WINSTON-SALEM – University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) School of Design and Production student Brooke Robbins has been selected to receive the 2011 W. Oren Parker Undergraduate Scene Design Award by the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT).

 

The W. Oren Parker Award is presented each year to an individual who has demonstrated excellence or outstanding potential in the area of scenic design in the performing arts while pursuing an undergraduate degree. It is the nation’s top award for undergraduate set designers and is based on the student’s design portfolio. Selection is made by a jury of professional designers. The award was established in 2002 by Charles E. Williams in honor of W. Oren Parker. In 2006, sponsorship of the award was assumed by Stage Decorations & Supplies, Inc., a leading drapery manufacturer.

 

“Brooke has enormous ability and a rich theatrical imagination,” said UNCSA School of Design and Production Dean Joseph P. Tilford.  “She also has a focused and determined work ethic and she always makes the most of every class project and every design opportunity.”

Brooke Robbins

Photo by Donald Dietz

 

Robbins, a native of Charlotte, is a college senior at UNCSA and a graduate of the School of Design and Production’s Visual Arts high school program. A recipient of the William R. Kenan, Jr. Excellence Award, she is an alumna of the William R. Kenan, Jr. Fellowship program at the Penland School of Crafts in Western North Carolina. Robbins is currently serving as assistant to faculty member Howard Jones on the all-UNCSA production of Oklahoma! She was the scenic designer for the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute’s productions of Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring in 2010 and Gaetano Donizetti’s Il Mondo Della Luna in 2009. She also served as assistant to Howard Jones on UNCSA’s production of The Nutcracker.

 

Robbins will receive her award at the March 9 Grand Opening ceremony of the 2011 USITT conference, being held this year in Robbins’ hometown of Charlotte.

 

This is the second time in three years that a student from UNCSA has won the Parker Scene Design Award. In 2009, then-UNCSA Design and Production student Ryan Wineinger took top honors. He is now the resident assistant scene designer at Actors Theatre of Louisville.

 

USITT is the association of design, production, and technology professionals in the performing arts and entertainment industries. USITT has approximately 4,000 members from the United States, Canada and 40 other countries. 

 

The University of North Carolina School of the Arts is the first state-supported, residential school of its kind in the nation. Established as the North Carolina School of the Arts by the N.C. General Assembly in 1963, UNCSA opened in Winston-Salem (“The City of Arts and Innovation”) in 1965 and became part of the University of North Carolina system in 1972. More than 1,100 students from high school through graduate school train for careers in the arts in five professional schools: Dance, Design and Production (including a Visual Arts Program), Drama, Filmmaking, and Music. UNCSA is the state’s only public arts conservatory, dedicated entirely to the professional training of talented students in the performing, visual and moving image arts. UNCSA is located at 1533 S. Main St., Winston-Salem. For more information, visit www.uncsa.edu.

 

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