of Cave Springs; Kenneth Phillips of Rogers; Ashantae Primes of Fayetteville.
Hunter Royal of Rogers; Stephanie Sandoval of Decatur; Abegail Sims of Waldron; Ashley Thomas of Bella Vista; Ariyana Tomlinson of Bentonville; Makyla Vaughan of Fayetteville; Robert Wilkerson of Van Buren; Bailey Williams of Van Buren.
To be on the Dean's List, students must earn at least nine credit hours and maintain at least a 3.5 GPA. More than 1,175 were listed for the fall semester.
Those students included:
Seth Adams of Fayetteville; Allison Andreassen of Fort Smith; Mary Barker of Bella Vista; Robert Bartos of Berryville; Gillian Brooks of Springdale; Tyler Burns of Van Buren; Genesis Camargo of Springdale; April Champlin of Fayetteville; Faith Childers of Rogers; Joyce Childers of Rogers.
Jessie Franklin of Booneville; Abigail Gavina of Waldron; Emma Gulstad of Siloam Springs; Eli Hartley of Hackett; Clare Hood of Springdale; Brandy Jackson of Cave Springs; Olivia Kierstead of Winslow; Lindsey Koch of Clarksville.
Joshua Pack of Barling; Andrew Pilcher of Siloam Springs; Hunter Royal of Rogers; Stephanie Sandoval of Decatur; Abegail Sims of Waldron; Samuel Stubbs of Centerton; Ethan Taylor of New Blaine; Mark Thiele of Fort Smith; Ashley Thomas of Bella Vista.
Ariyana Tomlinson of Bentonville; Makyla Vaughan of Fayetteville; Max Warford of Springdale; Jonathan Watson of Rogers; Tia Willhite of Lavaca.
UALR has about 9,000 students and offers 100 programs in Arkansas' capital city.
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John Brown University students excelled at the recent Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Region 6 in Abilene, Texas. (Courtesy Photo/Mary Patterson)