FESTIVAL 57 REGISTRATION

The Irene Ryan Acting Scholarships provide recognition, honor, and financial assistance to outstanding student performers wishing to pursue further education. 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 conference and the nominee will receive a $500 scholarship. The runner-up in each region will receive a $500 scholarship, but will not attend the national conference to audition for the national scholarship.

Students and coaches are encouraged to consult their regional chair or regional Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Auditions Co-Directors for information on other regional awards. The Irene Ryan Acting Scholarships are, indeed, scholarships; so the Foundation disburses the award through a school designated by the winner, to pay tuition and fees for further education, not necessarily limited to theatre arts.

Important Update to Irene Ryans for Conference (formerly festival) 57

Dear Region 8,

Please take a moment to read through the updated guidelines for the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Auditions, as they have changed at the national level for this year’s 2025 conference. There will also be a return to in-person preliminary rounds of auditions, and we will no longer be doing self-tape auditions for the prelims.

Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Auditions – 2025 Process

All rounds of the Ryans will be held in person at the regional conferences.
All three rounds will be the same with a total package of 4 minutes to present one monologue and one scene.
Self-submissions are still allowed and there will be no difference between nominations and self-submissions. In order to be guaranteed that your nomination or submission is seen, you must complete the region-specific entry process by the date established in each region. Individual regions may elect to enact a maximum number of entries that will be clearly communicated before submission deadlines.
Ryan participants will still be able to partner with ONE other Ryan participant, BUT must use a different scene for each package.

As part of the mission of KCACTF we must continually look at programs in terms of access and intent. There have been a lot of changes to the Irene Ryan Scholarship Auditions over the past few years as we not only adapted to a global pandemic, but to the changing needs of students. It is difficult to break from long-held traditions while exciting to find new and innovative ways to celebrate student work. To reiterate the mission/goals of KCACTF:

Encourage, recognize, and celebrate the finest and most diverse work produced in university and college theater programs;
Provide opportunities for participants to develop their theater skills and insight, and achieve professionalism;
Improve the quality of college and university theater in the United States; and
Encourage colleges and universities to give distinguished productions of new plays, especially those written by students; the classics, revitalized or newly conceived; and experimental works.

Specifically, the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarships provide recognition, honor, and financial assistance to outstanding student performers wishing to pursue further education.

In looking at bullet points one and four, in order to encourage, recognize and celebrate work, we must eliminate barriers. All students should be able to participate in a scholarship audition regardless of faculty nomination. Faculty often select material and cast productions. By opening the process to all, we eliminate any subconscious bias. We are continuing the “self-submission” option for the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship, in addition to the long-held practice of nominations from the director and production respondent. Additionally, in-person preliminary round auditions give all students the opportunity to publicly showcase their work and receive feedback at the regional conference.

By returning to an in-person preliminary round, we strengthen bullet points two and three. All students who prepare material for presentation (including Ryan partners) will have the opportunity for their work to be seen by others at the regional conference. While the industry is moving toward increased self-tapes, we encourage students to seek out opportunities to grow in this area. In keeping with the mission, our role is to celebrate the work and the best way to do that is to see it live in the moment. The regional conference experience creates a community unlike any other. By making all rounds in-person, we hope to foster that community that can lead to professional connections and growth.

The Ryan Scholarship audition is an opportunity to recognize outstanding student performers but it can also be a learning environment in which students can learn from their peers through observation and engagement with the work of other students at the conference. Recognizing that the greatest number of participants are in the preliminary round, the greatest opportunity for in-person observation occurs in the preliminary round. This switch helps us to strengthen bullet point number two.

Affording more opportunity and live engagement at our regional conferences allows us to continue to improve the quality of theater in the United States, and to enhance the in-person experience for our students. These opportunities manifest in learning, networking, and skill building through peer interaction.

The changes to the Irene Ryan Scholarship Audition are meant to encourage new participation, celebrate all work, and most importantly, build a stronger community of emerging young artists! We must remember – this is an opportunity not a competition. To that end, below is a copy of the KCACTF Diversity and Inclusion Statement.

KCACTF Diversity and Inclusion Statement

The Kennedy Center American College Theater Conference affirms its commitment to policies and practices of promoting inclusion and diversity in its leadership, both regional and national, as well as in its programming. We pledge to nurture talent in all areas of the theater based solely on merit and achievement. We encourage production respondents to avoid discriminatory comments and embrace the variety of artistic choices generated by the diversity of perspective that exists on college campuses across the country. We promote collegial exploration of new ideas, supported by a clear understanding of long-held artistic practices, fully respecting the communicated intentions of the playwright.

We encourage discourse that affects positive change in the ways that under-represented groups are portrayed onstage, and we oppose acts of cultural appropriation and character depictions that deepen existing cultural divides. We embrace the idea that diversity in experience and perspective makes our organization stronger and more relevant and is therefore essential to our educational mission of training the future artistic leadership in American theater.

Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Auditions – 2025 Overview and Guidelines

Criteria

Student artists participating in the Irene Ryan auditions are encouraged to make materials and artistic choices with consideration of the following criteria:

Choosing material suited for the actor that reflects self-awareness, expressive emotional range, wide vocal range, and physical connectedness.
Engaging in active objectives and tactics to affect how they are speaking to their real or imagined scene partner. (Acting is action: why is your objective? What/who is your obstacle?)
Living truthfully in the moment of their given circumstances. (Who, what, where, when, why, and how?)
Expressing a compelling story with a clear arc from beginning to middle to end.
Demonstrating a connection with a real or imagined scene partner (i.e. who you are speaking to?), projected imagery, and specific fourth wall focal points.
Making a Body/Voice Connection. (Are you filling the space vocally, energetically, and in connection with your body? Can we understand you?)

Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Audition – 2025 Audition Rounds

Preliminary Round

The preliminary round will perform live, IN-PERSON, at the Regional Conference, with ONE monologue and ONE scene (with a time limit of 4 minutes, total). Students will receive feedback from the faculty respondents in the preliminary round.

Performed LIVE at conference: One monologue and one scene – time limit of 4 minutes total.

Students (auditionee and partner) must have a paid registration to participate.
Students will have the use of 2 chairs and a table.
Minimal hand props are allowed but must be brought on and off by the actors easily.
Timing of the audition will begin with the first action or word in character following the setup and introduction and will not stop from that point onward.
Students will receive feedback from faculty respondents.
Semi-Finalists will be announced at the Regional Conference.

Semi-Final Round

Semi-finalists will perform live, IN-PERSON, at the Regional Conference, with ONE monologue and ONE scene (Same package as the preliminary round, with a time limit of 4 minutes, total). Semi-finalists will receive feedback from the Semi-Final Round Selectors.

Performed LIVE at conference: One monologue and one scene – time limit of 4 minutes total (Same package as the preliminary round).

Students will have the use of 2 chairs and a table.
Minimal hand props are allowed but must be brought on and off by the actors easily.
Timing of the audition will begin with the first action or word in character following the setup and introduction and will not stop from that point onward.
Students will receive feedback from Semi-Final Round Selectors.
Finalists (sixteen students) will be announced at the Regional Conference.

Final Round

Finalists (sixteen students) will perform live, IN-PERSON, at the Regional Conference, with ONE monologue and ONE scene (Same package as the preliminary and semi-final rounds, with a time limit of 4 minutes, total). Finalists will receive feedback from the Final Round Selectors.

Performed LIVE at conference: One monologue and one scene – time limit of 4 minutes total (Same package as the preliminary and semi-final rounds).

Students will have the use of 2 chairs and a table.
Minimal hand props are allowed but must be brought on and off by the actors easily.
Timing of the audition will begin with the first action or word in character following the setup and introduction and will not stop from that point onward.
Students will receive feedback from Final Round Selectors.

Other Information

Ryan participants will still be able to partner with ONE other Ryan participant, BUT must use a DIFFERENT scene for each package.
Singing will not be allowed. It is recommended that those interested in singing explore the Musical Theatre Intensive.
Students and/or faculty advisors are responsible for making sure rights, royalties, and permissions are adhered to when selecting material.
Please Note: Concord Theatricals is Samuel French, Inc.
Rules regarding Rights, Royalties, Slating, Timekeeping, uses of Props and Furniture will remain from previous years and can be found at the link below.
Irene Ryan Auditions: Additional Information
The National Scholarship format will be the same as the Regional Final Round. If public health circumstances dictate, the national format may be revised.

Self-Submissions

To create the most equitable opportunity for students, schools will be permitted to submit as many self-submissions as they deem necessary. However, due to the high volume of Irene Ryan nominees in Region 8 and the combination of Region 7 into our conference (formerly festival) this year, if more than 3 self-submissions per school are entered, a panel of selectors will select a maximum of 3 students from that school.

Self-Submission Applications Begin: December 2, 2024

Self-Submission Applications Deadline: December 16, 2024

Please use the link below to fill out your Self-Submission form.

Self-Submission Form

Please note: If there is a high volume of schools that utilize the self-submissions, there may be a need for another round of selections, from the 3 students per school, in order to accommodate the schedule for the in-person preliminary round at this year’s conference.

Eligibility

Only those performers who are bona fide students during the conference year are eligible. For the purpose of these awards, a bona fide student is:

An undergraduate student* registered for at least six semester or equivalent quarter hours;
A graduate student* registered for at least three semester or equivalent quarter hours;
Or a continuing part-time student* enrolled in a regular degree or certificate program.

*Undergraduate, graduate, and continuing part-time students must be matriculating and pursuing a degree at the time of the KCACTF official response. The chair of the theatre department (or their delegate) must verify the candidate and partner’s bona fide student status.

All scene partners must have been a bona fide student at the time of the initial KCACTF response or during the term in which the regional conference occurs. Nominees and their partners need not be students at the same institution.