Senior Ian Scheele was awarded the Randy Lutz Allied Design and Technologies Award when the nominees for the 2023 Kennedy Center American College Theater Awards were revealed.
The award is open to students who have completed major crafts or technology projects in areas including makeup, projection, properties, millinery, masks, tech, wigs, scenic art, draping and tailoring, technical direction, puppets, special effects, costume craft, and audio engineering.
According to the press release, “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts virtually hosted more than 110 outstanding theater students from colleges and universities across the nation as part of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF). These student artists from across the United States have been recognized for their outstanding work from the eight regional festivals.”
In a theatre Q&A, Scheele expressed his excitement about receiving the award and the opportunity he had to meet and connect with successful professionals working in the theatre industry.
“The community was so welcoming and helpful. I immediately felt they were people I wanted to work with,” he said. “Thanks again to KCACTF Region 5 for the ability to attend.”
Scheele worked as properties designer for Concordia Theatre and said it was an amazing opportunity.
“The properties ‘department’ is rarely given the creative freedom I am offered here at Concordia. I really enjoy the variety of work I do because it lets me experiment with materials and techniques,” he said. “Every show is a completely new set of creative problems to solve. The work keeps me on my toes.”
His award was for his prop design work on Concordia’s presentation of “The Rocky Horror Show” last semester — specifically, Riff Raff’s Antimatter Laser and Frank-N-Furter’s Saw.
Scheele said the most important aspect of theatre is “the fact that it is a collaborative art — like any collaborative work, it has no room for ego. Each show exists as a result of everyone’s combined, not concerted, efforts.”
You can view the website Scheele made for his presentation that details much of his design process for the props.