Going to the playoffs – as an actor

By Kirstie Hettinga
The Collegian

Fresno State actors prepped this Sunday for the playoff series of collegiate level acting.

The Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival is an eight region competition in which participating actors and nominated shows have the chance to compete for a slot in the final round in Washington D.C.

Each actor is chosen for his or her work in a show from the past University Theatre season. Fresno State will students compete against actors from Nevada, Utah and Arizona. This year’s regional competition will be held Feb. 14-18 at Southern Utah University.

Sixteen students from Fresno State were nominated to participate in the Irene Ryan competition.

Brad Myers, a Fresno State theatre professor and past KCACTF regional chair, said for each show one actor is selected by the director while as many as two more may be chosen by a respondent. Respondents are usually professors from other campuses within the region.

Competing actors choose a monologue and two scenes to be perform with a partner to form a package that may be no longer than six minutes.

Myers said the individual competition is specific and the judges are looking for a particular kind of acting.

He also said the scenes actors choose to do is important to the actors’ chances of advancement.

“It’s material that they make special when they step into the roles, rather than here is another person doing this role the way everyone thinks it is supposed to be done,” Myers said.

While a single actor is being showcased, he or she is in part dependent on another actor. Nominees must pick a partner who will perform in the scenes with them. When choosing a partner Myers recommends actors choose a partner who compliments their acting style.

“The importance of that connection between the two actors is really crucial,” Myers said. “Somebody with whom you have a chemistry is really important. Somebody who has some diversity in their range.”

Myers said the best acting seen in the competition often comes from the partners who are competing for fellow actors rather than for themselves.

“They’re there to give, they’re there to share, they’re there to connect and all of those qualities to essential to connect sometimes get overlooked by the nominee,” Myers said.

Kris Cadieux knows what it means to be a good partner. At last year’s competition he won “Best Partner.”

Cadieux and his competing actor, Blake Ellis, won the regional competition and advanced to the finals in D.C.

This year Cadieux was nominated for the Experimental Theatre Company’s “The Fez,” but has chosen to forfeit his nomination to attend as a partner once again. He said an important part of the competition for him is getting the chance to work with people you might not otherwise get the chance to work with.

For this cometition Cadieux is partnering with Brandon Petrie, who holds the record for advancing to the regional finals the most times. Petrie has advanced to the regional finals four times.

When he went to KCACTF last year, Cadieux said he had no expectations. He described winning regionals as a complete shock.

Because of the combined past accomplishments of Cadieux and Petrie, Cadieux said there is going to be a general expectation for them to do well. But despite the expectation, Cadiuex is not nervous.

“For me this competition is about doing the best work that you can possibly do,” he said.

Not all actors who are attending this year are seasoned veterans like Petrie and Cadieux. Adam Schroeder is partnering with Danielle Jorn, who was nominated for her work in “The Misanthrope.” It is the first time attending the festival for both actors. The scenes they will present are from “The House of Yes” and “Born Yesterday.” They chose their scenes through the recommendations of Brad Myers.

“I am pumped,” Schroeder said, “I am excited to be around competition.”

Schroeder said he expects to gain experience from the festival. A part of that experience will come from viewing the work of other participating actors from all across the region.

At this Sunday’s preview the variety of competition could be seen among the participating students from Fresno State.

Scenes that were featured came from a broad range of styles and authors. Actors used scenes from Shakespeare and from rising new authors, like Booker Gordon. Gordon’s “Hi, I’m God, What the Hell Did You Do to My World?” will be presented by Jay Felix, who was also nominated for “The Misanthrope.”

The acting itself fluctuated between the more formal acting of Shakespeare and a vigorously physical version of “The Dispute,” which was part of James Hume’s package.

The variation of the actor’s works shows breadth of training an actor can get at Fresno State. Brad Myers said the consistency of achievement of actors from Fresno State exemplifies the strength of training that actors are getting on campus.

“We’ve got to be making them respected and wanted outside of these walls,” Myers said.

Fresno State has been to D.C. several times. Myers directed “Indulgences in the Louisville Harem” at Fresno State, which went to D.C. as a participating show.

Other actors from Fresno State have been alternates to finals, including Daniel Moore and Brent Tubbs in the last two years.

Like any athlete, the actors who are heading for regionals have been practicing and honing their craft.

Mike Oldham has been to KCACTF several times. This year he was nominated for his work in “Henry IV, part I” and “Proof.” He hopes to make it at least the semifinals in regionals and for the new actors who are participating for the first time he said, “Be happy with what you did. Be confident in what you did, if you don’t get advanced, you’re not what those particular judges were looking for."

Comment on this story in the Features forum >>