Blue & White Flash / Staff Writer
The MADDRAMA Performance Troupe traveled to Dallas, Texas for the National Association of Dramatic & Speech Arts 76th Annual Conference on March 13- 17, 2012.
NADSA, a student-driven organization comprised of member theatre and speech programs primarily at HBCU’S from across the country, was founded in 1936. The four day conference includes performances, competitions, workshops, presentations, guest speakers, meetings, and an awards banquet.
Mace Stanford, a senior speech communications and theatre major from Vicksburg, Miss. said. “In the NADSA competition, there are plenty of opportunities for speech and theatre majors. It is great for networking with people. Students who compete at NADSA have the chance to sharpen their skills as well as find internships and scholarships.
He added: “NADSA is where students compete against the best, but it is also a learning experience for students.”
During the competition, the speakers were given a topic in five minutes and they had to elaborate on the topic.
“It is about using your raw talent, voice projection, and diction, everything you have learned in your major, has to be applied for NADSA,” said Mace.
Participants have the opportunity to develop insight into their training for different areas of theatre and speech arts. NADSA also gives students opportunities for formal training and professional experience.
There were eleven schools that participated in the March conference including Virginia State University, LA South West University, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff University, Texas State, Texas Southern, Albany State University, University of Arkansas, Bethune-Cookman University, Winston Salem University and Jackson State.
The participants attended workshops, such as Tight-Scene, Master of Fine Arts, Combat, Make-up, and Crew/stage. There were also panel discussions about the image and portrayal of African-American movie roles. The discussions included stereotypical roles in movies such as “The Help”.
Mark G. Henderson, Interim Chair of the Department of Speech Communications and Theatre and James Lehaman were both chosen to served on the 2013 NADSA Executive Board. Henderson was elected President.
The student officers that were selected were Christopher Cox (National President), Benjamin Reynolds (South Eastern Regional Rep.), Destin Benford (Northeastern Regional Rep.), Jonathan Rosser (Southern Regional Rep) and Andrew Nomura (parliamentarian).
Cox, a senior political science major from Moss Point, Miss., said. “I feel very honored to be given the privilege to be student president of NADSA. I am excited to represent JSU on a national level.”
One of the featured guests at the event was JSU alumnus Curtis King, CEO of TBAAL, the Black Academy of Arts and Letters and keynote speaker and actress Anna Maria Horsford.
Horsford has appeared on television shows, “Everybody Hates Chris”, “Las Vegas”, “Grey’s Anatomy”, HBO’s Entourage and the movie “Friday”. S
MADDRAMA won 6 out of 8 competitions, including Readers Theatre directed by James Lehaman, All- Star Cast Recipients, Dramatic Monologue, Duo-Acting, Oral Interpretation of Prose, Oral Interpretation of Poetry, and Extemporaneous Speaking. The winners were Jasmine Neal, Delbert Griffin, Marcus Yates, Ashanti Alexander, Kenya Lee, and Andrew Nomura, Jasmine Rivera, and Saint Ransom.
The conference will be held in Baltimore, Md. next year.
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