Last week, I had the great fortune of participating in Region 2’s Festival hosted by Indiana University of Pennsylvania. A little more than 1,100 students attended the conference from schools in Maryland, DC, Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, and New York. Although it was a cold couple of days, the festival coordinators, volunteers, and participants kept the environment warm and welcoming.
I was put to work during my four days, leading 3 workshops, adjudicating the preliminary round of the Ryan competition and responding to a couple of devised theatre pieces. None the less, I was able to connect with passionate students and faculty from across the region and attend a couple of plays (IUP’s Lindsey’s Oyster and Bridgewater College’s A Dream Play). In total, 48 students attended the three workshops.
During my time, I had the pleasure of receiving an original book of poetry by Antoinette Faine from Prince George College in Maryland who was inspired during my Artist as Citizen Workshop. I also spent a fair amount of time with Professor Maggie Lally from Adelphi University who highlighted the impact the theatre still has in our country, evident from the high attendance at the conference in spite of the country’s financial climate. Most notably, I had a couple of long and inspired conversations with Sean Hartman, Mallory Mauts, and Ashley Frankhouser from Alvernia University in Reading Pennsylvania, a community that is currently considered the most poverty stricken in the nation. I was moved by their pursuit of justice in light of difficult circumstances and their belief that the performing arts are a tool for getting them there.
– Mauricio Salgado, ASTEP’s Director of Domestic Programs
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Theater festival brings drama to IUP campus | Indiana Gazette
While at the Region 2 Festival, Mauricio invited Bill Zimmerman, a reporter at the Indiana Gazette, a local Indiana, Pennsylvania paper, to sit in and observe his workshops. The full article can be found here!
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Video contributions from KCACTF Region 2 students
Mallory Mautz, Alvernia University
Sean Hartman, Alvernia University
Ashley Frankhouser, Alvernia University
Elizabeth Gannaway, Eastern Mennonite University
