Fredonia student advances in national theater competition
A Fredonia sophomore has earned the right to compete for a $10,000 award from The National Society of Arts and Letters (NSAL).
Jeff Kringer, a Bachelor of Fine Arts Musical Theatre major from Skaneateles, will travel to Phoenix, Ariz., to take part in the NSAL national competition from May 19 to 22. He is competing in the musical theater category for a first place award of $10,000.
Founded in 1944, The National Society of Arts and Letters is a non-profit organization designed to assist “promising young artists” through competitions with financial assistance, master classes, mentoring and career opportunities.
Its competitions are designed to offer exposure for young artists who want to be heard and seen by professional critics, managers, producers, teachers, the media and patrons of the arts.
Over the years, the NSAL has discovered stars such as actress/dancer/writer Shirley MacLaine, opera singer Jessye Norman, Broadway and television star Megan Hilty, pianist Awadagin Pratt and prima ballerina Amanda McKerrow.
Kringer qualified for the NSAL national event by winning the regional competition held in New York City in March.
During the regional event, Kringer performed “Disappear” from the musical “The Burnt Part Boys,” followed by a monologue from “The Future Is Not What It Was” and “If I Loved You,” from “Carousel.” The event concluded with a callback, during which Kringer was asked to perform “The Streets of Dublin” from “The Man of No Importance.”
At Fredonia, Kringer has performed in several Department of Theatre and Dance Walter Gloor Mainstage Series productions, including “It’s a Wonderful Life: The Radio Play,” “HAIR: The Tribal Love-Rock Musical,” and “The Laramie Project/ The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later.”
In addition, Kringer will be featured in the lead role of Professor Harold Hill in Rockefeller Arts Center’s Commencement Eve Pops event, “The Music Man in Concert,” on Friday, May 13 at 7:30 p.m. in King Concert Hall.
His other credits at Fredonia include Jay Gatsby in Venture Production’s “The Great Gatsby,” presented by the Daniel A. Reed Library in cooperation with the Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Library System and the National Endowment for the Arts as the 2015 Big Read, Jerry Goss in “Bug” and Jeff in “SubUrbia.”
Kringer is the middle son of Janet and Michael Kringer of Skaneateles.
Regionally he has performed with The Fingerlakes Musical Theater Festival, Auburn Players, Skaneateles Summer Theatre and the Syracuse Shakespeare Festival.
This summer, he will be at Rehoboth Beach in Delaware performing in the company of Clear Space Theater as Billy Flynn in “Chicago,” Tick in “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” and the Big Bad Wolf and Lord Farquaad understudy in “Shrek: The Musical.”
