An 草莓社区 graduating senior has received a prestigious recognition from the Kennedy Center/American College Theater Festival.

The annual festival was held Feb. 7-12 in northern Florida.

Davi R. Soesilo, a , and major from Malang, Indonesia, won the Kennedy Center Award in “sound design excellence” for Region IV, the first time an EMU student has received the honor.

Region IV of the KC/ACTF incorporates 10 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

“Fellow theater students who attended Davi’s defenses in scenic design and sound design felt he acquitted himself admirably, particularly in his impressive and comprehensive presentation of his winning sound design for ‘Fuddy Meers,'” said Patrick Reynolds, acting theater chair. The offbeat, contemporary comedy by David Lindsay-Abaire, was EMU Theater’s fall mainstage production.

“Alhough he chose not to compete even though nominated in lighting design, it should be noted that over one fifth of the nation lies in our region and that Davi was the only designer nominated in three separate categories,” Reynolds said. “The responding judge – also the national design chair – cited Davi’s growth in the period following his second-place finish last year.

“Davi’s award reflects professor Jerry Holsopple’s classroom training and evocative compositions in addition to Phil Grayson’s mentoring and technical expertise as well,” Reynolds added.

Soesilo’s winning entry is automatically eligible for the national competition with the other ACTF regional winners to be held in April at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

“It seems a bit like a dream to receive the award,” Soesilo said. “Two years earlier I was encouraged to enter this competition and it felt rather far-fetched at the time, especially considering that EMU is not known for its student theater design.”

Soesilo was among 10 recipients of the annual “Cords of Distinction” award presented last spring. The EMU students were cited for their “significant and verifiable impact” on the the university and on student life, for their contributions to developing the institution’s positive image, for substantial contributions to the Harrisonburg/Rockingham County area and beyond, for their high academic and social standing and their embodiment of EMU’s shared values of Christian discipleship, community, service and peacebuilding.

As soon as he completes his final class at EMU, Soesilo plans to return to his present home in Australia and work in theater for a year, then “see what graduate program in theater or communications is best for me.”

The EMU orchestra’s fall concert will include several note-worthy special features.

The program, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 18, in Lehman Auditorium, will spotlight Lori Piitz, interim piano professor, and Daniel Stutzman, a recent EMU music graduate, as duo piano soloists in Saint-Saens’ "Carnival of the Animals."

Dr. Joan Griffing, chair of EMU’s , will conduct the 50-member ensemble comprised of students and community persons.

Short poems introducing each animal will be read throughout the performance by Patrick Reynolds, interim assistant professor of theater.

The concert will also include the popular "Fireworks Music" by George Frederic Handel and the much-loved "Unfinished Symphony" by Franz Schubert.

Admission is free; donations are welcomed for EMU music department student scholarship fund.

Theater at EMU will present its fall mainstage production, Irwin Shaw’s "Bury the Dead," Tuesday through Saturday, Nov. 2-6, in Lehman Auditorium. Curtain time is 7:30 p.m.

The play, directed by Patrick Reynolds, interim assistant professor of theater at EMU, takes place during "the war that is to begin tomorrow night." It opens with a group of soldiers ordered to bury their fallen comrades.

Resisting the grave, the dead arise and doggedly refuse to surrender their lives to a war they never understood. Chaos, both bold and wickedly funny, ensues.

Generals order the former soldiers to return to the ground. Journalists label the situation an enemy plot. Family members and friends beg them to accept the "honor" of death. Slowly, however, the playwright’s world begins to turn upside down as the living find truth in the dead, the only ones who truly understand war.

Barbara Graber, professor of theater, is play producer. Sophomore theater major Christina S. Myers is stage manager and junior Miriam L. Yoder is production manager.

Tickets are $8 advance, $10 at the door; senior citizens and non-EMU students are $5. For more information, call the EMU box office at 540-432-4582.

The new faculty, announced by Dr. Beryl H. Brubaker, EMU provost, and Dr. Marie S. Morris, vice president and undergraduate academic dean, are:

– David R. Brubaker, assistant professor of conflict studies in the Conflict Transformation Program (CTP). Brubaker earned a BS in business administration from Messiah College, Grantham, Pa., an MBA in global economic development from Eastern University, St. Davids, Pa., and is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Arizona specializing in religious and organizational conflict.

In 1997, he and four partners founded Cooperative by Design, an Arizona Peacebuilding Consortium which provides a range of consulting and peacebuilding services to not-for-profit organizations, educational institutions, governmental organizations and corporations. Before this, he was the associate director of Mennonite Conciliation Service for two years and assistant director of Mennonite Central Committee