UF theater student wins national design competition

June 13, 2007

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — With his set design for “Waiting for Godot,” a University of Florida graduate student in the College of Fine Arts clinched first place in the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival’s scenic design competition in Washington, D.C., April 22.

Glen Anderson, a Master of Fine Arts in Scenic Design candidate student in the School of Theatre and Dance, took home the Barbizon Award for Scenic Design from the national theater program competition.

The Kennedy Center ACT Festival gives students from colleges and universities across the country the opportunity to showcase their talents in performance, design, playwriting and directing, and aims to encourage students in the pursuit of developing artistic skills. Anderson qualified for the finals by winning the regional competition in February.

In addition to national recognition, Anderson receives a $500 honorarium and an all-expense paid weeklong trip to New York City to visit the studios of established designers and the headquarters of Barbizon Inc.

This is the second year in a row that a UF Scenic Design graduate student has been awarded first place in the finals of the Kennedy Center competition and national showcase. Andrew Farrugia won last year for his design of “Hamlet.”

This year, School of Theatre and Dance students also won the KCACTF Certificate of Merit for Collaboration in Design award for the production of “Waiting for Godot.” Additionally, D.K. Shaffer won the David Weiss Costume Design Award for Mother Courage, Darrin J. Pufall received second place for the Barbizon Costume Design Award for “Waiting for Godot” and Charles Perry received second place for the Barbizon Lighting Award for “The Exonerated.” Christina Watanabe also received third place for the Barbizon Lighting Design for “Waiting for Godot.”

In the acting division, competing for the Irene Ryan award, Matthew Lindsay and partner, Christopher Wert, and Marcus Thomas and partner, Candice Alexis Newsum, competed in the final round. Marty Austin Lamar and his partner, Joey Hunt, competed in the semifinal round.