2026 US Army IMCOM Europe One Act Play Festival & YouthFEST '26

Friday, Oct. 9

18:00 - Festival Registration

          Please register in the theatre lobby and sign up for theatre   skills workshops.

18:00: Sign-up for Monologue Competition

          You must be present to sign up for a monologue slot. Sign-ups  will continue until spaces are filled. Monologues will be presented on Saturday morning in a closed  session with the monologue coach. 7-9 will be selected for coaching and competition on Sunday at 1300.

20:00 - 21:45: FESTIVAL PERFORMANCES

SATURDAY, Oct. 10

THEATRE SKILLS WORKSHOPS

2026 One Act Play Festival & YouthFEST '26 Awards

Monologue Competition

• Third Place Outstanding Monologue – (TIE) Angela White – The Soldiers’ Theater, Vicenza & Alyssa Ellis – The Terrace Playhouse, Ansbach. 
• Second Place Outstanding Monologue Award. - Perry McWilliams – Bavaria Performing Arts. 
• First Place Outstanding  Monologue - Emily Lamb  - Bavaria Performing Arts

• Judges’ Choice Monologue Achievement Award for Youth Performance –  Collette Baker – SHAPE Players Performing Arts Center

YouthFEST ’26 Outstanding Achievement Awards

2026 IMCOM Europe Army Entertainment One Act Play Festival Awards

The following performers were selected to present their monologues on Sunday. Oct. 11 at 1300 hrs.

• Breonna Casey - KMC Onstage, Kaiserslautern
• Angela White - The Soldiers' Theatre, Vicenza
• Toby Broussaru - Bavaria Performing Arts
• Alyssa Ellis - The Terrace Playhouse, Ansbach
• Susanna Lynch - Bavaria Performing Arts
• Colette Baker - SHAPE Players Performing Arts
• Cayden Sommer - The Terrace Playhouse, Ansbach
• Perry McWilliams - Bavaria Performing Arts
• June Mulholland - The Legacy Playhouse, Wiesbaden
• Emily Lamb - Bavaria Performing Arts
• Addy O'Donnell - The Legacy Playhouse, Wiesbaden

• Third Place Outstanding Monologue
• Second Place Outstanding Monologue
• First Place Outstanding Monologue

FESTIVAL ADJUDICATORS

Paul Bourne is the Artistic Director of Menagerie Theatre Company, Cambridge, England and of the international Hotbed Festival of New Writing. Former Artistic Director of Center Stage, New York. Paul was the first Judge of the One Act Play Festival in 1995 and has been involved in Army Entertainment for many years running master classes and supporting programs in Europe and The US. He has created two major educational theatre programs for the US Army including a project for schools about online bullying; “It’s No Joke”, and as the official Desert Storm Puppeteer (yes it is true!). He has directed dozens of community plays, and over ninety professional productions in ten different countries. His most recent professional production as a writer and director: “Hold On!” has been running for two years at the major “Most Theatre” in Czechia. He is on faculty at Charles University Prague, The University of Cambridge and at Harvard University;  teaching theatrical practice, creative processes, and entrepreneurship respectively!

Until her retirement in 2015, Kathy Pingel was the Director of Education and Youth Programming at the Des Moines Community Playhouse for ten years. She also served as Artistic Director of the Kate Goldman Children's Theatre. She holds a BA in theatre from Eastern Michigan University, an MA from Northwestern University in Performance Studies and an MAT from Northwestern.  At the Des Moines Playhouse, Kathy directed over 50 productions. Kathy has adjudicated at the state and regional, national and international festivals for the American Association of Community Theatre and in 2015, 2017 and 2019 taught AACT’s Adjudication Seminar at the national festival. In 2017, she was named an AACT Fellow and in 2019 was given the prestigious Art Cole Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2016 she and her husband, Ron Ziegler, won the Cloris Leachman Award for Best Direction of The Hobbit. Kathy was also nominated for Best Director by Sarasota critic Jay Handelman for her work on Metamorphoses at Venice Theatre, and Bridges of Madison Country at Manatee Players. Since leaving the Des Moines Playhouse, Kathy has directed and taught in Washington, Kentucky, Oregon, Michigan, Iowa, Florida, Oklahoma and Ansbach, Germany.

