This month, the UNCG School of Theatre and North Carolina A&T Division of Theatre Arts will welcome to Greensboro hundreds of theatre students and faculty from across the Southeast, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands for the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF).
In addition to being a co-host for the KCACTF Region 4 conference, UNCG School of Theatre has a production in the festival, three nominations for the prestigious Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship, and recognitions for Stage Management, Hair & Make Up Design, Dramaturgy, and Direction.
UNCG’s School Girls, or the African Mean Girls Play, directed by Associate Professor of Acting Mya Brown, is one of only eight plays chosen to advance to the regional competition, with accolades going to students Jakyia Barnes, Seania Burnett, and Symone Spencer (Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship nominees); Tala Terrell (Stage Management); Jayde Grant (Hair & Makeup Design); Sean Burchette, Candace Lilford, and Jay Smith (Dramaturgy); and Professor Mya Brown (Direction).
The benefits of the festival go beyond the show and individual recognitions, says Brown:
“Having the festival here in Greensboro means that all our students have access to incredible opportunities with no travel expense. There are programs to compete for scholarships and grants, and career networking opportunities. Many of our students are first-generation college students, so the fact they can get all this at little or no cost right here in their backyard is huge for them.”
The festival also provides invaluable training:
“For workshops, they’ll be in ensembles with people they’ve never met. That’s the real world. That’s what you’re going to wind up doing. In the School of Theatre, we make little families, but once you get to the professional level, the likelihood of knowing more than one person in a production is fairly low. This is a great springboard exercise to learn how to navigate that space.
“At the KCACTF conference, students will have access to professors and professionals outside of those they see all the time. Getting feedback from those people is incredible, and it reinforces the training here. There’s something about how when you hear it from someone else, suddenly it resonates. I don’t care where the lightbulb goes off, I just care that the lightbulb goes off!”
Jakyia Barnes plays Headmistress in the play School Girls. She says she’s a little stunned by her nomination for the Irene Ryan Scholarship:
“I still can’t believe it. I remember the performance when we realized the festival respondents were in the audience, taking notes about our performance. I was a little psyched out! I’m honored and trying to take it as a testament to my art and craft and to my purpose for being here. I just feel so grateful.”
Barnes, who is a senior from Raleigh, is excited about all the festival has to offer:
“I’ll get to participate in a competition with a lot of other student artists and see how those outside of UNCG perform and work. This is a great chance to create community and connection with so many professors and directors of other theatre departments. We’ll get to see different shows and take part in workshops where we’ll get advice and fine tune our craft. I’m also excited that we get to perform School Girls again!”
School Girls, by Jocelyn Bioh, is a sharp, funny, and deeply honest exploration of colorism and identity. Set in a 1980s Ghanaian boarding school, the story follows Paulina, a confident and talented dark-skinned student vying to represent her country in the Miss Ghana pageant. Her dreams are challenged by Ericka, a new student whose light skin and Eurocentric features captivate the pageant recruiter.
Barnes and Brown agree that School Girls is a special show. In materials that she prepared for entry into the festival, Brown wrote about its message:
“As the director, I’m inspired by how the playwright Jocelyn Bioh weaves humor with profound gravity, using familiar high school dynamics to unearth the painful legacies of colorism, colonial beauty standards, and the universal struggle for self-worth. The play captures the tender and turbulent journey of growing up—not just among peers but under societal forces that seek to define us.”
Brown says directing the play struck a personal chord for her:
“This was a rare time when I felt like I had a true affinity space with the actors, which was so cool. The amount of learning on that production, even for me, was immense. Learning about the Ghanaian culture, learning about each other, recalling our childhood experiences growing up, building friendships, and attending school. I taught them games and chants I played with my friends, and it bonded and connected us in a rich way. I think I knew that would happen, but to experience it was far greater than to just know it.”
“I feel so proud of this show,” says Barnes. “I am forever impacted by the story that I was so blessed to be a part of telling, and I’m so proud of myself for overcoming my own challenges and working with this story that is bigger than me. I thank Professor Brown for pushing that out of all of us.
“We drew on our experiences. Of course, none of us are from Ghana or have ever been there. But we’ve all been young, Black girls. We’ve all been in school and learning that the world has perpetuated these stereotypes, which place a burden on us by telling us there are things we can’t be or have.”
And although the show deals with the serious topics of colorism, weight issues, and bullying, Barnes says the main message is joy:
“That’s what Professor Brown and our cast wanted to share—the resilience and joy of these Black girls. There’s the moment at the end when Erika wins the pageant. Although that’s not what Paulina wanted, there’s joy at seeing a young African woman win and joy in the anticipation of what it could mean for her. And the way the girls dance, smile and rejoice in each other’s presence is beautiful. The world may be hard, and people may be upset and angry and pushing you down but hold on to your joy because it can bring you so much more.”
KCACTF Region 4 will be in Greensboro February 4th–9th.
The festival moves around the region each year, and Professor Brown was delighted when Greensboro was chosen:
“Before coming to UNCG, I was in upstate New York, which is Region 2, where the festival is everything. I’m hoping having it here will ignite some of that same excitement and passion. This region has so many HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) and is so rich in diversity of performances. It’s what brought me here. Those are the kinds of students I want to reach. The diversity of this region is what made School Girls, with an all-Black, all female-presenting cast, such a good pick for the Region 4 conference.”
Brown says conversations with KCACTF organizers had been ongoing for several years with former School of Theatre Director Natalie Sowell, but with Taylor Theatre offline for renovations, space was an issue. Brown began talking with NC A&T to find a way to work together on that:
“The workshops will be held in UNCG Theatre buildings and in the Elliott University Center,” says Brown. “Large shows will be presented in the UNCG Auditorium, and smaller productions will be staged at the Paul Robeson Theatre on the campus of NC A&T.”
The eight shows that will be performed were chosen from hundreds of productions seen by KCACTF respondents over a year. The respondents traveled to various schools to watch the shows during their regular run, then held post-show meetings with the casts, crews, and directors. Then they made recommendations as to which ones would be invited to the regional event. Regional winners will be invited to showcase at the national festival in Washington, DC during the week of April 15th.
The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) is a national theater program involving 18,000 students annually from colleges and universities across the country. KCACTF aims to celebrate the finest and most diverse work produced in university and college theater programs and provide opportunities for participants to develop their theater skills and insight and achieve professionalism. It also seeks to encourage colleges and universities to give distinguished productions of new plays, especially those written by students; the classics, revitalized or newly conceived; and experimental works.
Story by Terri W Relos
Photography by Elainia Sanders