UI Theatre Performance student takes alternate to first place for acting at theater festival
Kara Billington
Argonaut
Kylee Teal, a second year Theatre Performance B.F.A. student at the University of Idaho, came home with two Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship awards from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF) last week.After her first time competing in the weeklong festival, Teal was awarded the Mark Twain Comedy Award and she is the Irene Ryan Regional Alternate.
Teal was one of 250 students from universities around the Northwest nominated to participate in the Irene Ryan competition at KCACTF.
For this competition, nominees choose two scenes and one monologue or song to present, said Teal, who picked the song “The Girl Who Drove Away” from the musical “The Unauthorized Autobiography of Samantha Brown” and scenes from the plays “The Kiss” and one of her favorites, “Belleville.”
While the song was a solo act, Teal didn’t have to take the stage alone for her scenes. With her acting partner and best friend Tanner Collier by her side, she said she was able to focus on having a good time.
“My favorite part (of the competition) was doing it with Tanner,” she said. “I had so much fun with it because I got to do it with my best friend.”
Teal says she owes her scene and song selections to her friends and classmates as they inspired and encouraged her in her choices.
“The song I did was actually per request of Hunter Price,” she said. “‘Belleville’ happened because it’s a favorite of, of Tanner and I.”
She also said she picked “The Kiss” because she thought it would be the most fun to do with Collier.
Throughout the week, students like Teal attended workshops and auditioned in front of judges, receiving feedback and sometimes, facing criticism and doubt.
Teal said she experienced this firsthand and found it to be one of the hardest parts of the competition.
“Being told that this would be a good experience for me but that I wouldn’t get anywhere with it was one of the hardest parts,” she said.
Despite the criticism and doubt, Teal said she still had fun, learned some invaluable lessons and was able to do very well.
“I learned to stay humble through all this and to just have fun with it,” she said. “I’m not one of those people who has to win it all, I just wanted to have fun.”
Having fun was the most important take-away of the competition she said.
“At some points I’d psych myself out and I’d have to remind myself that this is just a chance to share my work with others,” she said.
She also attributes much of her success to her partner, Collier, and their close friendship.
“Tanner and I have such a deep bond that when we were up there, none of it felt fake, it felt natural and it was so easy to be with him,” she said.
Teal will be ready to attend the KCACTF National Festival April 16 to 22 in Washington, D.C. if she is called upon as an alternate.
Kara Billington can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @K_Billington3