Sac State’s theater and dance department seems to be one of the most close-knit departments on campus; everybody has a relationship with one another.

Theater and dance students Taylor Vaughan, Jezabel Olivares, Russel Dow, Ure Egbuho, Angel Perez, Shelby Saumier and Urias Davis are currently competing against each other as Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship nominees for the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.

Unlike most scholarships that include sending in a letter and writing essays, contenders are nominated based on their acting roles throughout the year. The students will soon compete with 18,000 other college students nationwide.

The Irene Ryan Scholarship were created to provide recognition, honor and and financial assistance to outstanding student performers. Each year 19 regional awards and two fellowships are awarded by the Irene Ryan Foundation.

Sac State acting and voice Professor, Michelle Felton, said it is a very exciting event.

“It’s a great opportunity for the students to really focus on acting, particularly partner-work in acting,(and) scene-work,” Felton said.

Felton feels that it is great that the students can go and learn from other colleges and that other colleges can learn from Sac State.

After finding out they had been nominated, each competitor chooses a partner and prepares three acts that include two five-minute scenes and a one-minute song or monologue, to use throughout the course of the competition.

Every student has earned his or her spot in the competition; this was proven at the Irene Ryan showcase held on Feb 10 and 13.

The Irene Ryan showcase allowed nominees and their partners – Sac State Students: Tiffanie Mack, Alejandra Garcia, Elizabeth Ferreira, Kennedy Smith, Angel Rodriguez, Jacob Garcia and Natalie Jones – the opportunity to showcase their skills to the university as well as practice for the remainder of the competition.

Felton said a lot of hard work and fast-paced preparations went into the showcased scenes.

Davis had to switch scenes and restart completely, close to two-weeks before the showcase competition.

“It’s been a challenge, coming in here and putting in a lot of hours and a lot of work into it,” Davis said. “It was difficult, but it’s worth it.”

Every time the students took the stage there was some kind of emotion being evoked. They told stories of sorrow, love, lust and empowerment, forcing the audience to relate to their stories in some way.

Despite these students having a clear talent in acting, they credit most of their success to Felton.

“Professor Felton is an acting genius, but she pushes you and stretches you and extends you,” Egbuho said. “If she sees potential in you, she gets it out of you. You’ll think she’s being hard on you, but you’ll never feel so rewarded with your performance after the way she molds you.”

Instead of each individual thinking only about themselves and their successes, they support the group as a whole.

The next stage of the competition takes place Feb. 18-22 in Boise, Idaho at the Regional Festivals where the group is focusing on the bigger picture.

“We never think about competing against each other; we always think about competing against the other schools because it’s like we’re going and taking our team.” Egbuho said. “We represent a team.”

Anisca Miles can be reached at [email protected]