On Feb. 7th in Montgomery, Alabama, Roanoke College swept the award ceremony at this year\u2019s annual Region 4
\nAmerican College Theatre Festival; also known as \u201cACTF\u201d for short. Three notable students in particular won astonishing
\nfirst place prizes in their respective categories, practically unheard of. This was a tiny department with a limited budget
\nagainst humongous universities with MFA programs across the entire southeast area of the country, and yet, Roanoke College managed to make a notable impression across them all.<\/p>\n
To celebrate this momentous occasion, I\u2019ve had the pleasure of interviewing senior Kennedy Swineford, junior Bella Testerman, and junior Allison Dunnegan about their ACTF experience and theatric processes.<\/p>\n
Junior Bella Testerman is a biology major and Spanish minor with a knack for historical research. Able to pull out historical context of a production by the drop of a hat, she\u2019s earned the Program Note Award for Ten-Minute Play Festival. Out of every ten-minute play organized at the festival, her intuitive research and compelling program came out on top. Here\u2019s what she had to say in her recent interview:<\/p>\n
Q: What were your first initial thoughts and feelings upon winning the ten-minute play category for dramaturgy? How would such a win impact your future?<\/b> <\/span><\/p>\n Q: What was your process to prepare for ten-minute plays? Were there any specific strategies you used?<\/b> Q: What\u2019s your history\/background with dramaturgy? How did it become your passion, and is it a potential career path for you?<\/b> <\/span><\/p>\n Q: What was your experience like attending your first ACTF festival?<\/b> <\/b><\/p>\n Q: Did Roanoke College Theatre have an impact towards your growth in dramaturgy? If so, what are some examples?<\/b> <\/b><\/p>\n Q: What are your next steps after such an accomplishment?<\/b> <\/b><\/p>\n Q: If you could talk to your younger self, what advice\/statements would you tell her?<\/b> <\/b><\/p>\n Q: Any closing comments or people who\u2019d like to thank?<\/b> \u201cLocal church theatre group, and was asked to join since it was really small. Then doing it since Godspell, their first production before COVID-19. Once I turned 18, I did stage management and directing.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Zachary Bayers<\/p>\n Editor-in-Chief<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On Feb. 7th in Montgomery, Alabama, Roanoke College swept the award ceremony at this year\u2019s annual Region 4 American College Theatre Festival; also known as \u201cACTF\u201d for short. Three notable students in particular won astonishing first place prizes in their respective categories, practically unheard of. This was a tiny department with a limited budget against […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":8761,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","category-sunday-special"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Untitled-7-x-5-in.jpg.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brackety-ack.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/b>
\n<\/b>\u201c<\/b>Shocked, I didn\u2019t think I was going to win an award. Not sure if it would impact my future, but this reflects my passion for research, and I enjoy participating in my love for theatre.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/b>
\n<\/b>\u201c<\/b>I started off by doing a glossary, then character analysis for the characters in the scene. Further on, it helped me develop a program note. I worked with the playwright to reach its final form before presenting it officially.\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/b>
\n<\/b>\u201c<\/b>It started over the summer because I helped do a little bit of dramaturgy for Shrek Jr, and I was familiar with Little Women; so when Nelson reached out for dramaturgy I was interested. Not sure if I would do it for a full time profession, but if a local theatre needs help, I\u2019m willing to reach out.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/b>
\n<\/b>\u201c<\/b>It was really great! I loved seeing the diversity in the shows, and I think it was a really great opportunity to see shows with deeper topics and mature topics that you don\u2019t commonly see anywhere else\u2013 especially productions such as <\/span>Camp Logan<\/span><\/i>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/b>
\n<\/b>\u201c<\/b>I definitely think so. Having previous examples of <\/span>A Monster Calls<\/span><\/i> [past Roanoke College theatre production] helped me, Nelson was very helpful towards what I should focus on. Then writing the notes for Little Women, asking the cast questions, and what the cast wanted from their characters more so really helped me grow in dramaturgy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/b>
\n<\/b>\u201c<\/b>I have to do more dramaturgical work next semester for a play, and I got feedback from ACTF on how I can make my research better. This summer I\u2019m going to be helping a local theatre Willis Players, helping the kids know what to research about their characters.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/b>
\n<\/b>\u201c<\/b>Be confident. Keep up with theatre, you\u2019ll find your people there!\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/b>
\n<\/span>\u201cMy family. They\u2019ve always supported me and my theatre endeavors. And the department for giving me endless resources and opportunities. Dr. Carlson-Jaquez [theatre professor at Willis Players] helped me do theatre and grow as a more confident person.\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Note: Dr. Carlson-Jaquez is a professor in theatre at Willis Players<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Relationship with Willis Players<\/b><\/p>\n