Benjamon Fye, a senior double majoring in theatre and communication, and Zachary Rupp, a senior majoring in theatre, were awarded certificates of merit at The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (region two).
They were recognized in the Film Recording/Editing/Production category for their work
on "The Marowitz Hamlet" and in the Video Control and Preparation category for "Hate
Mail."
KCACTF certificates of merit are given for extraordinary achievement in design and
technical areas, directing, state management, dramaturgy playwriting, ensemble acting,
costume running and acting.
"Ben and Zach have been outstanding students during their four years at Clarion," said Ed Powers. "Before we started the fall 2020 semester, knowing the limits of COVID regulations, the theatre program had to come up with options to present our production. When the university went full remote, we had to come up with a streaming option."
Like many theatre programs, Clarion chose the Zoom platform for productions. They used the streaming software OBS to record the production, then combined the recordings through editing.
"With Ben's experience with his dual major and Zach already having a thorough knowledge of OBS because of his computer gaming experience, both were perfect choices to do the recording work on the productions," Powers said. "Ben and Zach worked very hard to make this success happen; we could not have done it without them."
Fye is from Woodland, Pennsylvania, and Rupp is from Nottingham, Maryland.