JOHNSON CITY (March 7, 2013) – Brock Cooley, a junior theater major at East Tennessee State University, is one of eight student directors from across the nation selected for the SDC Student Director Fellowship Program and to participate in the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF) in Washington, D.C., this April.

During the festival, he will co-direct a 10-minute play with a professional director and receive outside assessment. While at KCACTF, he will also have the opportunity to attend performances and directing-intensive workshops led by nationally-recognized artists.

The fellowship is sponsored by the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC). Cooley was chosen for the prestigious program during the KCACTF-Region IV Festival in Albany, Ga., where he directed a scene, “The Story of Echo and Narcissus,” from Naomi Iizuka’s “The Polaroid Stories.” Appearing in the scene under Cooley’s direction were ETSU theatre majors Josh Holley and Everett Tarlton.

“I learned last fall that I was one of eight students who had been chosen to direct a scene during the regional festival,” said Cooley, who was nominated by ETSU professor Pat Cronin. “After we performed, I was critiqued by a panel of directors, and four teams, including ours, were invited to move on to the second round. I was given a day to incorporate the feedback and rehearse with my actors, and then present the scene again.

“After the second round, they told me that I was being passed on to the national festival,” Cooley added.

KCACTF’s Region IV encompasses Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, West Virginia and Florida, as well as Puerto Rico.

Cooley, of Nashville, has appeared on-stage in a number of ETSU productions, including “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” as Brick and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” as Lysander. He is also president of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity chapter at ETSU.