Linfield College theatre student Matt Cantelon, a Kentwood High graduate, was recognized at the Region VII Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival/Northwest Drama Conference Feb. 16-20 at the University of Idaho, Moscow. Twenty-one students participated in a variety of competitions, workshops and auditions during the week.
Linfield’s production of “Crave,” directed by Janet Gupton, associate professor of theatre arts, was a regional finalist festival production and performed for professional theatre artists from around the country. The conference included colleges and universities from Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, northern California and northern Nevada.
Cantelon, a senior will participate in the National Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival in Washington, D.C., in April as a result of their work on “Crave.”
Cantelon won the sound design competition and Malone won the lighting design competition. Their design presentations are on exhibit in the Ford Hall Lobby Gallery at Linfield College through Friday, March 20.
“As soon as the performance started I was proud of the work that the department had done to get the production here,” said Cantelon, who also received first place and a monetary award for his essay “From Midsummer to The Tempest: A Marxist Critique” in the Northwest Drama Conference scholarly paper competition. “The production looked great and the actors took their performances to a new level.”
Cantelon’s sound design was recently featured in “The Shape of Things,” a play written by acclaimed American playwright, screenwriter and film director Neil LaBute.
The play ran four nights, March 17-20, in the Marshall Theatre in Ford Hall at Linfield College. It contains mature language and subject matter.
A modern version of the Adam and Eve story, “The Shape of Things” pits gentle, awkward, overweight museum guard Adam against experienced, intelligent, seductive Evelyn, a graduate student in art. After an incident at a museum brings them together, Adam and Evelyn embark on an intense relationship resulting in the complete transformation of Adam’s physique and character.
