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Department of Theatre 2020 Awards

Department Honors for Undergraduate Theses

  • Jane Emma Davidson Barnett
    Selective Employment of Shakespearean Original Pronunciation: An Actor’s Exploration of Its Impact on Contemporary Meaning and Performance
  • Eli Sean Cohen
    Queer Representation in Contemporary Musical Theatre
  • Rachel “Rae” Covey
    Noise: Researching and Writing a New Musical
  • Sarah “Harley” Kirchhoff
    A Ribbon Play: An Exploration of Detached Sexuality in a Theatrical Space
  • Nicolas Miller
    Pink Triangles
  • Jacquelyn Tepper
    What Do You Call Spontaneous Dance? A Deeper Inquiry into the Semantics and Contextual Nuances within the Various Terminology Delineations of Non-choreographed, Free-Form Dance

Departmental Excellence Award for Undergraduate Students

Recognizes selected students from all four undergraduate classes with strong academic records and outstanding records in theatre production and design

First-Year

  • Gabriela Coutinho
  • Sunnie Eraso
  • Jonyca Jiao
  • Harrison Lewis

Second-Year

  • Martina Cavard
  • Tyler Felson
  • Claire Kwon
  • Samara Malik
  • Yama Pouye
  • Hope Valls

Junior

  • Erin Claeys
  • Jonathan Connolly
  • Delia Cunningham
  • Jacob Leaf
  • Amy Prochaska

Senior

  • Tucker DeGregory
  • Hannah Hakim
  • Taris Hoffman
  • Eleanor Levine
  • Sam Linda
  • Felicia Oduh

Department Award for Excellence in Acting: New York Showcase

Students selected to participate in a New York showcase for agents and casting directors

  • Rekhia Adams
  • Jane Emma Barnett
  • Ty Doran
  • Ryan Foreman
  • Daisy Garrison
  • Lydia Hartman
  • Holly Hinchliffe
  • Alfredo Mauricio
  • Felicia Oduh
  • Tuuli Sandvold
  • Hale Stewart
  • Calvin Ticknor-Swanson
  • Ross Turkington
  • Jacob Wallack
  • Brooks Whitlock

Department Award for Excellence in Music Theatre: New York Showcase

Students selected to participate in a New York showcase for agents and casting directors

  • Emma Griffone
  • Hannah Hakim
  • Holly Hinchliffe
  • Pablo Laucerica
  • Sam Linda
  • Alison Martin
  • Morgan Mastrangelo
  • Carly Mazer
  • Clare McLaughlin
  • Mialejandra Nevarez
  • Lucette Panush
  • Emma Rothfield
  • Rory Schrobilgen
  • Calvin Ticknor-Swanson
  • Natalie Welch
  • Olivia Worley

Aurand Harris Award

Awarded to honor excellence in children’s theatre; established in 1998 to honor the late Aurand Harris (C39), who became the most decorated and produced children’s playwright in America

  • Tucker DeGregory

Agnes Nixon Playwriting Awards

Provides a cash award and a production to winners of the annual playwriting competition, underwritten by a trust fund established to help playwrights by Northwestern alumna Agnes Nixon, an extremely prolific television writer who created or served as head writer for numerous daytime serials

  • Michael Abber
  • Nate Hollander
  • Anthony Roytman
  • Valen-Marie Santos

Susan Rae Anderson Vetrono and Clarke J. Vetrono Scholarship

Presented to an outstanding theatre student with an interest in children’s theatre

  • Sophia Danielle-Grenier

Winifred Ward Award

Presented by Zeta Phi Eta to a student interested in creative dramatics; honors the memory of Winifred Ward, a School of Communication faculty member from 1918 to 1950, who cofounded one of the first US children’s theatres and made creative dramatics a new discipline in American education

  • Farrah Sklar

Waa-Mu Awards

Ken Cornwall Award

Presented to a student who has shown excellence in technical theatre; honors longtime Cahn Auditorium technical director Ken Cornwall, who retired in 2000

  • Sophia Barron

Keith Everett Service Award

Presented to an individual or group associated with military or community service

  • Mikey Walden

John and Marietta Paynter Music Award

Presented to students who have made an outstanding contribution in creating and/or performing music for Waa-Mu; honors the late John P. Paynter, Waa-Mu conductor and music director from 1954 to 1994, and his late wife, a longtime Waa-Mu supporter

  • Ruchir Khazanchi
  • Saoirse Lee

Sarah Siddons Society Scholarship

Awarded to a junior who shows promise for a career in professional music theatre; presented by the Sarah Siddons Society, which annually recognizes outstanding performers in Chicago theatre and awards scholarships to DePaul University, Columbia College Chicago, and Northwestern theatre students

  • Remy Laifer

Bernie Yvon Spirit Award

Presented to a student who has made an outstanding contribution to acting in Waa-Mu; honors the late Bernie Yvon (C86)

  • Ryan Foreman