Last month, 40 students traveled to Rochester, MN, to attend the American College Theatre Festival (ACTF). While there, students and faculty kept busy as the cast and crew of An Enemy of the People performed four times, 15 designers presented their work, students competed in acting and musical theatre competitions and most attended many workshops. Out of all the designs that were taken to this prestigious festival, five students were honored with regional and national awards.
The awards are as follows: AJ Zinn was awarded National Distinguished Achievement for Heart of the Arts in “The Little Prince”, and Lexi Squier was awarded National Second Place in Costume Design for “The Little Prince” and a Regional Excellence in storytelling for her design in that production, Melissa Thompson was awarded National Distinguished Achievement in Projection Design and National Second Place in Scenic Design, both for “The Little Prince” and Rae Outland was awarded National Second Place in Props Design for “Dragons Love Tacos”.
Thompson, who took home two awards, expressed how proud she is of the way that she integrated the design into the show so naturally for projections while using more simple set design.
“It [the scenic design] provided the perfect canvas for a nuanced projection design, and it brought so much life to the world of the play.” Thompson said.
Fellow award winner, Outland, loved working with her crews on the props for the children’s show, “Dragons Love Tacos.” Together, Outland and her crew were able to make 145 foam tacos in three week along with a larger than life four-foot taco.
“It felt just like being a kid again playing with random objects and pretending they were something else.” Outland said. “So, I learned a lot and made sure to play with a lot of texture and color – while also making it seem straight out a kid’s book”.
One of the most unique experiences for a NW student came for Squier who, in addition to winning an award, got to bring a 10-minute play that she wrote. Squier was one of six students who got to bring their written plays for a staged reading done later in the week.
“I enjoyed watching Lexi’s play and seeing how it was developed by students outside the college.” Said one of Squier’s peers “She put so much work into it, and I’m so happy that others got to see her hard work.”
In addition to all the student awards, the department also took home the Golden Handtruck Award for the most efficient, safe and productive load in/load out of an invited production. As NW got to bring their 2025 spring show “An Enemy of the People”, they had a lot to prepare and organize. NW Professor Molly Wiebe-Faber echoed this as she described her students as generous, hardworking and conscious of keeping a safe working environment.
A unique opportunity that comes with this long-term award is that when a school is awarded the Golden Handtruck, the department adds something that represents the college to the trophy and then bring it back the next year. This year at the festival, the theatre department got to take home a brand new handtruck, since the last one had filled up and became to heavy for a travelling trophy. This means that NW will be the first school to add something to the new of the handtruck. There are many ideas floating around, but one that seems to be very popular is the idea of adding a crown with “to the Restoration” written inside to signify the department’s motto.
As the director of “An Enemy of the People”, Wiebe-Faber explained that it was a great honor for this production to be chosen for a performance at the festival, and her role in the process was to prepare the cast. As the department did not find out about this invitation until finals week of the Fall semester, it was a whirlwind of rehearsals and zoom calls with recent alumni. What stood out for Wiebe-Faber the most was all the standout students involved in the festival who she is quite proud of.
“Not because they worked to stand out as individuals, but in the way they worked as an ensemble.” Said Wiebe-Faber “Knowing they were taking seriously the opportunity we had to tell an important story and reflect the Kingdom of God to a new audience, was beautiful to witness.”
