SWT Theatre Department wins state awards

SAN MARCOS, TEXAS — The Theatre Department at Southwest Texas State University was recognized recently at the Texas Educational Theatre Association’s (TETA) annual convention in Dallas, taking five of the eight top awards given to students statewide for design and technical work in theatre.

SWT graduate students Chris Little and undergraduate Matthew Holloway received monetary awards for excellence in design. Little’s work as a set designer can be seen in the department’s upcoming production of The Miracle Worker (Feb. 25-March 1). Holloway’s mask designs were featured in last fall’s production of Romeo and Juliet. Certificates of merit in design were awarded to Lynn Oliver- Moore, Leita Findley and Beth Christensen.

The awards were determined by a panel of judges from across the state of Texas as part of TETA’s Design fest, an annual exhibition of production and class design projects chaired by SWT theatre department costume professor Sheila Hargett. Awards were presented at a banquet at the Dallas Fairmont Hotel following the convention.

SWT theatre Department undergraduate Lori Zimmerman won the TETA student playwright’s competition with her play Laundromats and Spacemonkeys. The play was presented at the convention by students from San Marcos High School. This is the second consecutive year SWT theatre students have taken the play writing award.

In addition to workshops presented by SWT Theatre Department faculty, over 20 additional TETA convention workshops were presented by SWT theatre alumni who are now teaching in Texas secondary and middle schools. Rachel Smith, a 1975 graduate of SWT’s Theatre Department, received TETA’s most prestigious honor, the Founders Award, for her contribution to educational theatre in the state of Texas.