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WWU Theatre student Ella Newborn wins honor from Kennedy Center; will perform role in Washington, D.C. week of April 15

To reprise his 'Hurricane Diane' role in national competition

by Frances Badgett

WWU Communications

Ella Newborn, left, onstage for his role in "Hurricane Diane" at the PAC, a role which he will again play in a competition at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., this week.

Senior theatre major Ella Newborn has won the Irene Ryan Award at the Region 8 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival for his role in the 2019 Obie Award-winning play “Hurricane Diane” by Madeline George.

“Hurricane Diane,” which was staged at Western in November, depicts the Greek god Dionysus who comes back to earth reborn as a woman named Diane. Her mission is to seduce four Real Housewives of New Jersey and start an earth cult to try and save the planet from climate disaster…but not everything goes according to plan.

Newborn plays Renee Shapiro-Epps, a “chic editor for HGTV magazine” and the most reluctant of the cult members before fully joining forces with Dionysus.

“Renee was so much fun to play. She is very different from me—a 40-year-old woman, an editor of HGTV magazine, a hippie swooping around in drapey Eileen Fisher clothes and the only lesbian among the four women—it was amazing,” said Newborn.

Newborn worked hard on the accent and dialect of New Jersey for the role.

“We also had to learn choreography for our cult dance for the end of the play,” he said.

Having won the Irene Ryan Award in Region 8 for his performance, Newborn has been selected for the national competition at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., which begins April 15. The festival includes master classes, concert readings from the award-winning plays, and visits to area theaters.

WWU Theatre has won the regional Irene Ryan competition in two of the last three years. The competition includes an average of 150 participants. Last year, the year Western didn’t win, the performers came in second place.

“My parents are coming and my scene partner will be participating. I’ll have a lot of support with me,” he said.

Plethora of opportunities made WWU an attractive choice

Newborn came to Western after being active in high school theatre in Seattle.

“I got into a lot of other schools, but I’m glad I came here. The Theatre program’s offerings are so diverse, and there are so many opportunities to perform. Rich Brown has been a great mentor,” he said.

Rich Brown, a 19-year veteran of Western’s Theatre and Dance Department, talked about watching Newborn evolve as a performer.

“It has been an honor to be in the studio training with Ella and watching his growth over the past four years as he progressed through the acting program at Western. Ella has learned to apply our training to his craft to bring truth, empathy, and compassion to his characters and storytelling,” Brown said.

Ella Newborn onstage as Renee Shapiro-Epps in "Hurricane Diane."

Newborn notes that the physical pedagogy at Western is particularly helpful in performing as Renee.

“We do a lot of movement work in connecting voice and body through yogic forms, and that physical training helped me with Renee,” he said.

One of the opportunities through WWU that Newborn mentioned is working with the Seattle Children’s Theatre. Having grown up in Seattle, the proximity from Western to the SCT has been fantastic for him, and enabled him to participate in a teen play through SCT called 'American Prom.'

Brown said he thinks big things lie ahead for Newborn.

“Given his successes at Western, Newborn has a bright future as an actor,” Brown said.

“From winning the KC/ACTF Region 7 Diversity award in the Irene Ryan acting competition last year, to winning the competition this year and receiving an all-expenses week-long trip to train at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., we couldn’t be prouder of his work,” Brown said.

Newborn works in the Disability Outreach Center on campus providing education and advocacy for students with visible and hidden disabilities, and will graduate from Western in June.

“Western’s approach to teaching theatre is a very physical approach and a different methodology from what you see in most other programs. That methodology has served me very well as an actor,” said Newborn.

Find out more about the Department of Theatre and Dance at https://cfpa.wwu.edu/theatre.

Frances Badgett covers CHSS and CFPA for the Office of University Communications. Have a great story idea? Reach out to her at badgetf@wwu.edu.