PORT ANGELES — Cast and crew members of “Our Leading Lady,” the Peninsula College production on stage through Saturday in the campus’ Little Theater, have received recognition from the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.
Ronn Campbell, an associate professor of theater from Pasco’s Columbia Basin College and a member of the Kennedy Center’s respondent program, attended the show’s opening night Nov. 13.
In addition to giving feedback to the cast and crew, Campbell recognized two students, Jonathan Mitchell and Joe Crollard, for outstanding research and presentation work.
The pair of crew members studied the era in which “Our Leading Lady” is set — the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln presidency — to write articles for the play’s program and create lobby displays for the Little Theater.
Two actors, Steven Berry and Victoria Smith, were also recognized for their achievements.
Berry and Smith were chosen to compete in the Irene Ryan Competition at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, to be held in Denver this February.
In “Our Leading Lady,” Smith portrays Madame Wu-Chan, a runaway slave from Georgia who is passing as a Chinese woman and working as a dresser for the heroine Laura Keene (Jade Evans).
Berry portrays the real-life actor Harry Hawke, a member of the theater company performing the play “Our American Cousin” when Lincoln is shot at Ford’s Theatre.
“Our Leading Lady,” Charles Busch’s story of how the Lincoln assassination affects the theater company, is billed as a “serious comedy.”
Its final three performances are at 7:30 tonight and at both 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
Tickets are on sale at www.brownpapertickets.com and, if still available, at the door of the Little Theater at Peninsula College, 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
“[We are] so very proud of all of our hardworking cast, crew and students who worked on this show,” said Richard Stephens, “Our Leading Lady’s” director and production designer.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
