Rider senior earns top prize at Kennedy Center musical theatre competition

Senior musical theatre major Lindsay Andrews claimed a top spot in the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival's Region 2 Musical Theatre Intensive competition.

The Musical Theatre Intensive competition required the approximately 60 participants to audition in two rounds before two finalists were selected. The first round called for the competitors, who hailed from eight states, to perform two 16-bar segments of a musical theater song, while a full version of one of the songs was performed in the second round. Andrews took home top prize, a $200 scholarship, for her rendition of "Me and Ricky" from The Theory of Relativity.

"It was great to win, and it was very much a team effort," Andrews says. "I prepared extensively with Trent Blanton [associate professor of theater] and Louis Goldberg [adjunct assistant professor], who was my accompanist."

The Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival is a national theater program involving 20,000 students from colleges and universities nationwide, with eight regional competitions each year. The festival rewards excellent theater performances and provides students the opportunity to earn scholarships and awards in playwriting, acting, dramatic criticism, directing, and design. It also includes a variety of workshops led by Broadway performers.

Andrews was selected for the competition in early 2018 based upon her performance as Caroline in Rider's production of The Theory of Relativity, a musical that showcases interconnectedness of the character's lives. After transferring to Rider in the fall of 2017, Andrews also appeared as Stella in Bonnie & Clyde and as Sleeping Beauty in Disenchanted. She will star as Sara Jane Moore, the attempted assassin of President Gerald Ford, in Rider's upcoming production of the musical Assassins.

"The competition made me so proud to be a Rider student," says Andrews. "Throughout the competition, it was clear that the musical theater training I've received at Rider is very advanced."

At Rider, musical theatre majors participate in multiple main-stage productions each year, affording many opportunities for students to apply what they are learning in performance. Participation in the performing arts is one of the pillars of the University’s Engaged Learning Program, and students and graduates can be seen performing in national touring companies and on Broadway.