WSU Students Participate in Kennedy Center Festival

By Communications staff, Washington State University
Elinor Gunn
Corey Roseberry
PULLMAN, Wash.– Elinor Gunn, a senior theatre major at Washington State University, and her stage partner Corey Roseberry, a senior hospitality business management major, participated in the 42nd annual Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF), held at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The festival showcases the nation’s finest student actors, who also competed for two Irene Ryan Acting Scholarships.

Each year 300 performers audition at eight regional festivals for the scholarship and the opportunity to perform at the national festival. Two performers and their partners from each region are selected to take part in the final competition at the Kennedy Cente

As the winner of the district seven regional competition, Gunn received a $500 scholarship and a week-long, expenses-paid trip to perform and compete at the festival, April 13 to April 17.

The top two groups at the festival received $3,000 Irene Ryan Acting scholarships and the chance to apply for summer fellowships at the Kennedy Center. While Gunn was not selected for one of the scholarships, the experience was still a valuable one.

“I feel like very few things in this life are more rewarding than being an actor and being able to see art created on a daily basis,” Gunn said. “It was such an honor to have made it to the Kennedy Center. I have come back with so much knowledge and appreciation.”

A resident of Auburn, Gunn was nominated by outside adjudicators for her role as “Heidi” in the WSU production of “The Heidi Chronicles,” that was performed in spring 2009.

“Elinor is a very versatile and excellent actress. She had a number of opportunities to take workshops and make connections at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. She has performed a number of leading roles for us and we are very proud of her,” said Laurilyn Harris, chair of WSU’s theatre and dance department.

KCACTF, a national theatre program and network of more than 600 academic institutions from across the country, honors excellence in university and college theatrical production and offers student artists recognition through awards and scholarships in playwriting, acting, criticism, directing and design at state, regional and national festivals.