Miami University junior theatre and East Asian languages and culture major Rachel Conaway-Bennison, from Oxford, took top honors in a Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF) regional competition. She won first prize in the design project costume design competition — her second consecutive win.

The KCACTF Region Three competition was held Jan. 8-13 in Milwaukee, hosted by Marquette University and Cardinal Stritch University.  Festival entries were submitted from graduate and undergraduate students in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio.

Conaway-Bennison’s design for Euripides’ “Medea” was judged the best by a panel of three professional theatre designers and a professional director.  Her design was selected from among 26 costume design entries by graduate and undergraduate students.

“For the last few years I’ve been working with the KCACTF Design competitions, I haven’t seen a student win in consecutive years when the judges had been entirely different teams,” said Gion DeFrancesco, associate professor and scene designer in the department of theatre.  “Both years, the judges have noted Rachel’s high skill level at rendering and the translation of her conceptual thought about character into strong costume choices.  She clearly has a great passion for what she does.”

Senior theatre and zoology major James Lees was selected from a pool of eight candidates from across the region to serve as production stage manager for the KCACTF 10-Minute Play Festival.  “At Miami, James has shown great finesse at the art of stage managing,” said DeFrancesco.  “His organization and management skills really came through, and everyone who worked with him at the Festival had nothing but praise.”

Junior theatre and English literature major Taylor Fenderbosch was named a finalist for the KCACTF Stage Management Award, part of the National Stage Management competition.