Blinn-Brenham production of 'Medea' earns acting, technical awards at Play Festival

Blinn receives the only Superior rating at the Texas Community Speech and Theatre Association contest

March 7, 2024

The Blinn College-Brenham Campus Theatre Arts Program production of the Greek tragedy “Medea” was a hit at the 2024 Texas Community College Speech and Theatre Association Play Festival, winning the festival’s only Superior rating.

Blinn won 17 technical and acting awards at last week’s festival at Lee College in Baytown, including the Sherri Ryan White Outstanding Ensemble Award, an honor given annually to the cast that exemplifies the qualities of exceptional ensemble work in the performance of a play.

Samantha Nolen, who had the title role in “Medea,” received the Bill Morton Challenge Award given to a student performer who has encountered specific and exceptional challenges in a performance. Nolen also received a Superior acting award and won Best Performer (Professor’s Choice and Audience Choice).

Other cast members receiving Superior acting awards were the Chorus of Women (Aidan Johnson, Lily Marrs, Bianca O’Neal, Ana Soto, Steve Torres, and Y’Lila Willis), and Benedite Trecy (Nurse). Ryan Kendall won an Excellent acting award (Respondents’ Choice) for his role as Jason.

Luke Parker received a Superior award (Respondents’ Choice) for sound design, and Technical Theatre Arts Director Kevin Patrick earned a Superior award in technical achievement (Respondents’ Choice) for projection design.

Parker (sound design), Fabian Carranza (lighting design), Eric Cruz (choral stage management), Peyton Jolly (makeup design), Madison Manchester (production stage management), and Trecy (wig construction) received Excellent awards in technical presentation (Professors’ Choice).

Productions are presented at the festival assembly and receive verbal responses from two theatre educators. Respondents to Blinn’s production were Kenn McLaughlin, artistic director for Stages Repertory Theatre in Houston; and Kalliope Vlahos, assistant professor of technical direction at the University of Houston.

Blinn-Brenham Theatre Arts will close out its 2023-24 season “Year of the Supernatural” with “The Yellow Wallpaper,” 7 p.m. April 18 and 19, and 2 p.m. April 20 and 21.

Performances will be held at the Dr. W.W. O’Donnell Performing Arts Center. The program’s improvisation troupe “Slaphappy” will perform April 4 at 7 p.m. at the O’Donnell Center.

Tickets to each performance are $10 for adults and $5 for Blinn students and children. They are available online at www.blinn.edu/boxoffice, by calling 979-830-4024, or emailing boxoffice@blinn.edu.

Blinn’s Theatre Arts Program cultivates a quality educational foundation of study, application, and experience through a wide range of performance, technical, and production studies. Its Associate of Arts degree plan integrates artistic, technical, and academic disciplines of theatre from the classroom to the stage. Students have an opportunity to audition for a variety of performances related to drama and theatre, and are prepared to transfer to four-year colleges and universities. For more information, visit www.blinn.edu/theatre.