On March 5-8 ten students made the cut to go to the Southeastern Theater Conference in Arlington, Virginia with advisors Dr. Doug Cook, Prof. Ken Zimmerman, and Tim Barrington.

"The most encouraging thing to see was what other universities are doing in visual arts. It let our students get the opporunity to see what other students are doing in the world of theater from across 13 states in the southeast region, " said Ken Zimmerman, dramatic arts professor.

The four students that went to SETC for auditions in hopes of jobs in the theater where, Jennifer Baumgardner, Maggie Olmstead, Karen Saldana and Kevin Shell. These students competed among 700 other students for three days in hopes of Walt Disney, The Blue Man Group, and any of the 200 southeastern theaters would see the star potential in each of them.

"It was crazy. I went in like a cattle call to the audition. They herd you in and out one after another from the stage," said Kevin Shell, senior communications major.

Shell got three call backs and Megan and Karen Saldana received call backs. Kevin was offered three acting jobs from such places as the Virginia Shakespeare Company. He decided to take the Lewisburg, West Virginia position as actor/techinican at the Greenbrier Valley Theater.

“This was great opporunity for dancers. Simply great auditons for dancing,” said Paige Thurman, senior dance major.

While in Arlington the students and advisers took some free time to visit D.C. and see the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. They received a personal backstage tour of the nine performance stages from Leon Scioscia, Director Facility Management for the Kennedy Center of Performing Arts and an alumnus of UTM.

“The students returned to UTM a success for not only attending such a competitve conference but for making it to such a high level in the theater,” said Professor Ken Zimmerman.