Kennedy Center honors Dixie makeup designer
And a week ago, it was narrowed down to one — Guy Smith, a sophomore from Dixie State College.
Smith won the national honor in makeup design from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Competition — the only competition of its kind.
"This is like winning the national championship for us," said Varlo Davenport, Smith's instructor, "especially when you consider that most of the designers in the competitions are graduate students from high profile programs."
Submitting his designs for the school's production of "Sweeney Todd," Smith won a regional competition and a trip to Washington, D.C., to learn from industry experts, attend several workshops and compete in the national competition against six other college designers.
"I have probably never learned so much in three days," Smith said. "When we woke up, we showered and we went to class. It was 9 to 5 every day, and it was all sorts of little experiments and challenges. We covered so much material, and we took so many notes. It's amazing how much you can learn when you sit down and just hunker down — it was amazing."
Henry, who also mentioned Weber State University's appearance with "Musical of Musicals: The Musical" as being "fantastic," said "We just had great kids here last week — We had the best group."
Smith, along with the other winners in the design categories, will now head off to the Clam Bake — a week in New York City filled with Broadway shows, backstage tours and, of course, more learning. He'll work with acclaimed Broadway designer Ming Cho Lee.
Walking down to the stage to accept his award, Smith called his mom on his cell phone and had the crowd cheer for her. "To put it short and sweet, it's life changing," he said.
E-mail: ehansen@desnews.com
Recent comments
It's all very nice but it would be so much better if he'd...
Andrew | April 28, 2008 at 5:50 p.m.
