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CONTACT: Royal Brantley, 806-651-2813, rbrantley@wtamu.edu
CANYON, Texas—West Texas A&M University’s theater season may have been cut short, but students still had plenty to celebrate at the department’s annual banquet.
The BIT Awards banquet was held virtually on May 9, recognizing outstanding students and performances in the four productions staged before response to the spread of COVID-19 caused school to move online and public events, including April’s scheduled staging of “Kiss Me, Kate,” to be postponed.
“Though cut short by the pandemic, WTAMU Theatre enjoyed another banner year,” said Director of Theatre Royal R. Brantley. “In addition to the successful stagings of ‘Songs for a New World,’ ‘Our Town,’ ‘Ada and the Engine’ and ‘Everybody,” we advanced to the Region VI finals of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival with our production of ‘Ada.’ This was the fourth year in a row that a production from WT advanced to regionals, a feat few programs have achieved.
“Best of all, ‘Ada’ won the Director’s Cup for Best Production at the 2020 KCACTF Region VI Festival,” Brantley said.
Faculty members selected winners in 13 performance and technical categories, as well as achievement awards in seven categories.
Winners are:
- Best Actor: Adam Hainsel, senior from Lubbock, for “Ada and the Engine”
- Best Actress: Coco Cummings, junior from Tahoka, for “Our Town”
- Best Supporting Actor: Joseph Ward, junior from Andrews, for “Our Town”
- Best Supporting Actress: Sophia Johnson, senior from Lubbock, for “Ada and the Engine”
- Best Featured Actor: Conner Unwin, freshman from Amarillo, for “Ada and the Engine”
- Best Featured Actress: Kelsey Landry, senior from Bushland, for “Ada and the Engine”
- Best Scenic Design: Caitlynn Sandoval, senior from San Antonio, for “Ada and the Engine”
- Best Lighting Design: Haley Anderson, senior from Honolulu, for “Ada and the Engine”
- Best Costume Design: Jonathan Tovar, senior from Burleson, for “Everybody”
- Best Hair & Makeup Design: Tyler Garrison, senior from Cypress, for “Our Town”
- Best Properties Design: Caitlen Richison, senior from Wichita Falls, for “Ada and the Engine”
- Best Sound Design: Hanna Green, senior from Canyon, for “Everybody”
- Best Stage Management: Topanga Begnaud, junior from San Antonio, for “Ada and the Engine”
Achievement award winners were:
- Acting: Derek McDaniel, senior from San Antonio
- Musical Theatre: Caitlen Richison, senior from Wichita Falls
- Design and Technology: Cydnee Augesen, junior from Canyon
- Theatre Education: Alison Hainer, senior from Amarillo
- Overall: Anna Holmes, senior from Lubbock, and Brice Brockmann, senior from Guymon, Okla.
Additional awards included:
- Treston Johnson Spirit Award: Abbi Roe, junior from Gallup, N.M.
- New Theatre Buff Award: Devon Patch, junior from Trinidad
The 2020-21 season will include “Vintage Hitchcock,” “Kiss Me, Kate,” “The Caucasian Chalk Circle,” “Phaedra” and “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”
—WTAMU—