| What Alums Say About Reynolds: • Alex Beekman '99 double-majored in theatre and elementary education and was a recipient of the Wittenberg Theatre Alumni Scholarship. He currently teaches special education in Columbus, Ohio, where he has also worked as an actor for CATCO, Actor's Theatre of Columbus and Available Light Theatre. Listen... • Dan Stroeh '01 double-majored in theatre and English. He won the KCACTF National Student Playwriting Award in 2001 for his play it is no desert. Since graduation, he has written plays for The Kennedy Center's Education Department and Boston's Alarm Clock Theatre Company. He currently has several screenplays in development with Reel Farm Films, Inc., and is working on his first novel. He lives in New York City. Listen... • Peter Kluge '84 has been a professional actor for nearly 20 years since receiving his bachelor of arts degree in theatre and speech from Wittenberg and Fordham University in New York City. In 1996 Kluge founded and served as CEO of GKS Entertainment, LLC, a Los Angeles-based music mastering and recording facility, and in 2001, he started an independent management and production firm called Impact Artists Group, LLC. Listen... |
"It is very humbling to have your colleagues at other schools choose you as someone deserving of recognition," Reynolds said. "I respect my Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival friends and especially the past winners of the Gold Medallion Award so very much. I've always loved working with these people."
The national honor is awarded by the KCACTF Regional Board to those faculty members "who have made extraordinary contributions to the teaching and producing of theatre and to the development and quality of the Kennedy Center's American College Theater Festival."
"The work they have done and continue to do to encourage and recognize talented students and their theatre programs is, to me, just so vital to the health of our art form," Reynolds said. "To have been singled out by them for what to me is a relatively small contribution is amazing."
His participation in KCACTF Region III has included 46 visits to 31 campuses in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin to respond to more than 50 new plays.
"Going out to see and respond to new plays on college campuses, especially those written by students, has always brought me great satisfaction," Reynolds said. "So to be given an award for something I enjoyed doing is just...hard to describe. I just feel deeply honored."
Reynolds has been a member of the regional executive committee, regional selection team and national committee for four years and currently serves as the national playwriting program chair for the KCACTF Region III, which includes Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois. The all-volunteer national education program is an organization established to promote quality in college-level theatre production.
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Professor of Theatre and Dance Steve Reynolds |
Approximately 1,500 students attend the region III festival each year. In February, Reynolds will go to Los Angeles to respond to the plays selected in Region VIII, and the NPP Chair from that region will respond to the plays in Region III. KCACTF has awards for playwrights, actors, set designers, stage directors – virtually every element of a production receives attention. The very best plays selected from the regional festivals will be produced at the Kennedy Theatre in Washington in April.
The KCACTF recently published a full-page ad in the widely read magazine American Theatre, thanking national committee volunteers. Wittenberg was one of 43 colleges and universities from across the country recognized, thanks to Reynolds' efforts.
In addition, the 2008 Fiske Guide to Colleges includes Wittenberg as one of 23 "Small Colleges and Universities Strong in Drama."
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 and using masks in actor training. 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 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 bachelor's from Tufts University, and his master's and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. He joined the Wittenberg faculty in 1981 and teaches courses in dramatic literature, acting, playwriting, art of the theatre and a WittSem for new students on documentary theatre. He also directs plays and musicals for the Department of Theatre and Dance.
Written By: Phyllis Eberts
Photo By: Robert Gantt
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