SMC Student’s Play Chosen For Kennedy Center Fest

   “Slavery” — a play with music by Santa Monica College student Jonathan Payne — has been selected for the 2002 Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival’s regional competition.
   “Slavery” was adapted, arranged, written and directed by Payne, a theatre arts mentor student who based the work on 1930s interviews of former slaves by the Federal Writer’s Project of the Works Progress Administration.
   Payne also appears in the piece as an actor with several other African American theatre students.
   “Slavery” is one of 14 plays selected from 206 productions at 63 colleges and universities throughout the western region: Arizona, Nevada, California, Utah, Hawaii and Guam. Winners at the regional competitions will be performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
   Payne’s piece — developed under the mentorship of SMC theatre arts professors Adrianne Harrop and Terrin Adair-Lynch – combines the oral and musical traditions of slavery in the United States before and during the Civil War.
   The regional festival will be held Feb. 11-17 at California State University, Hayward. A team of judges will attend regional festivals and select finalists to be showcased at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
   Several other SMC students will be competing in other categories, including acting and costume design.
   SMC has had a history of success at the Kennedy Center/ACTF competitions, both at the regional and national levels.
   Last year SMC’s “Disgraceful Veils” – which explored the stifling oppression of women under the Taliban regime in Afghanistan — was selected for the regional competition. “Veils” was written and performed by SMC student Shaghayegh “Sherrie” Esfandyari.
   In 1997, the SMC production of “Once on this Island” not only made it to the regionals, but also was one of just 11 plays nationwide — and the only one from a community college — to be selected for the Kennedy Center.
   “Slavery” will be staged at 8 p.m. on February 1; 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. on February 2 and 2 p.m. on February 3 on the SMC Studio Stage, 1900 Pico Blvd.
   Tickets are $5. For information, call (310) 434-4319.