All posts by Melissa Bouse, NECC News

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“Hurricane Diane” competes at festival, will return to NECC

 
Photo courtesy Brianne Beatrice

The spring semester started with a bang for Northern Essex Community College theater students and professor Brianne Beatrice. They went right back into the theater to start re-rehearsing last spring’s production, Hurricane Diane.Beatrice learned just before the holiday break that representatives from the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) selected the production as a finalist for the Region 1 Festival, taking place from Jan. 30 to Feb. 3.

Regardless of the outcome, it won’t be the final curtain call for Diane. NECC Theater is restaging the production on the Haverhill Campus on  Feb. 23 and 24 at 7 p.m. and at 2 p.m. on Feb.  25. Tickets are on sale now. 

“We have to remount the entire production to perform at festival,” says Beatrice. “All the students, everyone got right back into it. By next Monday, we’ll be good to go. We get there on a Tuesday, load in Wednesday, and perform Thursday.”

“Festival,” as it’s called, brings together hundreds of college theater students, professors, and professionals from New England and New York to showcase their work and share their expertise. Hurricane Diane was one of just six finalists chosen out of 60 productions, including shows from many prestigious, four-year schools.

“It’s crazy our work is being honored like this. They’re looking for good art, and our art is being recognized,” Beatrice remarks. This is the second show Beatrice has produced at NECC to be chosen for festival. The first was Stupid F*cking Bird in 2019.

A woman in a chair performs in a play.
Mirrorajah Metcalfe as Diane Photo courtesy of NECC News

The title role in Hurricane Diane is played by Liberal Arts: Writing major Mirrorajah Metcalfe of Haverhill. AmericanTheater.org describes the character as “a permaculture gardener dripping with butch charm.” In reality, Diane is the Greek god Dionysus. She’s returned to the modern world to gather mortal followers and restore the Earth to its natural state. Where better to begin than with four housewives in a suburban New Jersey cul-de-sac? The comedy serves as a commentary on the blind eye we all turn to climate change and “the bacchanalian catharsis that awaits us, even in our own backyards.”

Four more Northern Essex students round out the cast: Olivia Barberian, Gwynnethe Glickman, Jessica Newey, and Ana Barrera. 

Metcalfe and Barberian were also selected to compete for Irene Ryan Acting Scholarships. 

Each will perform two monologues and a scene. Newey, meanwhile, is nominated for The LMDA/KCACTF Student Dramaturgy Award.

Winners in each award category, including the production, will move on to the national festival later this spring in Washington, D.C. Northern Essex offers a variety of theater and acting courses. Additionally, they stage several full productions and readings throughout the year. 

News, Uncategorized

Honors students awarded scholarships

 
Four people standing together against a brick wall
Scotty Silva, Emily Ellis, Wildalis Tejada, Elvis Soto, and Soiri Rosario (not pictured) were each awarded $1,000 scholarships. Photo courtesy NECC Newsroom

Northern Essex Community College is proud to recognize the accomplishments of five honors students. Emily Ellis, Scotty Silva, Wildalis Tejada, Elvis Soto, and Soiri Rosario each earned a $1,000 scholarship from the NECC Foundation, Inc. These students completed at least one honors course in the fall semester and maintained an overall GPA of 3.2 or higher.

Scotty Silva, Emily Ellis, Wildalis Tejada, Elvis Soto, and Soiri Rosario (not pictured) were each awarded $1,000 scholarships.

“I’m very thankful for the opportunity to have the help with tuition,” said Haverhill’s Scotty Silva, who took Honors American Literature I in the fall and is currently enrolled in the Honors Seminar: Dinosaurs! “I like that we can have in-depth discussions in a small setting.”

The number of honors classes offered at NECC was doubled for the 2022 Fall Semester. Classes are now available on the Haverhill and Lawrence Campuses, and one meets online. “It is our hope that we can double our honors offerings again in the future,” remarked NECC Provost Paul Beaudin. “We want to ensure that every local student knows we’re the community’s college. We serve all students: those who need support and those who already excel academically.”
Emily Ellis, of Malden, is a psychology major who plans to study neuroscience at a four-year institution after graduating from NECC. She says taking honors courses allowed her to discover new interests. “I took American Literature last semester, and I found myself really enjoying reading 200-year-old texts!”

Any student can register and take honors classes regardless of GPA. However, students who take three honors classes and maintain a GPA of at least 3.2 will be designated as members of the Commonwealth Honors Program. That means if they transfer to a state university, they’re automatically enrolled in the Commonwealth Honors program there, and their honors courses transfer easily. “MA is the only state that has this seamless transition from the community colleges to the state universities,” says Honors Program Coordinator Ginger Hurajt.

Learn more about the honors program and class options here. Anyone with questions should contact Commonwealth Honors Program Coordinator Ginger Hurajt at ghurajt@necc.mass.edu.