Northwestern theatre student wins recognition at regional festival

Caroline Trewet’s design for Northwestern College’s production of “Macbeth,” including this swirling paint projection on the floor, earned her an opportunity to study at the Stagecraft Institute of Las Vegas next summer.

Northwestern College junior Caroline Trewet, Atlantic, Iowa, has been awarded an exclusive opportunity to study theatre design at the Stagecraft Institute of Las Vegas in July. Trewet is one of just three students who received the invitation after sharing her “Macbeth” projection design at the Region Five Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF) Jan. 17–23.

Through her artist’s statements and video, Trewet explained how her films of ink seeping into water were projected onto the “Macbeth” stage to represent the slow, sinister creep of evil into the characters’ minds and lives. Another video of swirling paint colors projected a vivid representation of churning chaos and violence. “I viewed my design as if it were a character in and of itself,” wrote Trewet. “The evil that lurks ... creeps into our minds, invading our motives … and that is how it takes over.”

Respondents to Trewet’s design identified her as a professional-caliber theatre artist who has a future in technical theatre. In addition to recommending her for the Stagecraft Institute opportunity, they invited her to shadow the media designer at Minnesota’s Guthrie Theatre and encouraged her to pursue graduate school.

Trewet plans to attend the “Movers, Media and Rock ’n’ Roll” class at the Stagecraft Institute July 10–30. Taught by a team of experts billed as “the best in the world,” the course will include hands-on instruction in creating and using media display technologies, including video projection and LED display. Trewet will learn how the technologies are used in film, television and live entertainment, and participate in a student technicians’ showcase at the end of the three-week class.

Nineteen Northwestern theatre students attended this year’s regional KCACTF to compete and attend theatre arts workshops alongside undergraduate and graduate students from six Midwestern states.