RIT and NTID Performing Arts students earn honors

RIT and NTID students brought home awards and honors from the annual Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival

Alexa Scott-Flaherty

RIT School of Performing Arts and NTID Performing Arts Department took honors at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival .

Students from RIT’s School of Performing Arts and NTID’s Department of Performing Arts brought home awards and honors from the annual Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF). One of eight regional competitions draws students from theater programs nationwide, faculty, students, and interpreters traveled to Pittsburgh, for a chance to advance to the national competition in April. This is the eighth year in which RIT students have completed in a range of categories from acting to dramaturgy.

  • Ace Gray, an English major from Silver Spring, Maryland, won the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship, the festival’s top acting award. This marks Gray’s second consecutive win, and included a monologue and scene performed with their scene partner, Sarah Appel, an applied arts and sciences major from Austin, Texas.  Ace is now eligible to complete at Nationals for KCACTF in April 2025.
  • Alison Maselek, an ASL-English interpretation major from Sewell, New Jersey, earned two top honors: the Student Dramaturgy Award and the Musical Theatre Initiative Award. Alison is now eligible to complete at Nationals for KCACTF in April 2025.
  • Catherine Hampp, a mechanical engineering graduate from Apalachin, New York, won the Jay Duckworth Award for Properties. Catherine is now pursuing an MFA in technical production at Boston University.
  • Emily Ohl, an industrial design major from Dayton, Maryland, earned second place in Costume Design.
  • Mac Leong, an applied arts and sciences major from Herndon, Virginia, received an Honorable Mention for the DTM/RED Stage Management Championing Accessibility for Those On- and Off- Stage award.
  • Pierre-Ilias Arzimanoglou, a 3D digital graphics major from Fontaines-Saint-Martin, France, was named runner-up for the Open Jar Institute Dance Scholarship award.

“Our student’s incredible success at this year’s KCACTF is a testament to the strength of RIT’s performing arts ecosystem, our dedicated faculty and the exceptional talent of our Performing Arts Scholarship Program. Our students continue to compete with—and surpass—the best from major programs nationwide, ” said Erica Haskell, director of the School of Performing Arts.

A majority of those earning recognition this year are Performing Arts Scholars. Established in 2019, the scholarship program is designed for non-performing arts majors chosen to engage in the performing arts at a high level throughout their time on campus.


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