ASTC finishes season with awards for students

The American Southwest Theatre Company concluded its 2023-24 theatrical season with the closure of its musical production, “The Addams Family” at the end of April followed by annual awards for New Mexico State University theater students on May 9.

ASTC is a non-profit theater company based at the university working closely with NMSU’s theater department with its department head, Wil Kilroy, serving as ASTIC’s managing director and treasurer. The company was founded in 1984 by Bruce Streett and Mark Medoff, with faculty members serving as resident company members who teach courses, direct and lead mainstage productions and also work professionally in the field. ASTC also brings in guest artists, paid for by the nonprofit.

Kilroy presented this year’s awards to the following honorees, per a news release:

• Liliana Tuda: Hershel Zohn Award for outstanding senior
• Edward Isaac Goldstein: Overall academic excellence award
• Ensemble and orchestra of “The Addams Family:” Meritorious achievement in execution of a musical score, from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival
• Arleth Lopez: Outstanding technician overall
• Okalani Venture: Best stage manager (for “The Addams Family”); best student design award (for “As You Like It”); KCACTF award for assisting stage managing
• Costume/wig/makeup crew of “The Addams Family:” Meritorious achievement in collaboration and craftsmanship, from KCACTF.

Best leading performance awards

Karen Shaw (“Carmela Full of Wishes”)

Eliza Phillips (“As You Like It”)

Carlos Huereca (“The Addams Family”)

Best supporting performance awards

Dominick Zimmerman (“Carmela Full of Wishes”)

Mario Montiel (“As You Like It”)

Camren Vugteveen (“The Addams Family”)

High Desert Play Festival awards

Rachel Maze, best performance of an excerpt or monologue

Asian Chavez, Carlos Huereca, best performances in a full-length festival play

Eva Cullen, best performance in a musical

Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival awards

Austin Reeve, Delany Dwyer, Mattie Ruminer, Angelique Reagan, Rachel Maze; meritorious achievement

“As You Like It” production ensemble, excellence in ensemble work

2024-25 Theatre Department scholarship recipients

Athena McPeake, Angelique Reagan, Eliza Phillips, Vance Cook, Indira Devi

Bravo Awards

Board president Denise Welsh was honored for her years of service to ASTC and the department, along with Heather Pollard, a founding board member and continuing advocate for NMSU theater students; Katie Mayers for student advocacy; and Monica Mojica, a teacher for the department and a director during the past season.

ASTC announces 2024-25 season

Kilroy announced the next season’s selections for ASTIC and the department, which include: “Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors,” written by Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen, to be directed by faculty member Nichole Hamilton; “Mother Courage and her Children,” a 1939 drama by Bertolt Brecht, to be directed by faculty member Larissa Lury; a third play that remained unnamed as NMSU awaits performance rights; and “The Prom,” a musical scored by Matthew Sklar with a book by Bob Martin and Chad Beguelin and lyrics by Beguelin, to be directed by Kilroy.