Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 29, 2009
The Kennedy Center Announces The Tenth Annual William R. Kenan, Jr.
Performing Arts Fellowship Program
in association withThe University of North Carolina School for the Arts
and supported by The William R. Kenan, Jr. Fund for the Arts
Four UNCSA Graduates Selected for Intensive Full-Term Production and Directing Residency
One Student Selected for Limited-Term Fellowship
WASHINGTON, D.C ─ The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has partnered with the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) for the tenth year of the William R. Kenan, Jr. Performing Arts Fellowship Program, established by the William R. Kenan, Jr. Fund for the Arts. One sound designer, one lighting designer, one set designer, and one director ─all graduates of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts— will spend up to nine months in residence from September to May, working on Kennedy Center and DC-Metro area productions.
2009-2010 Kenan Fellows will be offered a wide variety of professional experiences geared to developing their design and directing skills. Ryan J. Gastelum is currently working in sound design at The Kennedy Center and in the Washington, D.C. community. Some of Ryan’s regional credits include Ordinary Days (Adirondack Theatre Festival), A Year With Frog and Toad (Children’s Theatre of Charlotte), Sleuth (Triad Stage), The Tempest (Shakespeare Santa Cruz), Eclipsed (Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Assistant Sound Designer), and Ion (Shakespeare Theatre Company, Assistant to the Composer). Mollye Maxner is acting as assistant director on two Kennedy Center Theater for Young Audiences productions, as well as on the Forum Theater’s production of Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, with Jeremy Skidmore as director. She is the Artistic Director of Kicking Pig Productions, and her choreographic work has been performed in countries all over the world including Turkey, Taiwan, the Republic of Georgia, and the United States. Paola Rodriguez is currently working in lighting design in the Washington, D.C. community. She served as a lighting design assistant at Cincinnati Opera, working on their “Spanish” season of The Marriage of Figaro, Don Carlos, Ainadamar, and Carmen. She also designed the main stage UNCSA productions of Winter Dance Concert 09, Henry IV and The Seagull. Ryan Wineinger will be designing projections and assisting set designer Kat Conley for the Kennedy Center’s spring production of Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical written by Mo Willems with music by Michael Silversher. He will also design The Hub Theatre’s spring production of The Boy in the Bathroom. He is a founding member and set designer for No Rules Theatre Company, a new company dedicated to honest, accessible theater experiences for Washington D.C.’s diverse audience.
Limited term fellows are recipients of previous Kenan Fellowships and are University of North Carolina School of the Arts alumni. They are invited to work on short-term projects for the 2009-2010 season. Bo Roddie joins the program as a limited term fellow for Fall 2009, playing Belize in Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and Perestroika, in rotating repertory, for Forum Theatre. He played the title roles in the UNCSA productions of Othello and Kid Champion, Caesar Wilkes in Gem of the Ocean, Valentine in Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Pale in Burn This, among other roles. At the Roanoke Island Festival Park, he appeared in The Comedy of Errors, Take One Step and Red, White and Blue Revue.
Weekly master classes and seminars specifically geared to the needs of each Kenan Fellow are arranged with the actors, directors, and playwrights involved in the Kennedy Center’s 2009-2010 season productions.
The William R. Kenan, Jr. Fund for the Arts
The William R. Kenan, Jr. Fund for the Arts is a grant-making organization that fosters, encourages and supports organizations throughout the United States dedicated to the enrichment and development of the arts and cultural life of this democratic society. The Fund seeks to discover and encourage creative talent, to preserve the nation’s cultural heritage and to support significant efforts to bring art, music, theatre and dance into the lives of all citizens.
The University of North Carolina School of the Arts
The University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA), an internationally renowned arts conservatory, is the first state-supported, residential school of its kind in the world. Established by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1963, the North Carolina School of the Arts became part of the University of North Carolina in 1972. Students ranging in age from junior high through graduate school train for professional careers in the arts in five schools: Dance, Design & Production (including a Visual Arts Program), Drama, Filmmaking and Music. With its full academic program, the School is accredited to award the high school diploma, the College Arts Diploma, bachelor’s and master’s degrees. More than 1,000 students are enrolled annually, and each must audition or interview for admission.
Specifically, the School of Drama offers a high school program for 12th-graders, culminating with the high school diploma, and a four-year professional actor-training program, leading to a college degree.
Each of the invited students studies with the Dean of the UNCSA School of Drama, Gerald Freedman, former Artistic Director of the New York Shakespeare and Great Lakes Theatre Festivals. Freeman was also the first American invited to direct at the New Globe Theatre in London.
The Kennedy Center Education Department
Since its establishment in 1972, the Kennedy Center’s Education Department believes the inclusion of the performing arts in a broad-based curriculum improves the quality of a child’s educational experience. The Kennedy Center’s Education Department is committed to its leadership role in promoting higher standards on national performing arts education programs and policy.
For more information on the Kennedy Center, please visit www.kennedy-center.org.
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