Student wins sound design award

Student Gianna Agostino won first place in the Sound Design competition at the 71st annual Southeastern Theatre Conference (SETC) Convention, held recently in Louisville, Kentucky. Agostino is a junior pursuing a double major in music and communications with a minor in theatre. She won the award for her design for the Department of Theatre production of Caryl Churchill’s “Far Away,” created under the supervision of faculty mentor Benjamin Stickles.

“This was my first time ever being a sound designer, so it was very much uncharted territory, and I fell in love with it completely during the process,” Agostino said. “The fact that I won at all made it that much more special. The faculty and students working on the production with me were so helpful and supportive along the way, and I’m glad I was able to represent the efforts of the entire team with this award.”

The SETC convention draws more than 5,000 students and professionals in the theatre industry each year. At the convention, graduate and undergraduate students display their design and technology work and can enter their work into competition, where it is critiqued by distinguished career designers with national and international reputations.