ISU's KCACTF Entry MOTHER COURAGE Cleans Up in National Honors

As you may recall, Illinois State University's production of Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children, directed by Sandra Zielinski, was selected to be performed at the regional level of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. That regional festival was held in January in Michigan.

Mother Courage was a very successful production, one that earned its cast and production staff all kinds of accolades when it first played Westhoff Theatre last October, and again when Mother Courage dragged her cart to Michigan. During the Michigan performance, a national panel of adjudicators watched and evaluated Mother Courage, as they did all the regional selections at all eight regional college theatre festivals. After viewing all of those college productions from all over the country, the national panel selected which shows they wanted to single out for praise and awards, with Mother Courage singled out for some very special honors.

Here's are the awards handed to ISU's Mother Courage by the national Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival judges:

OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION OF A MODERN CLASSIC

DISTINGUISHED DIRECTOR OF A PLAY: Sandra Zielinski

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS: Abby Vombrack

DISTINGUISHED COSTUME DESIGN: Brittany Powers

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN COMPOSITION: Zack Powell

Vombrack portrayed Mother Courage herself, while Powell created new music for this production of the play. Congratulatons to Zielinski, Vombrack, Powers and Powell, along with everyone else who contributed to this fierce and ferocious production of Mother Courage and Her Children. The cast (with Vombrack pictured inside Mother Courage's iconic cart) is pictured below.

To see the complete list of KCACTF national honors, click here.