From Feb. 17-21, 2026, three undergraduate theatre students from the Department of Theatre and Dance, part of the School of the Arts in the College of Liberal Arts at the ÍƼöÐÓ°ÉÔ´´, traveled to Pasco, Washington, to attend the 58th annual conference of the , hosted by Columbia Basin College. Region 7 includes states of the Northwest: Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Colorado and Wyoming, along with Hawaii and northern sections of Nevada and California.
The American College Theatre Festival is a national theatre program that involves more than 18,000 students and serves as a driving force for improving the quality of theatre in higher education in the United States. Through competitions, student showcases and workshops, ACTF is one of the only venues for undergraduate research presentation in theatre.
With the support of student travel grants generated by the performing arts fees and additional support from the Office of Undergraduate Research, Ryan Hartley (BA theatre, BA dance ’26), Luis Galvez (BA theatre, BA Pack Teach history ’26) and Benit Hensley (BA theatre, BA psychology ’26) were able to attend the ACTF regional festival and gain national recognition for their successes.
Ryan Davis Hartley took on the role as one of the invited directors for the National Playwriting Program at the American College Theatre Festival in Region 7. He directed one of the 10-minute plays called “Her Glimmers Triggered,” written by Elizabeth Bourassa. The event featured student actors who were cast at the festival and directed by a pool of faculty and graduate students in that same region. Although Hartley is an undergraduate student in his final semester at the ÍƼöÐÓ°ÉÔ´´, he received an award for NPP Excellence in Directing, which separated him from his peers. Hartley has been offered a seat in the MFA program in directing at the University of Essex’s East 15 Acting School and is awaiting a decision from Brooklyn College, CUNY. He continues to carry himself as a creator who values collaboration, inclusion, representation, experimentation and process.
Luis Galvez was also recognized for his research work at the festival. After his involvement as the dramaturg for Reno Little Theater’s production of “The Third Wave” in September 2025, he gathered his original dramaturgical materials along with post-show interviews to present “A Story Worth Telling: Dramaturgical Efficacy of Reno Little Theater’s The Third Wave.” At the festival, he earned the George R. Caldwell Undergraduate Scholarly Initiatives Meritorious Achievement Award for his presentation. After graduating in May, Galvez will pursue a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction with an emphasis in theatre pedagogy at Southeast Oklahoma State University. Beyond this work, he continues to pursue a career of teaching and creating that will change the world one story at a time.
Benit Hensley participated in the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship auditions, a competition involving more than 150 participants. Among these competitors, Hensley advanced to the final round, consisting of only 16 people. The competition involves presenting a scene and monologue from a play of the participant’s choice. Hensley performed a monologue from “The Little Flower of East Orange” by Stephen Adly Guirgis and a scene from “This Is Our Youth” by Kenneth Lonergan, with Galvez as his scene partner. He was awarded a six-week internship with AJ Links Casting, a two-time Emmy Award-winning company known for its work on shows such as “The Bear.”
While the Department of Theatre and Dance does not have an official affiliation with the American College Theatre Festival, formerly known as the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, the work of these students is a strong representation of the level of skill and rigor developed in the performing arts programs at the ÍƼöÐÓ°ÉÔ´´. The work in these departments is never simply putting on a show, which is not a simple task by any means. It is a constant engagement of refining and showcasing performance as research at the highest caliber at this R1 institution, even at the undergraduate level.
