Fresno City College student Mohammad Shehata recently won a spot to participate in the national competition for the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. In April, Shehata will be travelling to Washington, D.C to compete as a nominee for Region 8.
The KCACTF is an annual nationwide competition uniting college students and their passion for theatre arts. Beginning in 1969, the annual festival holds competitions at state, regional and national levels to celebrate the hard work, talent, and creativity of college students and the art form they love.
Divided into eight distinct regions spanning the United States, Shehata competed in Region 8 which comprises Fresno along with southern California, southern Nevada, Arizona, Utah and Hawaii.
Several other FCC students displayed their talent at the KCACTF last month as well. Working in teams of two for the Irene Ryan Acting Competition, nine students progressed to the semi-final round of the competition- the largest number of students ever for FCC.
Shehata won in the O’Neill Critics Institute spot for his written critique of theatre productions. The O’Neill Critics Institute was created to give college students interested in art criticism an opportunity to hone their skills and express their views and knowledge on theatre art in a specific, written form.
Shehata, along with the other FCC students, competed against other college and graduate students.
He was nominated for the Irene Ryan Acting competition for his role in FCC’s production of “Maritius” last semester, directed by Chuck Erven. Shehata chose to apply for the O’Neill Critics Institute competition in which he won as the semi finalist.
Although being the only FCC student to move on to the finals in Washington, D.C., Shehata admits that the experience and knowledge he gained at the KCACTF is what he appreciates most.
“Honestly though, the best part of the experience was the workshops because you learned a lot , first of all, but second of all it was just very, very inspiring,” he said.
Theatre Arts instructor Debbi Shapazian knows Shehata well. As the instructor who suggested Mohammad apply for the O’Neill Critics Institute to partake in the theatre criticism competition, she plays a role in his success at this year’s KCACTF.
“He’s really a good, bright student. I think he’s going to do really well whatever he chooses to do,” she said.
For a FCC student only in their second semester of college, an opportunity to compete in a national theatre festival, potentially earn scholarships and collaborate with talented professionals in a dynamic, bustling city is a feat seldom experienced.
Although the KCACTF finals do not take place until April 15, Shehata has learned much in a brief span of time.
“I think the one thing that I personally took away from it was the idea of courage. That you as a person are not supposed to filter out how you feel about something,” he said. “It’s about knowing what you’re saying … saying the truth and having no fear in saying it, and obviously in order to do that you have to be able to write,” Shehata states.
So far, Mohammad has proven to both his instructors, himself and the judges at the KCACTF semifinals that he is more than capable of speaking the truth and writing about it in his theatre criticism.
