David Tousley, a first-year Master of Fine Arts student in scenic design in the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film, won the Region V Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF) National KCACTF Award for Design Excellence in Scenery. The winner of this award from each of the KCACTF’s eight regions are invited to attend the national festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the week of April 15.
The Region V Festival was held on the University of Nebraska–Lincoln campus in January. The criteria for entering included attending the regional festival and displaying materials and documentation of the design process and execution. The entered design must have been realized.
The purpose is “to provide outstanding student designers and technicians with the opportunity to showcase their work at the regional festival, receive feedback from professionals working in the field and exhibit their work at the Kennedy Center and USITT (United States Institute for Theatre Technology).”
Selected designs will be on display during the national festival. The national award panelists, in turn, select a single national awardee in each area (scenery, costumes, lighting, sound and allied crafts). The USITT’s publication “Theatre Design and Technology” will publish information on the recipients of the national awards.
“There’s only eight people, so my odds are pretty good,” Tousley joked.
In addition to Tousley, Graduate Student Joshua Rajaee won second place in scenic design in Region V for this designs for the University Theatre production of “Agravio,” which had performances in October in the Howell Theatre. Also, Senior Jessie Tidball was recognized with a national award for Distinguished Performance by an Actress for her work as Tilly in Theatrix’s “Melancholy Play.”
Tousley entered his design for the University Theatre production of Steven Dietz’s “Paragon Springs,” which held performances in the Studio Theatre in November. But he almost didn’t enter at all.
“I wasn’t planning on entering the expo,” Tousley said. “One of my fellow grad students really encouraged me and said it was a great way to put my designs out there and get my name out. I thought, ‘Well, I already have the model built. Okay, why not?’”
Tousley had not participated in a KCACTF Festival before this year.
“It was great to see other student designers and now that I know what KCACTF is, I have more appreciation for the fact that we hosted it,” he said. “I’m excited about next year [when UNL hosts again]. It will be even more fun since we all know what to expect. This year was like a dress rehearsal.”
The national award finalists are eligible for several professional development opportunities. Past opportunities have included invitations to the Kennedy Center’s Summer Intensives in Design Collaboration, attending the Prague Quadrennial and visiting professional designers in their studios.
Tousley has already been invited to apply for the Prague Quadrennial. Held once every four years, it is the world’s largest event in the field of scenography. If selected, Tousley would collaborate with two other designers on an entry.
“Just being invited to apply is an honor,” Tousley said.
He also attended the USITT Annual Conference and Stage Expo March 20-23 in Milwaukee.
For his design for “Paragon Springs,” Director and Assistant Professor of Practice Carrie Lee Patterson wanted to use a full arena-style set.
“We collaborated, and I produced many sketches,” Tousley said. “I asked myself, ‘How can I design something interesting without any walls?’ I decided to go up in the air and design a floating, movable structure—something that would help tell the story and still have that ‘wow’ factor when the audience walks in.”
Patterson said none of the designers, actors or crew members that worked on “Paragon Springs” had ever worked on a stage that had audience on all four sides.
“At first, David wanted to change to a thrust stage (audience on three sides) so that he could use a wall,” she said. “Once he released that idea, his creativity took over full force. I told him that because the play is about working class people, I wanted a set that worked—hinges, pulleys, etc. He took that single sentence and created a design that did all that and more.”
She valued his dedication to the production.
“He came to more rehearsals than any scenic designer I have worked with, just to see how the actors were using the set. And after each visit, he had a new set of ideas,” Patterson said. “I’m proud of his accomplishment and extremely grateful to have had the chance to work with him.”
For Tousley, his sketches represent a means of communication.
“I love to communicate through my sketches and see the directors’ eyes light up when they can see what I’m thinking,” Tousley said. “It’s such a powerful tool to be able to sketch and communicate that way.”
He appreciates the opportunities he gets in the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film. In March, he was the assistant production designer for a film that graduate student Dennis Henry was filming.
“It was an awesome experience, and it just makes us excited to work on the next project,” Tousley said. “The Johnny Carson School makes it all available to us. I honestly had no idea this School was going to be as good as it is—the facilities, the instructors, the areas they are coming from and the advice they have for us is amazing.”
Originally from San Jose, Calif., Tousley is considering moving back to California after graduation in two years.
“I think a lot about moving back to California because that’s where my family is,” he said. “It will be nice to have that MFA so I can teach at a university.”
His new experiences in film has him thinking about working in the film industry.
“Theatre is where I started, and the work ethic that theatre builds, I saw a great deal of that yesterday [at the film shoot],” Tousley said. “The attention to detail, the planning ahead, it all works together. It is very exciting to work on film.”
Tousley began his theatre career in high school. During freshman year, his friends were playing in the pit for the school’s production of “Jesus Christ Superstar” and invited him to come hear them play.
“I sat in the front row, and I said, ‘We do this at my school?! I could do this?’” Tousley said. “And from then on, I acted for many, many years.”
During his undergraduate career at San Jose State, Tousley began set designing.
“I miss performing sometimes, but it’s okay, just as long as I’m involved with theatre somehow,” he said.
He loves the collaboration.
“When you’re an artist on your own you have to make all those creative decisions yourself,” Tousley said. “In this field, there are so many talented people working together to create something beautiful.”
Tousley intends to just keep focusing on the next project.
“I just have to be prepared for what's next,” he said. “I can't wait to bring my design to the national festival. It will be exciting to visit D.C. and represent our school.”
Started in 1969, the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival is a national theater program involving 18,000 students from colleges and universities nationwide, which has served as a catalyst in improving the quality of college theater in the United States. The KCACTF has grown into a network of more than 600 academic institutions throughout the county, where theater departments and student artists showcase their work and receive outside assessment by KCACTF respondents.
UNL will again host the Region V Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival next January.