KCPT Scholarship Awards Program

Applications are are no longer being accepted for 2010.  Applications for 2011 will be accepted beginning in early 2011.  Information will be posted here.

• Net proceeds from the Key City Playhouse Lobby Bar go to the KCPT Scholarship Awards fund.
• Our 2010 awards were funded in part by the Port Townsend Kiwanis Club.

Our 2010 scholarship awards

Key City Public Theatre presented its 2010 scholarship awards to three young theatre artists at its annual meeting on May 5th. Receiving the awards were Rosaletta Curry, Kellyn Traenkenschuh, and Rose Burt.  This year's scholarships were funded in part by The Port Townsend Kiwanis Club.

Kellyn Traenkenschuh, a senior at Port Townsend High School, received $250. She will be attending the University of Washington to study acting and hair and make-up design. This is the first award given to a student whose work at KCPT has been primarily backstage. Traenkenschuh has been a hair and make-up artist for three “Shakespeare in the Park” productions and will do the same for this summer’s presentation of “The Tempest.” She participated in the 2009 TeenLab program as a writer/performer, and worked both on and off stage in KCPT’s recently-completed run of “The Seagull.”

Rose Burt, a junior at PTHS, received $100 to help her attend Carnegie Mellon University’s musical theatre program this summer. This is the first time a KCPT scholarship has been awarded to support a student’s pre-college theatre training. Burt is currently appearing in PTHS’s production of “Oliver!” At KCPT, she performed the title role in “Blanche and Claude in Seclusion” for the Fourteenth Annual Playwrights’ Festival, and participated in the WordPlay presentation of “Schoolgirl Figure,” an event that triggered the creation of KCPT’s TeenLab program.

Rosaletta Curry, currently a senior at Chimacum High School, received $650. She will be attending Ithaca College this fall, where she has been accepted into the drama and honors programs. At KCPT, she appeared in “The Conference of the Birds,” “As You Like It,” “The Comedy of Errors,” and the Fourteenth Annual Playwrights’ Festival. Curry has been performing since the age of eight, and is now directing a play for her senior project.

The Key City Public Theatre Scholarship Fund makes annual awards to support emerging theater artists who are continuing their education in pursuit of a theater career. Proceeds from refreshments sold at Key City Playhouse help fund the awards.

Past award recipients include local high school graduates Jessica Reid (Shoreline Community College), Torrey Berkson and Ben Rezendes (Stella Adler Studio), Alex Lovett (Cornish College of the Arts), Anna Smith (Adelphi University), Lydia Raymond and Jennifer Ewing (American Academy of Dramatic Arts).
 

General Information -- Key City Public Theatre 2010 Scholarship Program

Emerging theater artists who are continuing their education in pursuit of a theater career are encouraged to apply to the Key City Public Theatre Scholarship Fund.

Scholarships ranging from $500-1,000 are awarded annually to graduating high school students, college students and adult theater artists to support tuition costs. Awards are available to actors, directors and playwrights, as well as set, costume, sound and lighting designers who have participated in a Key City Public Theatre production in one of these capacities.

Scholarship awards are based primarily on the artistic quality of the applicant’s past work, their potential for future excellence and the appropriateness of their continued education toward the individual’s artistic growth.

Artistic Director Denise Winter notes that she has been “thrilled” with the quality of the applicants since the scholarship program was launched in 2006. Past award recipients include local high school graduates Anna Smith (attending Adelphi University), Lydia Raymond (attended American Academy of Dramatic Arts), and Jennifer Ewing (attending American Academy of Dramatic Arts). The 2008 recipients are noted in the photo caption above.

Candidates must be residents of Jefferson or Clallam County. To obtain an application packet:

• Download the PDF file below.

• Or... call Key City Public Theatre at 360-379-0195.

• Or... e-mail feedback@keycitypublictheatre.org.

• Or... send mail to: KCPT Scholarship Awards Committee, P.O. Box 194, Port Townsend, WA 98368.

Proceeds from refreshments sold at Key City Playhouse fund the scholarship awards program. Tax-deductible donations for the Key City Public Theatre Scholarship Fund may be made online or mailed to the above address.

2008

• Torrey Berkson - Stella Adler Studio of Acting, 1st year - $1000 from the Sy Kahn Memorial Scholarship Award
  (generously funded by Janet Baker Kahn).
• Alex Lovett - Cornish College of the Arts, 1st year - $500
• Ben Rezendes - Stella Adler Studio of Acting, 1st year - $500

The first recipient of the Sy Kahn Memorial Scholarship Award

Young actor Torrey Berkson is the first recipient of the Sy Kahn Memorial Scholarship Award for Excellence in the Theatre, from a newly created endowed fund honoring the former Key City Public Theatre president and director who passed away in 2007. The $1,000 award was presented on May 14, 2008 by his widow, Janet Baker Kahn.

Berkson will attend the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York City this fall, along with fellow scholarship winner Ben Rezendes. Rezendes and Alex Lovett, who will attend Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, both received $500 scholarships from the Key City Public Theatre Scholarship Fund to support their drama studies. All three actors are residents of Port Townsend.     

Photo by Shelly Randall / KCPT

2007

• Jennifer Ewing - American Academy of Dramatic Arts NY, 1st year - $500
• Lydia Raymond - American Academy of Dramatic Arts NY, 2nd year - $250
• Anna Smith - Adelphi University, 2nd year - $250

KCPT assists three young women with drama studies in New York City

Key City Players, Port Townsend’s community theatre for nearly 50 years, is pleased to announce that its 2007 scholarship program is supporting the drama studies of three Jefferson County youth in New York City for the 2007-08 school year.

Jennifer Ewing received a $500 award toward her first year at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. A Port Townsend High School senior, Ewing appeared in KCP’s recent production of “Tartuffe” as Damis.

Lydia Raymond is a second-year recipient of a $250 award for her second year at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She appeared in “Extremeties” at KCP and has worked backstage on other productions.

Anna Smith is also a second-year recipient of a $250 award for her second year at Adelphi University. She has appeared in numerous KCP productions, most recently “The Threepenny Opera” and “A Midsummer Night's Dream.”

Scholarships are awarded annually to graduating high school students, college students or theater artists who are continuing their education in the field of drama.

2006

• Lydia Raymond - American Academy of Dramatic Arts NY, 1st year - $250
• Anna Smith - Adelphi University, 1st year - $250