Exceptional performances in Lawrence University’s recent production of Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale” have earned students Brendan Marshall-Rashid and Matt Murphy invitations to the 2004 Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Competition as part of the annual American College Theatre Festival.
Marshall-Rashid, a senior from Petoskey, Mich., and Murphy, a sophomore from Eagan, Minn., will be among 200 student actors participating in the five-state regional competition January 13-18, 2004 at Illinois State University in Normal, Ill.
In Lawrence’s four-show production staged last month, Marshall-Rashid played the leading role of Polixenes, the King of Bohemia, while Murphy portrayed Autolycus, a vagrant thief who ends up aiding the princess of Sicilia and the prince of Bohemia.
Participants in the regional acting audition vie for two $500 scholarships and the chance to advance to the ACTF’s national auditions at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., next spring.
The ACTF was founded in 1969 to recognize and celebrate the finest and most exciting work produced in college theatre programs and provide opportunities for participants to develop their theatre skills. Conducted since 1972, the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship was established in the will of the late actress, best known for her role as the lovable and feisty Granny Clampett on the TV hit show “The Beverly Hillbillies.”
