Jeffrey Koep, interim dean of UNLV's College of Fine and Performing Arts, recently was named national chair of the Kennedy Center/American College Theater Festival -- the foremost venue for college theater in the nation.
Koep's selection came at the recent National Festival held at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. He began his three-year term as chair on April 23.
For 29 years the festival has showcased the very best of America's collegiate theater productions, actors, playwrights, and designers, according to Lawrence J. Wilker, president of the Kennedy Center.
The festival has more than a half million participants each year representing every state in the country and several Canadian universities. It is the largest organization in the world totally committed to the production of theatre. More than 900 different colleges and universities enter the festival annually seeking awards and generous scholarships in all areas of theatrical production.
Koep said, "The festival is, without a doubt, the premiere organization in theatre production education worldwide. This organization has done more to join educators and students to the profession than any other organization has ever attempted."
Koep came to UNLV in 1989 to chair the theatre arts department. For the past year he has served as interim dean of the College of Fine and Performing Arts.
His work with the festival stretches back more than 15 years. He has held a variety of offices during that time and is distinguished by being one of the very few individuals to have been awarded two Kennedy Center Medallions for service to theatre.
As national chair of the festival, Koep represents the organization's national committee, which is composed of theatre educators from throughout the country. The committee oversees policies and regulations for the festival and serves as a recommending body to the Kennedy Center.
The festival is perhaps best known for its showcasing of college and university productions. The United States is divided into eight geographical areas which hold regional festivals. Each festival features six to 10 productions selected from entries within the region. A national selection team visits each regional festival and issues invitations to between five and seven productions to play at the Kennedy Center at the nine-day national festival held in April. The festival also receives and distributes awards in playwriting for more than a dozen major concerns, including The Lorraine Hansberry Award, the National AIDS Fund Award, Sundance Playwrights Laboratory, Fourth Freedom Forum Award, and Eugene O'Neill Center Award.
In addition to his work with the festival, Koep serves as chair of the Society of American Fight Directors, first vice president and artistic advisor/director of Carolina Playwrights, director of the National Senior Theatre Institute, reader for the Jacob Javits Foundation, and founder/advisor of the Screen Actors Guild Conservatory.
