Wittenberg University

Kennedy Center New Play Programs for Region III to be Chaired by Professor

Steve Reynolds

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - Steven Reynolds, professor of theatre and dance at Wittenberg University, has been rewarded for a dedicated career in the theatrical arts by being appointed Chair of the New Play Program for Region III by the National Committee of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.

Region III includes theatre professors from Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.

"As Chair of the New Play Program in the region, I help select the student stage managers, directors, faculty mentors and respondents for the six plays in the 10-minute play festival at the conference," Reynolds said. "I also organize the reading and responses to the readings of the six one-act plays chosen to be read at the festival."

The new plays chosen for the Region III Festival, scheduled for Jan. 11-16 at Illinois State University in Bloomington, Ill., are judged by professors and theatre professionals from outside the region. Reynolds previously helped to choose the plays for Region IV, which consists of several southern states. At the January festival, Reynolds will be responsible for ensuring that all programming runs smoothly. About 1,500 college theatre students attend and participate in the festival.

In addition to coordinating the Region III Festival, Reynolds will be a guest respondent to the new Region IV plays performed in February in Florida. In the spring, he will attend the National Festival at the Kennedy Center, as he has done for many years, and he will also represent Region III during the Association of Theatre in Higher Education national conference in the summer of 2005.

"I think my participation with the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival helps get Wittenberg's name circulated in the academic theatre world," Reynolds said. Reynolds teaches courses in dramatic literature, acting, playwriting, art of the theatre and a Wittenberg Seminar for new students on documentary theatre. In 2001 he produced and directed Wittenberg alumnus Dan Stroeh's it is no desert, which won the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival's National Student Playwriting Award.

Reynolds has led or contributed to panels at national conferences in such areas as non-traditional casting, teaching of playwriting, period transfer of Shakespeare's plays, using masks in actor training, and teaching theatre in the new student seminar. The recipient of numerous awards, he has studied theatre in London, and he has been a guest lecturer and director. His directing assignments have ranged from A Midsummer Night's Dream to The Miser to The Boys Next Door. As an actor, he has had a significant role in a number of plays. As a playwright, Reynolds has had his works produced at Tufts University and Tufts-in-London.

Reynolds earned his B.A. from Tufts University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. He joined the Wittenberg faculty in 1981.

Wittenberg's department of theatre and dance offers students study of two performance arts within the liberal arts tradition. Through their work, students learn that the performing arts mirror the values and practices of society.