Select members of CCRI Players student group to compete at theater festival
Select members of CCRI Players student group to compete at theater festival
January 29, 2021
Eight members of the Community College of Rhode Island’s student-run theater group,
the CCRI Players, are competing for a chance to earn scholarships in this week's 2021
Region 1 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, which will be held remotely
this year for the first time due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The KCACTF is a national theater program benefitting more than 18,000 students annually
from colleges and universities across the country. The goal is to encourage, recognize,
and celebrate the finest and most diverse work produced in university and college
theater programs while providing opportunities for participants to develop their theater
skills. The KCACTF honors excellence of overall production and offers student artists
individual recognition through awards and scholarships in playwriting, acting, criticism,
directing, and design.
Eight regional competitions are held each year with finalists advancing to the National
Festival in April. CCRI is part of Region 1, which includes schools from northeast
New York, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. This year’s
Region 1 competition runs throughout this week and ends January 31.
Students are selected to compete in the KCACTF based on nominations stemming for their
performances during the calendar year, which, for 2020, includes students’ performances
during the Spring 2020 and Fall 2020 semesters.
“It’s a really wonderful experience,” said CCRI Theater Director Ted Clement. “It’s
not just the scholarships and accolades, but the workshops and the opportunities to
work alongside Broadway actors, directors, and prize-winning playwrights are invaluable.
The students really have a profound experience.”
Dan Garcia of Warwick and Allison Wong of Barrington, who played the lead roles in
the Players’ season-opening adaptation of Fool for Love, along with Jerry Middlemiss of East Providence and Ryk McIntyre of Providence have
been nominated for Irene Ryan Acting Scholarships. Middlemiss played the role of Cliff
Bradshaw while McIntyre starred as Herr Schultz in the Players’ February adaptation
of Cabaret.
Recent additions Chris Ricci, Emma Cox (Portsmouth), Lia Pinto (East Providence) –
the only self-nominee in this year’s class from CCRI – have also been nominated for
the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship following their performance in The Shadow Box, which was CCRI’s second remote production of the Fall 2020 semester. Kaisey Caputo
will compete in the Design, Technology, and Management Expo for her work as the Sound
Designer on Fool for Love.
The Irene Ryan Foundation awards sixteen regional and two national scholarships annually.
One nominee and partner from every region will be invited to the national festival
and the nominee will receive a $500 scholarship. The national winner will earn $5,000.
The KCACTF Region 1 Richard Maltby Jr. Award recognizes outstanding musical theatre
performance by a student in higher education theatrical productions. At least one
student is nominated per entered musical production, and national winners receive
a scholarship to Broadway Theatre Project’s Summer Training Program, commonly referred
to as the world’s most prestigious musical theatre arts education program for high
school and college students. One student in each design discipline (costume, lighting,
scenic, and sound) competing in the DTM Expo will be chosen from each region to participate
in the National Festival.
Adjunct Theater Professor Anthony Goes, who directed last year’s production of 1959 Pink Thunderbird, will serve as the lead coach for the Irene Ryan scholarship nominees.
“To have the trust and support from the department to guide these actors means the
world to me,” Goes said. “It gives me a unique experience to work one-on-one with
them and help them understand the craft from a professional standpoint and how to
put together a dynamic package that falls in line with the festival standards.
“For the students, this gives them an opportunity early in their careers to see what
kind of competition is out there. This is their first exposure to networking on a
bigger scale and an understanding of what it takes to make it in this industry. They
get access to workshops and feedback you normally wouldn't get until graduate training,
so it helps to set the standards to which they will work from here on out.”
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If you love art or science, and especially if you love both, you’ll want to visit CCRI’s Lincoln Campus this month. Throughout the spring, CCRI Art & Design students collaborated with CCRI STEM professors and students to create original, science-inspired art projects. Funded by a $15,000 grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation’s EPSCoR initiative, this collaboration highlights creative potential that emerges when these two disciplines meet.
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The Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) proudly announces that Business and Professional Studies Associate Professor Maureen A. Murray, of Exeter, RI, has been selected as a recipient of the 2025 Teaching Excellence Award by the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP). This prestigious honor recognizes educators who exemplify excellence in teaching and dedication to student success within business education.
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July 18, 2025
The Community College of Rhode Island Players’ 2025 Summer Rep is just around the corner. The annual theater season begins Thursday, July 31 with CCRI Players’ adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “The Comedy of Errors”, which will be directed by Karen Carpenter and run through Sunday, Aug. 3. The performance, rehearsals for which began this week, is the first of a two-part series that will conclude with a four-day run of Shakespeare’s “Richard III” premiering Wednesday, Aug. 20.
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July 15, 2025
The Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) proudly announces the hiring of Chef Kenneth Watt, CEC, MBA, as Assistant Professor of Culinary Arts. Chef Watt will lead the college’s all-new Culinary Arts program, which is unique to CCRI’s Newport County Campus.
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June 16, 2025
The Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) is pleased to announce that it has joined the network of Achieving the Dream (ATD), a national organization committed to advancing community colleges as accessible hubs of learning, credentialing, and economic mobility.
On February 24, 2025, the International Astronomical Union Working Group for Small Body Nomenclature (WGSBN) recognized CCRI alumni Francine Jackson’s contributions to astronomy education and outreach by naming an asteroid in her honor.The designation was announced in WGSBN Bulletin 5, No. 3, under new names of Minor Planets.
How Theater Alum Max Hayden Earned CCRI's Fifth Gamm Fellowship
June 11, 2025
When an opportunity presented itself, Max Hayden took it and ran with it. Hayden initially focused on behind-the-scenes work for CCRI’s theater program. But after accepting and thriving in the lead role for the school’s Yellowman production in 2023, Hayden became a fixture of the school’s theater program over the last two years.
CCRI Students Blending Art And Science In Unique Exhibition Funded By NSF Grant
June 04, 2025
If you love art or science, and especially if you love both, you’ll want to visit CCRI’s Lincoln Campus this month. Throughout the spring, CCRI Art & Design students collaborated with CCRI STEM professors and students to create original, science-inspired art projects. Funded by a $15,000 grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation’s EPSCoR initiative, this collaboration highlights creative potential that emerges when these two disciplines meet.
76-year-old Musician Completing CCRI Degree Decades After Starting
June 02, 2025
Nearly 30 years after beginning his CCRI education, 76-year-old Ed McGuirl is about to check the final box on his long, fascinating résumé. In the mid-1990s, the Jamestown resident studied at CCRI to pursue a social services degree that would complement his work as a substance-abuse treatment professional. But a busy work schedule forced McGuirl to indefinitely pause his studies – until now.
The Community College of Rhode Island announces its Spring 2025 Dean's List. Students enrolled in a degree program who have completed 12 credits with a grade point average of 3.25 or higher thissemester with no grade lower than “C” are eligible for this scholastic honor.
January 29, 2021
