The Indiana State University department of theater\'s production of \"Real Girls Can\'t Win!\" was chosen to be part of the Region III Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival in January 2011.
\"Real Girls Can\'t Win!\" was selected out of 41 submitted productions from Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan. Of the nine shows selected for the festival, ISU\'s show will be the only one from Indiana.
It has been four years since ISU was invited to perform at the festival.
\"It is an honor to be chosen,\" said Julie Dixon, director of \"Real Girls Can\'t Win!\" and associate professor of theater at Indiana State University. \"Thousands of students and faculty from all over the region attend the festival each year.\"
\"Real Girls,\" written by former Indiana State University visiting theater professor Merri Biechler, is a portrayal of the struggles of being a \"real girl\" in college.
In the play, Katie and Dakota are two freshmen college girls who want to change the world-in different ways. They compete for the title of Miss Freshman B Dorm in this play that tackles tough issues and incorporates the use of technology.
The play, performed at Indiana State in November, will be performed twice at Michigan State University in Lansing, Mich., for the festival.
\"I\'m thrilled with the work that director Julie Dixon and the actresses have done with the play,\" said Biechler, who has had shorter plays selected for this festival but never a full-scale production. \"I can\'t wait for the cast to experience the positive support of the festival.\"
In order for ISU\'s production to be selected, it was first reviewed by two representatives from the festival.
\"I believe they chose the show because they thought that the message of the show was important and needed to be heard and because of the high quality of and the student involvement in the show\'s production values, set, costume, lighting and media design,\" Dixon said.
Natalie Cappucci, a sophomore theater major, Tiara Watkins, a sophomore theater major, Ashlee Vitz, a senior language studies teaching major, Constance Johnson, a senior theater major, and Jade Conrad, a sophomore pre-business and marketing major, make up the cast of the play and will also be performing at Michigan State.
\"It\'s a great way for students outside of Terre Haute to see what the ISU theater department is doing,\" Biechler said.
Contact: Julie Dixon, associate professor of theater, Indiana State University, at 812-237-3339 or Julie.dixon@indstate.edu
Writer: Lana Schrock, media relations assistant, Indiana State University, 812-237-3773 or lschrock1@indstate.edu