UW-Green Bay Students Earn Top Honors at Regional Theater Festival

Twenty-three University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Theatre students traveled to Flint, Michigan in January to compete in the Region III Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. Several of the students took top honors.

UW-Green Bay Junior, Alyssa Rettke was named the winner of the National Playwriting Program John Cauble One Act Play competition, and her play will represent the region for consideration to advance to the national level.

Senior, Jasmine Christyne – and Junior, Audrey Soberg made it to the semi-final round in dance in the Musical Theatre Intensive competition, and 2022 Graduate, Chase Grabowski, took first place in the Musical Theatre Intensive in vocals. As the winner, Chase received a scholarship to attend an intensive program at Open Jar in New York City. Chase will also be representing the region at the national competition.

Junior, Ally Swigert, was chosen by her peers from across the region to serve on the Regional Student Council. As a member of the council, Swigert will attend meetings and work to develop opportunities for student education and a support system for theatre students across the region. 

Seniors, Alax Stylinson and Kenny Thompson – as well as Sophomore, Carter Bauer joined with two students from other universities to form a design team and compete in the Design Storm competition. The competition challenges students to put together design concepts for a script that is provided at the beginning of the festival. Students then have three days to develop their design concepts before presenting them to a panel of judges. Due to unforeseen circumstances, the UW-Green Bay team only had two days to develop their designs. Despite missing one day of work, the team took Honorable Mention. 

According to Associate Professor Thomas Campbell, chair of Theatre and Dance at UW-Green Bay, the theatre students had a strong and well-received presence throughout the festival. Campbell stated, “Our students did remarkable work. In all categories and all aspects, they dove in, took risks, and showed their talent and professionalism. We could not be more proud of their work!”