Two Purdue theater graduate students win national awards

Sound designer Jason Knox and lighting designer Anthony Galaska were the Purdue winners at the festival, which drew the top finishers from eight regional competitions across the country. The festival took place April 17-23 in Washington, D.C.

Knox, a master of fine arts candidate from La Crosse, Wis., won the first-place award in the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival sound design competition. He also received a fellowship to attend the Williamstown Theatre Festival as resident sound assistant. The acclaimed festival, known for offering film stars opportunities to return to their roots as classical theater actors, is located on the Williams College campus in Massachusetts.

Anthony Galaska, a master of fine arts candidate from Slinger, Wis., received the third-place award in the Barbizon Award for Excellence in Lighting Design competition. He will be designing for the New Jersey Shakespeare Theatre and the Texas Shakespeare Festival this summer before joining the faculty at Purdue.

The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, started in 1969, is a national theater education program that identifies and promotes quality in college-level theater production. This year, more than 18,000 students nationwide took part in the festival. Since its inception, the festival has given more than 400,000 college theater students the opportunity to have their work critiqued, improve their dramatic skills and receive national recognition for excellence.

Writer: Christy Jones, (765) 494-1089, christyjones@purdue.edu

Source: Russ Jones, theatre department chair, (765) 494-3081, russjones@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

To the News Service home page