Faculty Recognition
Kennedy Center Medallion
Each year, the eight KCACTF regions honor individuals or organizations that have made extraordinary contributions to the teaching and producing of theatre and who have significantly dedicated their time, artistry and enthusiasm to the development of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. Most importantly, recipients have demonstrated a strong commitment to the values and goals of KCACTF and to excellence in educational theatre. It is the most prestigious regional award given by KCACTF and is considered one of the great honors in theatre education.
2011 Kennedy Center Medallion Recipient
Susan K. Berkompas - Vanguard University
Susan K. Berkompas has a B.F.A. from the University of Montana and an M.F.A. from California Repertory Company. She has studied Shakespeare in Oxford with John Barton and the British American Drama Academy, and she is currently pursuing a Certificate of Completion with MICHA in the Michael Chekhov technique of acting. She is a member of SSDC and AFTRA and is an alumnus of the Kennedy Center Directors Lab West. Susan is chair of the Theatre Arts Department at Vanguard University and the Artistic Director and founder of the American Coast Theater Company. She is the recipient of the 2005 KCACTF Excellence in Theatre Education award and also served as the Irene Ryan Coordinator for KCACTF for three years. Favorite shows directed: Othello; Macbeth; Romeo and Juliet; Bullshot Crummond; The Hiding Place; and A Child's Christmas in Wales. Her favorite roles are: Velma Kelly (Chicago); Eleanor (Lion In Winter); Desdemona (Othello); Queen Elizabeth (Richard III); the witch (Into the Woods); Mona (Come Back to the Five & Dime, Jimmy Dean) and Blanche (A Streetcar Named Desire).
Excellence in Theatre Education Award
This honor, given for the first time in 1997, recognizes faculty and staff in various universities and colleges throughout the region who go "beyond the call of duty" in devoting their time, efforts, talent, and energies on behalf of the students and in support of the other faculty and staff of their institution. The following recipients of the "Excellence in Theatre Education Award" are individuals recognized by the Board of Governors of the Kennedy Center/American College Theater Festival, Region VIII for their unique commitment to their students, their colleagues, their institution, and their profession. We wish to honor their vision, knowledge, high intention, and sincere effort in fostering, supporting and developing a greater respect and appreciation for theatre, theatre education, and all who participate in it.
2011 Excellence in Theatre Education Recipient
Nina LeNoir, Ph.D - Chapman University
Dr. Nina LeNoir has been working in academia since 1996 and serves as chair of Chapman University's Department of Theatre. Prior to coming to Chapman, she served as Interim President and Director of Instruction at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Los Angeles, was Associate Professor and Head of Performance at Minnesota State University Mankato, and Assistant Professor at Bradley University in Illinois. Before her academic career, she was a professional actress in theatre productions, industrials and commercials in NYC and Columbus, Ohio. She received her MFA in Directing and PhD in Theatre History/Criticism from The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. LeNoir has directed over 50 productions at professional and educational theatres in New York, Ohio, Illinois, Minnesota, Texas and California. She has published articles on a wide variety of topics, from acting in cyberspace to the collaborative process in theatre, and has presented papers at regional and national conferences. She has been active in the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, having served on the Governing Board of that group for several years. With KCACTF, she has served on selection committees for Region III and V, served as an Irene Ryan judge and respondent, and has responded to shows since 1998. She was awarded the KCACTF Faculty Fellowship in Criticism in 2006 and has received Certificates of Merit from KCACTF for several shows she has directed at colleges and universities. As a graduate student, she received the KCACTF Outstanding Student Director Award for Region VI in 1993.
Josh Machamer - California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Mr. Machamer, a recipient of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo's University Distinguished Teaching Award, is the associate chair and professor in the Theatre and Dance Department, teaching courses in Acting, Directing, Theatre History, American and World Drama, Voice and Diction, Senior Project Seminar and Introduction to Theatre. An MFA graduate of Penn State University, Mr. Machamer has extensive college/university and professional directing credits, as well as production experience within the American television and film industry. He has participated as an invited artist at the 3rd World Universities Conference in Davos, Switzerland; Comparative Drama Conference in Los Angeles; The Pathways to Reconciliation and Global Human Rights Conference in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina; IUTA 3rd World Theatre Conference in Dakar, Sengal; the Viewpoint Theory Conference in New York City with Anne Bogart; and studied the aspects of the Theatre of the Oppressed with Augusto Boal. Mr. Machamer has written several articles for the Pasadena Playhouse and the Old Globe Theatre, as well as been published within the International Journal of the Humanities and Local-Global: Studies in Community Sustainability. With an extensive list of service to the University, Mr. Machamer also currently serves as the Chair for Cal Poly's General Education Governance Board. Outside of SLO, Mr. Machamer is a part-time faculty professional with the Pacific Conservatory for the Performing Arts in Santa Maria teaching courses in Theatre History as well as having performed on stage in PCPA productions of Hairspray, Enron & Shipwrecked!
Janet Swenson - Brigham Young University
As a professor of costume design/makeup and chair of Design & Technology in Brigham Young University's Department of Theatre & Media Arts, Janet has designed more than 250 productions, including theatre, opera, musicals and film. For 20 years she served as resident designer at Robert Redford's Sundance Summer Theatre and has spent the last 19 seasons at the Tony Award-winning Utah Shakespeare Festival. This past summer, she designed costumes for the festival's 50th anniversary production of A Midsummer Night's Dream under the direction of founder Fred Adams.
Other credits include Disney Cable Channel, Tuacahn Center for the Arts, the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts, the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Skylight Opera Theatre in Milwaukee, and several summer theatres in Jackson, Wyoming. Janet's most challenging and rewarding project was designing and supervising construction of 5,000 costumes for Light of the World, which played in the Salt Lake City Conference Center throughout the Winter Olympics in 2002.
Janet is a member of USITT, AFTRA, IATSE, and is national archivist for Theta Alpha Phi. However, no matter where she works, her greatest happiness is found in teaching, mentoring and watching her students "catch the vision" of the joy in the creative process that comes through makeup and costume design.
D. Terry Petrie, Ph.D. - Utah Valley University
For almost forty years, D. Terry Petrie has dedicated himself to teaching, directing, and building theatre. Before moving to Orem to teach theater at the University level he was a Founder and Artistic Director of two very successful community theater organizations in Western Canada .While Chair of the Department of Theatrical Arts at Utah Valley University Dr. Petrie presided over what might well be considered the greatest period of growth the department has seen to date. With the determined help of devoted faculty and staff he developed baccalaureate degree programs in theater and theater education. He has also partnered with outside performing organizations and generous donors to provide additional opportunities for theatre majors at UVU. These efforts culminated in the opening of the Noorda Regional Theatre Centre; an institutional partnership with Robert Redford's Sundance organization and revival of the Sundance summer theatre; and hosting of the first-ever American Association of Community Theatre (AACT ) regional festival in the Intermountain Area—currently Dr. Petrie is Utah's State Representative for AACT and sits on their national board.
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As a tenacious advocate for theater over the years he has been awarded the Commemorative Medal from the Governor General of Canada in recognition of his significant contribution to theater and to the Dominion of Canada; the Christina Crawford Kuntz Television Award from the Lincoln Center; and the KCACTF Region VIII - Best of Festival - Directing. Beneath his sometimes gruff exterior lurks a soft heart that is deeply concerned for his students and his colleagues. He continues to be a professor, presenter, adjudicator, and respondent.