Posted: March 21, 2018Written by: Lauren Milbourne

Tags: 2018, featured, press release

Cuesta College’s award-winning Drama Department has once again received national awards from the Kennedy Center. The production of Man of La Mancha, first debuting at Cuesta College in October of 2017, performed in February at the 2018 Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) in Mesa, AZ. According to production director and Cuesta College Drama Instructor bree valle*, the cast and crew received more accolades than any other college attending the festival. They include:

  • Outstanding Production of a Musical 
  • Outstanding Director of a Musical - bree valle
  • Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Musical - Allison King
  • Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Musical - Nicholas Coffey
  • Outstanding Scenic Design - bree valle and Richard Jackson
  • Distinguished Performance by an Actor in a Musical - Tony Costa
  • Distinguished Choreography - bree valle
  • Distinguished Lighting Design - Richard Jackson
  • Distinguished Performance and Production Ensemble

The production will be recognized in Washington D.C. for its achievements at the 49th Annual National Festival at the John F. Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts, April 9 - 14, 2018. In addition, student actors Allison King and Nicholas Coffey will be recognized as Music Theatre Fellows at the event.

This is the third Cuesta College Drama Department production to compete at the annual KCACTF in the past five years. National and international acclaim for the department began in the spring of 2014 when original play pool ‘63 received five national awards from the KCACTF. In the spring of 2015, the Kennedy Center selected pool ’63 as the United States representative at the 2015 International University Theatre Festival in Mexico City. In the spring of 2016, the cast and crew of the college’s theatrical production Refried Elvis received six awards from the Kennedy Center after being featured at the 2016 KCACTF in Oahu, HI.

Set during the Spanish Inquisition and based on the 17th-century novel Don Quixote, the college’s production of Man of La Mancha features the college’s drama students performing the poignant and rousing musical within the confines of a prison.

For questions about the college’s Drama Department, please call (805) 546-3201. For more information on the KCACTF National Festival 2018, visit their website.

*bree valle does not capitalize her first or last name