For 37 years, the DePauw Undergraduate Honors Conference in Communication and Theater has been gathering students of extraordinary talent to its campus for a conference. For the first time in its seven years competing, 100 percent of the Hillsdale applicants were accepted. Out of only 36 students chosen for the entire conference, Hillsdale accounts for five this year.
The conference is an annual event intended to bring students of theater together to learn from talented and successful icons of the industry and to share their own research with one another. Sophomore Anne Peterson, juniors Trevor Freudenburg, Mark Keller and Catherine Shikla and senior Lauren Hughes were all selected this year.
“The [DePauw Conference] is simply the place where some of the best undergraduate research in the fields of theater and communication from across the nation is acknowledged,” James Brandon, professor of theater and communication said. “The conference allows the students to work closely with mentors in the field who help them to develop as researchers and writers.”
The conference is considered a prestigious honor for students of theater, Brandon said.
“The conference is also particularly useful for students interested in graduate school, and previous attendees to this event have made important connections for their own graduate education,” he said.
The students will be separated into three groups of twelve in order to present their research, and will be able to work closely with other advance students and with professors and professionals.
Each year the students enrolled in a theater history class write a research paper on a topic of their choice, from Greek drama to medieval drama. From these, the best are sent to the conference for consideration.
“I’m not sure of the format as to how and when we will be presenting, but I am really interested to see what happens,” Hughes said. “I thought it would be a good idea to research Eastern styles because we focus mostly in the West.”
The conference itself is for the benefit of those interested in the theater arts and who are accepted, but the high rate of acceptance is a testament to the strength of the department as well.
“Our students who attend DePauw’s conference are typically practitioners: they work on campus as actors, designers, directors, stage mangers, etc. But graduates from a BA program in Theater should also be, first and foremost, excellent academic students of the art,” Brandon said. “Our success at being selected to present at this conference shows that we take this aspect of theatrical education seriously, which I view as an important marker for our program overall.”
On average, three people from Hillsdale go to the conference, Peterson said.
“It was unusual when three out of four [of the applicants] went, so it’s extraordinary when five out of five were chosen,” Peterson said.
One of the major draws the conference has is the professional speakers brought in to speak.
“Every year they bring in some big theater presenter, lecturer or professor to talk to us,” Freudenburg said. “Last year one was Philip Auslander.”
As a whole, the acceptance indicates the success of the department, especially for a perfect success rate in a competitive organization.
“I would really like to give a shout out to James Brandon for being a great professor and taking the time to give his opinion and help us master our papers,” Hughes said.
tsawyer1@hillsdale.edu