My wonderful film student and playwright Kenndall is graduating!

Here's Kenndall's post:

My name is Kenndall Wallace and I’m a senior with a major in Broadcast & Cinematic arts and a double minor in Art and Art History. I’ve been working at the Clarke since January of 2022, and I’ve been incredibly grateful to have spent over three years working as a student assistant for film processing! As a student worker, I dealt primarily with archived news footage from Channel 9 & 10, a CBS station that serves the central Michigan area. As someone who’s always loved viewing film and photographs from the past, it has been a real treat to be able to see the passage of time through the archived film footage– viewing over a decade’s worth of film from the 1960’s–70’s as a worker at the Clarke. 

 As a student, however, I’ve primarily dabbled in storytelling! As a screenwriter, my debut screenplay placed third in the Broadcast Education Association’s Student Filmmaking Festival; and as a playwright, I am a six-time Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival– winning three awards at the regional level and three at the national level. I’ve also had the honor of being a Lumen Playwriting Competition winner, an inaugural member of the Black Playwrights’ Conference– and most recently, a Torch Literary Arts fellow. Post graduation, I intend to enjoy a summer of writing, relaxing, and job-searching, ultimately creating a Detroit-based arts festival on August 17th.

My note: One of the wonderful and tough truths about working with students is that they graduate. We will really miss Kenndall's positive attitude and all her work with film. Kenndall is the only playwright I personally know. What a special gift that is, to be a playwright. I've been constantly amazed at Kenndall's ability to write plays and win awards. I can't wait to see which of Kenndall's plays is enacted and wins awards next!