Eastern Mennnonite University’s opera “Noye’s Fludde” has won several Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival accolades. The festival is the preeminent university theater program in the United States.
The Benjamin Britten opera, directed by theater professor Justin Poole with music direction by professor James Richardson, was performed in early April in Lehman Auditorium.
Among those accolades is a recommendation for the production to be an “Invited Production” at the KCACTF Region 2 Festival in January 2023 in West Chester, Pa.
Poole says the recommendation was “a big deal and unexpected.”
Invited productions are “the pinnacle of what university theater has to offer,” Poole explained, “so it would be thrilling to be selected. We’ll learn more in December.”
The entire cast and crew received a KCACTF Certificate of Merit for “Community Ensemble,” a category that reflects the high degree of collaboration.
Assistant directors Elizabeth Eby, Anna Hoover, and Greta Schrag also received Certificates of Merit.
Additionally, Isaac Longacre, who played Noye, was nominated to participate in the Musical Theater Initiative, a special opportunity to compete for a national fellowship.
Reah Clymer as Mrs. Noye, Elizabeth Eby as Raven/Dove, Avery Trinh as The Voice of God/Son, and Greta Schrag as The Voice of God/Holy Spirit are nominees to the Irene Ryan Acting competition.
The last EMU production to be invited to KCACTF was “The 39 Steps” in 2018. That production and several others have resulted in many individuals earning nominations and awards at the regional and national levels.
