SIU WILL HOST AMERICAN COLLEGE THEATER

CARBONDALE Ill. Southern Illinois University at Carbondale will host the 24th annual American College Theater Festival Jan. 8-12 for region 3.

The festival is sponsored nationally by the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. and is designed to promote excellence in college-level theater production. The region 3 festival includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Students from colleges and universities in the five states will compete for awards and scholarships in acting, design, criticism and playwriting. In addition, the festival hosts workshops and exhibits which feature several guest lecturers.

Among the guests attending the festival are Asaad Kelada, director of several television series including "Designing Women" and "Family Ties," Michael Halifax, honorary director on the board of the English Shakespeare Company, and John Ezell, Broadway designer who lists among his many credits designs for the New York Shakespeare Festival.

Seven full-scale productions will be produced in Shryock Auditorium, and one or more might be selected to compete nationally at the Kennedy Center.

The plays to be performed in Carbondale are "Ghetto" from Ball State University; "Word" from Eastern Michigan University; "`Tis Pity She's a Whore" from Indiana State University; "And the Man in the Mirror Was Smoking a Cigar" from Michigan State University; "Along the Yellow Breeches" from the University of Evansville; "The Conquest of My Brother" from Western Illinois University; and "The Glass Menagerie" from Wright State University.

All performances are open to the public. For ticket information, call the Shryock Auditorium box office at (618) 453-2787.