Eli Ouderkirk of Holland Patent honored at SUNY Oswego for one-act play

OSWEGO, NY (03/09/2011)(readMedia)-- SUNY Oswego senior Eli Ouderkirk of Holland Patent is one of seven winners in the college's annual "New Voices" 10-page-play competition. Ouderkirk has won the competition two consecutive years.

Ouderkirk, whose play is titled "Metro," joins fellow honorees Samson Dikeman Jr., a senior from Altamont; Katherine Boswell, senior, Buffalo; Kevin Leonard, senior, Rockaway Park; Gavin McCarthy, freshman, Blooming Grove; Stephen Russomano, senior, Tillson; and Eric Wojtanik, senior, Eden.

Winners received staged readings of their plays in Tyler Hall's lab theatre at SUNY Oswego. At the readings, student actors for each role read from scripts with direction from another student.

Brad Korbesmeyer of English and creative writing, who mentors the competition with Jonel Langenfeld-Rial of the theatre department, said there were about 25 entries. A committee of faculty and students judged the competition.

Admission to SUNY Oswego is competitive. U.S. News named it among the "Top Public Regional Universities in the North" for 2011, and the Princeton Review includes Oswego in its college guidebook "The Best Northeastern Colleges." A 150-year-old comprehensive college in the State University of New York system, Oswego enrolls over 8,000 students in its College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; School of Business; School of Communication, Media and the Arts; and School of Education.