Katie Healy, daughter of Donald and Maureen Healy of Union City, along with 16 other students from Saint Michael’s College, participated in the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) held Jan. 25-30 in Fitchburg, Mass. The Festival was sponsored by Fitchburg State University and was held at nearby Sheraton and Marriott conference centers.
Healy, a senior theater major, graduated from Saint Dominic Academy before coming to Saint Michael’s, which is located in Burlington, Vermont, one of the top 10 college towns in America. The Saint Michael’s College contingent participated in workshops, seminars, productions, auditions, the Critics Institute, performances and tech construction.
Four Saint Michael’s students, Nathaniel Beliveau, Kit Rivers, Natalie Budnyk, and Katie Healy were nominated by regional respondents for outstanding acting in SMC productions of The Notebook of Trigorin and The Art of Dining. The nomination earned them the opportunity to audition with their acting partners, Katelyn Brisson, Jamie Deuell, Marla Caram and Abby Meachem in the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Auditions, along with some 300 acting students from other colleges and universities in New England at the Festival.
The entire ACTF program drew over 1,200 students and faculty for a week of seeing plays, networking, auditioning and interviewing for summer or professional work, learning about new theater technology, exploring opportunities beyond acting and design in such areas as writing, dramaturgy, criticism and stage management.
“Students get inspired at this Festival-they learn so much, and bring back wonderful enthusiasm to their theater education and to our college productions,” said SMC Professor Catherine Hurst, who accompanied the students.