FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Gita Brown, 401-456-8465, gbrown@ric.edu
Laura Hart, 401-456-8977, lhart@ric.edu
SWANSEA, MA – Swansea local Neil Jeronimo, a senior at Rhode Island College, earned second place in a competition for the Richard Maltby, Jr. Award for Musical Theater Excellence at the the Region I, 2015 Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF).
“I gave my best performances, and I feel great that I can leave RIC and know that I did something to elevate the college,” Jeronimo said.
His mentor and advisor, RIC Professor of Musical Theatre Bill Wilson, described Jeronimo as “a consummate musical theatre performer and a yardstick of quality. Industrious, inventive, conscientious, intelligent, charming and funny, Neil has helped to create an environment of excellence that has left the RIC musical theatre program markedly better for him having participated. I look forward to watching him succeed.”
KCACTF participants come from colleges and universities in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Northeast New York, Rhode Island and Vermont.
For three consecutive years, RIC students have won the Richard Maltby, Jr. Award – Tyler Indyck (2014), Sarah Pothier (2013) and Naysh Fox (2012). Others have won the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship. Jeronimo is the first student in RIC history to have made it to the KCACTF final rounds in both competitions.
RIC’s theatre program is recognized as one of the premier programs in the region. RIC also offers the only musical theatre program in Southeastern New England. Faculty members include dedicated actors, directors and designers who have spent many years perfecting their art in theatre companies such as Trinity Rep, Boston Opera Company and the Guthrie Theatre. Many of its alumni have gone on to appear in prominent roles on television, stage and film.
