Twenty State Fair Community College students attended the Region 5 American College Theater Festival in January, earning top honors and recognition for performance and technical work.

The week long festival brought together colleges and universities from Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota. Students competed in performance and design events, participated in workshops and attended productions from across the region.

Gwen Smith, a freshman pursuing an associate degree in art, received the Region 5 Publicity Recognition Award, earned first place in the publicity category at the Design, Technology and Management Expo. Brady Morgan and Jon Molin were selected to perform in the Musical Theatre Intensive Showcase. Their duet was one of four group or duet numbers chosen from regional submissions to perform at the festival. In addition to performing, they workshopped their piece with theater professionals.

Aalayah Kirkpatrick advanced to the semifinal round of the Irene Ryan Acting Competition, placing among the top 64 performers out of approximately 300 participants. She competed with scene partner Landon Pierce.

In addition to individual honors, the SFCC Theatre Program received 15 Certificates of Merit from regional respondents for productions staged during the 2025 academic year.

-For “The Grown-Ups,” recognitions were awarded for ensemble performance; Angelica Wall for stage management; Tim Hill for sound design; Sydney Bussey for costume, hair and makeup design; and Antonio Taylor for scenic and properties design.
-For “Alice by Heart,” Ross Owen received recognition for costume design and Ariel Giles for makeup design.
-For “As You Like It,” Kristen Henning was recognized for direction, Berry Raeth for costume design and Tim Hill for scenic design.
-For “Elephant & Piggie’s ‘We Are in a Play!,’” recognitions included ensemble acting; Raigan Braley for properties master; and Dana Goosen, Karigan Skiba and Lore Fox for choreography.

The American College Theater Festival is a national theatre program involving approximately 18,000 students annually. Since its inception, the program has provided hundreds of thousands of college theatre students opportunities to have their work critiqued, strengthen their skills and receive national recognition for excellence.