By Elliot Boswellr
A University theater student took home top prize in the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival in Moscow, Idaho, and will advance to national competition in Washington D.C. Philip Orazio, a sophomore theater major, was given the Irene Ryan Award as one of the top two actors in the festival, and senior Brittney Harris advanced to the final round but failed to qualify for nationals.
"I was absolutely not expecting to win," Orazio said. "We were shocked."
Orazio is the third student in the last 10 years to make the cut for national competition, according to acting professor Mindi Logan, who is also KCACTF chair for the region.
"It's fantastic," Logan said. "This is such a valuable experience for students, to compete their peers and be formally adjudicated at a regional level."
Orazio and his partner, sophomore Danielle Larson, began as one of 150 regional participants and, as per festival rules, performed a dramatic three-minute scene from "Stonewater Rapture" for first round adjudication. (Larson's performance was not evaluated.) The pair advanced through to the second round of 32, where they performed two scenes in five minutes, one of which was taken from the comedy, "Love Is a Time of Day." Again, the two made it through to the third and final round of 16, where they performed another two scenes in five minutes, in addition to a one-minute monologue from Orazio.
"Usually you're done the first day so it ended up being quite intense the whole week," Orazio said. "I'd say we were practicing 50 percent of the time, but it was worth it when we won."
Larson, who was also partnered with Harris, corroborated Orazio's account.
"Philip was so great to work with because he found all the right scenes," she said. "I'm much better at being the partner, really."
This year's regional festival, which took place two weeks ago in conjunction with Northwest Drama Conference, played host to schools from Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, Alaska, Wyoming and Colorado, which fielded the other Irene Ryan Award winner, Erin Fried of Colorado State University. There are eight regions of competition nationwide.
"We didn't really expect to win," Larson said. "It's always such a crapshoot. And now mathematically, Phil is one of the two best collegiate actors in 12.5 percent of the nation."
The University experienced success in this year's festival outside of Orazio and Harris, however. Logan received the Horace Robinson Award for her extensive work with KCACTF, professor Jill Hoddick was recognized in a Faculty Excellence Certificate for her Costume Design and sophomore Connor Bond received an NWDC Musical Theatre Scholarship Honorable Mention.
National competition isn't until mid-April but Orazio and Larson are already under a bit of duress.
"We're both feeling a little pressure because we're so young," Orazio said. "But if we win it will be glorious."
