January 21, 2005
 
MU Theatre Professor, Director Honored by Kennedy Center
 
by HNN Staff
 
Huntington (HNN) — A professor and a director from the Marshall University Theatre Department recently received the 2004 Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival Certificate of Merit Awards for the department’s October 2004 production of “Angel Street.”
 
Joan St. Germain, associate professor of theatre, received a merit award for costume design. Jamez Morris-Smith, adjunct faculty and theatre facilities director, received a merit award for scenic design.
 
The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) is a national theater program involving 18,000 students from colleges and universities nationwide that has served as a catalyst in improving the quality of college theater in the United States. The KCACTF has grown into a network of more than 600 academic institutions throughout the country, where theater departments and student artists showcase their work and receive outside assessment by KCACTF respondents.
 
St. Germain has been the costume designer and associate professor of theatre at Marshall for the past seven years. She holds a B.A. in speech/theatre arts from Marquette University in Milwaukee and a M.F.A. from Ohio State University.
 
In 2003, St. Germain was awarded Marshall’s Pickens-Queen Award for excellence in teaching, and “Best Costumes, Professional” by the New Hampshire Theatre Awards. Her latest Costume Design credits include “A Christmas Carol,” “Twelfth Night,” “Romeo & Juliet,” and “The Lion in Winter” for Marshall University Theatre, and “The Pirates of Penzance,” “Sweeney Todd” and “Chicago” for the Papermill Theatre in Lincoln, N.H.
 
Morris-Smith graduated from Marshall in 1982 with a B.F.A. in theatre design. He subsequently worked with Theatre West Virginia for two years before returning to Marshall University Theatre in 1984 as a scenic designer.
 
In 1989, Morris-Smith worked with Lorimar Studios on CBS Television’s long-running “Falcon Crest.” He then moved to manager of auditoriums for university theatre at Marshall while continuing to work as a scenic/lighting designer and instructor.
 
Other honors for Morris-Smith include: Clayton Page Theatre Award, 1982; President’s Service Award, 1995; Alpha Psi Omega Theatre Honorary – Lifetime Achievement; Marshall University Employee of the Year, 2003.