ACT Competition Hits Boards at Southwestern This Week

The first American College Theater Festival to be sponsored in San Diego begins this week, which means that Southwestern College in Chula Vista--the only San Diego college to be selected as a finalist for the 20-year-old festival--is going to save a lot on traveling costs.

At the competition, one of 12 regional contests throughout the country, Southwestern will recreate its November production of “Hair” at 8 p.m. at San Diego State University’s Don Powell Theatre. Winners of the competition will play at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington.

In addition, three of the actors from the production--Paul James Kruse, Christopher MacRae and Ria Carey--will be competing for the festival’s Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship. The winner will receive $1,000 and go to Washington to take part in “An Evening of Scenes” for yet another competition with winners from the other regional contests. The audience will include professional directors, producers, casting agents and writers. The two winners will receive $2,500 scholarships.

Also competing in the regional contest are: the University of Arizona with “As Is,” Feb. 18 at 8 p.m.; UCLA and Occidental College with “As Flies to Wanton Boys,” “Symbiosis,” and “When Esther Saw the Lights,” Feb. 19 at 8 p.m.; El Camino College with “A Streetcar Named Desire,” Feb. 20 at 12:30 p.m., and University of Redlands with “Old Hippies,” Feb. 21 at 12:30 p.m.