Kit Rivers of Evansville awarded $5,000 Politi Fellowship from Saint Michael's College in Vermont

Theater student to study at top notch British theater university

Related Media

Saint Michael's sophomore Kit Rivers interned at the professional Saint Michael's Playhouse

COLCHESTER, VT (03/22/2012)(readMedia)-- Saint Michael's College sophomore theater major Kit Rivers, the daughter of Nancy and Thomas Rivers of Evansville, Indiana, was awarded a prestigious $5,000 Politi International Fellowship that will enable her to study abroad at Queen Mary University in London for the 2012-2013 academic year.

"I was impressed with your passion for the theater and specifically, for extending your knowledge and experience with the 'language of the theater' from the 'speakers' of this culturally diversified population," said Dr. Karen Talentino, Saint Michael's Vice President for Academic Affairs, in awarding the fellowship to Ms. Rivers.

Kit Rivers has had leading roles in main-stage college productions at Saint Michael's College and has had small roles and an internship in the Equity Professional Saint Michael's Playhouse that is in residence at the college every summer.

"I have been a performer for over ten years and my passion for it has only grown stronger at St. Mike's," Ms. Rivers said of her acting experience. In her application for the Politic Fellowship she spelled out the opportunities at Queen Mary University including their rigorous drama courses and freedom to perform in University productions and in outside professional shows.

Among the many skills she will focus on, she also named physicality and movement, which she said "are alien and foreign to me." She added, "Courses at Queen Mary (beyond those offered at Saint Michael's) will give me more specialized training for my performance goals."

Ms. Rivers will take Issues in Contemporary Performance, Costume Drama: The Past Performed; Making Contemporary Theatre; Abnormal and Clinical Psychology; Feeling It: Emotion and Sensation in the Theatre; Madness and Theatricality; Applied Performance; and Performance, Sexuality, Identity.

Learn What Matters at Saint Michael's College, The Edmundite Catholic liberal arts college, www.smcvt.edu . Saint Michael's provides education with a social conscience, producing graduates with the intellectual tools to lead successful, purposeful lives that will contribute to peace and justice in our world. Founded in 1904 by the Society of St. Edmund and headed by President John J. Neuhauser, Saint Michael's College is located three miles from Burlington, Vermont, one of America's top college towns. Identified by the Princeton Review as one of the nations Best 376 Colleges, and included in the 2012 Fiske Guide to Colleges, Saint Michael's has 1,900 undergraduate students and 500 graduate students. Saint Michael's students and professors have received Rhodes, Woodrow Wilson, Pickering, Guggenheim, Fulbright, and other grants. The college is one of the nation's top-100, Best Liberal Arts Colleges as listed in the 2012 U.S. News & World Report rankings.

-30-