Wofford Theatre’s fall 2018 production of “The Danube” was selected as one of four productions to represent the nine-state Southeast Region in the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. Wofford reprised the production of “The Danube” in the Rosalind Sallenger Richardson Center for the Arts for faculty, students and judges who participated in the festival, hosted by Wofford College, Converse College and USC Upstate, from Feb. 5-8, 2019.

“I know we’re doing good work,” says Dr. Mark Ferguson ’94, professor and director of the Wofford Theatre, “however, for the college and for our students, for the community at large to have external validation that we’re producing work on par with the best college theatre departments in the nation is nice.”

Dan Day, associate professor of theatre, directed “The Danube,” written by world-renowned playwright and director Maria Irene Fornes. Sets and costumes were designed by Colleen Ballance, associate professor of theatre, head of theatrical design and vice chair of the Wofford theatre department. J.K. Davis, production manager and assistant professor of theatre, designed lights and sound, and technical director David Kenworthy built the sets and provided technical support for the production.

In addition to the show’s nomination, four Wofford students were nominated for prestigious individual awards as part of the festival. Sammy Verdino ’21, a theatre major from Chapin, S.C., and Kevin Quis ’19, a history and theatre major from Lawrenceville, N.J., were selected to participate in the Irene Ryan acting competition, with support from scene partners Audrey Vail ’21 and Kathryn Whilden ’19. Matheson Wynnemer ’21, an international affairs and theatre major from Signal Mountain, Tenn., was nominated for a 10-minute original script she wrote for Ferguson’s playwriting class in the fall, and Whilden, a Spanish and theatre major from Myrtle Beach, S.C., was nominated for her work as stage manager of “The Danube."

“These honors are a testament to the quality of the faculty and the collaborative spirit of the department as well as the strong work of the students in the cast, the crew and the production team,” says Ferguson.

According to Ferguson, the department’s new space in the Rosalind Sallenger Richardson Center for the Arts continues to pay programmatic dividends. “It has allowed our technical capacity to catch up with our artistic ambitions,” he says. The new center’s state-of-the-art proscenium theatre and black box theatre both provided settings for shows, training sessions and individual competitions that took place during the festival, which brought hundreds of theatre students and faculty from across the region to Wofford’s campus.

The KCACTF started in 1969 and now involves more than 18,000 students from colleges and universities nationwide. It’s been a catalyst in improving the quality of college theater in the United States, giving students opportunities to develop their work in workshops and through focused critiques, to forge connections with theatre artists from across their regions and to receive recognition for excellence at the national level.

By Jo Ann Mitchell Brasington ’89