MONMOUTH, Ill. — Seven Monmouth College students served as presenters at the 36th Annual Great Lakes Region Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF) at Illinois State University in Normal, Jan. 13-18. Additionally, 11 other students took part in the event as participants.

A national theater program involving 18,000 students from colleges and universities nationwide, the KCACTF has served as a catalyst in improving the quality of college theater in the United States. It has grown into a network of more than 600 academic institutions throughout the country, where theater departments and student artists showcase their work and receive outside assessment by KCACTF respondents.

Representing Monmouth as presenters were senior Amanda Caldwell of Stronghurst; juniors Emily Mitsdarffer of Blue Island and Anne Olson of Alexis; and sophomores Kat Koelbl of Roscoe, Lindsey Markel of Sidell, Sarah Zanger of Quincy and Josh Sonnenburg of Portland, Ore.

Participants included seniors Tom Hill of Chicago and Elizabeth Kline of Aurora; sophomores Adam Drake of Rockford and Mike Wilmoth of Clinton; and freshmen Hilary Binks of Glen Ellyn, Charley Pippenger of Hawthorn Woods, Mary O’Connor of Joliet, Michelle Anstett of Peoria, Lauren Swanson of Oak Forest, Sara Youngs of Wauconda and Chris Walljasper of Donnellson, Iowa.

Theater productions by 10 Midwestern colleges and universities, selected from 40 entries considered, were a highlight of the festival. Regional winners will advance to the national ACTF event in April at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

Illinois State University and Eureka College co-hosted the event. In addition to the theater productions, students competed in the areas of acting, design, playwriting and criticism.

Among the festival guests were actor and Illinois State University alumnus Gary Cole (“Fatal Vision,” the Brady Bunch movies and, currently, “The West Wing”), Curt Columbus of Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Curt Tofteland of the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival and Western Illinois University president Al Goldfarb, former provost at Illinois State and a professor of theatre history.