DATE: April 23, 2008
CONTACT:
Jeff McLaren
mnclaren.jr.gmail.com
CONTACT:
Rick Goodstein, (864) 656-3043
regst@clemson.edu
CONTACT:
Mark Charney, (864) 656-5415
cmark@clemson.edu
WRITER:
Glenn Hare, (864) 656-1478
ghare@clemson.edu
Clemson performing arts senior named nation's top director
CLEMSON — Clemson University performing arts student Jeff McLaren has won the 2008 Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival’s national student directing award.
McLaren, a graduating senior from Conyers, Ga., was among eight national finalists invited to attend the festival held at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
As a part of the competition, McLaren directed an award-winning original student play and was interviewed by a panel of distinguished theater directors, including Wendy Goldberg, director of the National Playwrights Conference at The Eugene O'Neill Theater in Waterford, Conn.
“This is a true honor,” said Mark Charney, professor and director of the theater program in the performing arts department. “Jeff has worked diligently in the past few years, directing full and partial productions, and is deserving of this recognition. It’s rare to have a student advance to the regional level, much less the national, and to win is a reflection on the student and certainly the department that trained him.”
For his work, McLaren receives an all expenses-paid summer internship at the O’Neill Theater, where he will work with nationally acclaimed directors, such as Jesse Berger of Red Bull Theater in New York, who specializes in developing new plays.
“We are extraordinarily proud of Jeff’s accomplishment. I think this reflects on the quality of our performing arts students and the outstanding mentorship they receive from our dedicated faculty,” Rick Goodstein, chairman of performing arts.
The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival was founded in 1969 to encourage, recognize and develop work produced in university and college theater programs across America.
After graduation, McLaren plans to move to Chicago to pursue his passion for acting and directing.
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