Taysha Marie Canales, a junior Acting major at Arcadia University and a resident of Bronx, NY, was awarded a Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival for Region II Certificate of Merit for Excellence in Ensemble Acting.
Canales was chosen for her part in the Arcadia Theater production of Home, which was an invited production at the Region II festival on Jan. 14.
Canales also was named an Irene Ryan Scholarship semi-finalist, and at the festival she was cast in a play The Orphan Train, which was written by a participating graduate student, Julie Tosh.
“Participating in this festival was definitely the experience of a lifetime,” says Canales. “To receive the tremendous amount of praise and recognition for our production Home was incredibly overwhelming, but very humbling. My school pride has definitely strengthened through this experience and also honored to be able to accomplish so much in my junior year. I am very proud and honored to attend Arcadia University and to be surrounded by extremely intelligent and knowledgeable professors. And I also am proud to represent the Bronx community, my hometown.”
After she graduates, Canales said, “she would love to stay in Philadelphia for a few years and try to expose myself to the theatre community; however, I am also majoring in education (right now focusing on early childhood education) and know that teaching will be a part of my future, whether it be teaching theatre to those who do not normally have access to it, or educating in New York City public schools to reach out to children similar to myself. I’m actually working with Epic Theatre Ensemble in NYC (having been affiliated with them since high school) and am right now in the process of creating a political theatre company with other young adult called Epic Next, where we are trying to educate young adults on political and social issues of our society and how these issues affect our own existence.”
About Arcadia University
Arcadia University is a top-ranked private university in metropolitan Philadelphia and a national leader in study abroad, ranked #1 in undergraduate participation in study abroad (Open Doors 2009). Arcadia University promises a distinctively global, integrative and personal learning experience that prepares students to contribute and prosper in a diverse and dynamic world. U.S. News & World Report ranks Arcadia University among the top master’s universities in the North, as one of the top study abroad programs in the nation, and as a “top up-and-coming school.” The Physical Therapy program is ranked 7th in the nation.