Morningside College was one of six schools in a seven-state region invited to present one of its theatre productions recently at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival in Sioux Falls, S.D., and individual students were honored for their work.

Morningside College was invited to present its theatre production of “Trifles” recently at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival in Sioux Falls, S.D., and individual students were honored for their work.

Morningside was one of six schools from a seven-state region invited to fully remount a theatre production at the festival. Students performed “Trifles” twice at the conference for over 1,000 college students, faculty members, and other nationally recognized theatre artists, and the production remains in the running for national honors.

Each production remounted at the conference had its load in and load out watched and judged for safety, efficiency and teamwork, and the school with the best overall load in and load out received The Golden Hand Truck Award. This year Morningside won that award, beating the University of Northwestern-St. Paul, University of Nebraska at Kearney, Iowa State University, University of Missouri, and University of Central Missouri.

Taylor Clemens, assistant professor of theatre at Morningside College, directed the production of “Trifles.”

Student cast members include Joey Volquartsen of Stanton, Iowa; Madison Schueth of Fremont, Neb.; Hailey Barrus of Belmond, Iowa; Jason Latta of Greeley, Colo.; Jared Kamrath of South Sioux City, Neb.; and Brock Bourek of Columbus, Neb.

Students on the production team and crew include Bourek; Annalee Dorsey of Kansas City, Kan.; Katelyn Stewart of Crofton, Neb.; Engels Perez Boscan of Caracas, Venezuela; Katsunori Baba of Fukuoka, Japan; Bradley Davis of Mapleton, Iowa; Grant Turner of Moville, Iowa; Amy Jackson of Cape Coral, Fla.; and Eric Wells of Mineola, Iowa. Recent graduate Erica Young and community member Casey Clemens also assisted with the production.

Also at the festival, several Morningside students participated in the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Competition. They were nominated to participate after festival representatives saw their performances at Morningside College. Those students were Barrus and Schueth for “Trifles”; Riley Liljenquist of Pocatello, Idaho, for “Two Rooms”; Perez Boscan and Volquartsen for “Next to Normal”; and Bourek and Kamrath for “Octopus.” Almost 350 students participated in the acting competition. Bourek and Liljenquist were among the top 20 percent that advanced to the second semifinal round.

Students also were recognized for production work in Morningside theatre productions. Production awards for “Trifles” went to Bourek for scenic design; Perez Boscan for lighting and sound design; and Jackson and Turner for composition and conducting. Awards for “Octopus” went to Jackson for lighting design and Jared Martin of Humphrey, Neb., for sound design. And a theatre advocacy award went to the student production team for “Two Rooms.”

Throughout the weeklong festival, students represented Morningside in professional auditions and interviews, a stage management competition, and a directing competition, and they had the opportunity to network with peers and industry professionals.