Ron Ziegler retired from his position as Festivals Coordinator for the American Association of Community Theatre after a 40+ year theatre career and recently moved to Covington, KY after living for a decade in North Port, FL. Following the receipt of his Master’s degree from the University of South Dakota, he served on staff at Waukesha (WI) Civic Theatre, Sioux Falls (SD) Community Playhouse, Orlando (FL) Repertory Theatre and the Des Moines (IA) Playhouse as Associate Director where he was the first Artistic/Managing Director for the Kate Goldman Children's Theatre. While in Des Moines, he founded and managed the Iowa Fringe Festival. He is a past Member-at-Large, Treasurer and President of the American Association of Community Theatre, was named an AACT Fellow and joined the AACT Staff as Field Services Director in 2009. Ron has adjudicated state, regional and national theatre festivals across the US and abroad and has directed for theatres in Iowa, South Dakota, Kentucky, Florida, Wisconsin Illinois and Germany. He and his spouse Kathy Pingel were awarded the 2015-16 Cloris Leachman Award for Outstanding Direction for their co-direction of Des Moines Young Artists Theatre's production of The Hobbit, and co-directed Peter and the Starcatcher and Girls' Weekend for Ansbach Terrace Playhouse in Germany. Ron’s Venice (FL) Theatre production of David Harrower’s Blackbird appeared at AACTWorldFest in June 2022. In 2023, he was awarded the Art Cole Lifetime of Leadership award from the American Association of Community Theatre.

Workshop leaders

Rachael Harper is the Managing Artistic Director of Bavaria Performing Arts in USAG Bavaria. Originally from the Chicago area, she holds a BFA in Musical Theatre with a Vocal Emphasis from the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University and a Diploma in Acting Shakespeare from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Her diverse training has led her to work internationally as a performer, director, music director, producer, writer, casting professional, stage manager, and teaching artist. Her credits span theatre, television, film, and digital media. At Bavaria Performing Arts, she develops theatrical productions, educational programming, and professional artistic opportunities for the USAG Bavaria community. She is also pursuing an M.S. in Performing Arts Leadership and Management at Shenandoah University.

Nína Rún Bergsdóttir is the Theatre Specialist at KMC Onstage and a Louisiana Tech University graduate. She began her stage combat training in 2018, earning multiple weapon certifications through SAFD and BASSC. She has served on staff at the National Stage Combat Workshop, assisted with workshops in the United States and London, and taught workshops in Germany. Her fight choreography include She Kills Monsters, Jekyll & Hyde, Wait until Dark, Mmmbeth, and Horse Girls. She is preparing to direct Ken Ludwig’s The Three Musketeers.

Kimberly Stockton is Manager of Theatrix, the Army Entertainment costume & technical support facility. She has worked in every aspect of theatrical costuming, including costume design, construction, alterations, dying, prop builds, and wardrobe management for both union and non-union houses throughout the eastern US. Kimberly spent more than 18 years as a professional performer and costume mistress at various Renaissance Festivals, where she has portrayed royalty and designed and constructed the complete wardrobes and accessories for her characters.   Her career has included film, live entertainment, Renaissance festivals and specialty productions like “Queen Elizabeth I” in the movie “Bill and Ted: Face the Music”, Disney on Ice, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s Kaleidoscape, multiple cruise ship productions, and various movies.

Corey D. Cascio is by day a special agent for an international electronic theatre controls company based in Wisconsin, and moonlights at night as a lighting programmer and lighting designer for theatre, opera and dance events throughout Europe. He discovered his love for lighting at the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts, and mentored under Mark D. Guinn at Louisiana Tech University where he completed his Bachelor’s in Lighting Design and Production. Since then, he has created a plethora of lighting experiences in Mexico, the Caribbean, Turkey, the Canary Islands, Poland, Austria, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany and most recently in 2021 for Das Rheingold Opera at Yekaterinburg Philharmonic in Russia. After lighting the first Into the Open Festival: Dreams in 2023, he is thrilled to be able to return for this year’s festival. He is a trained lighting programmer and designer, combining his technical and artistic skills to enhance productions with aesthetic and functional qualities of light. His creed is that the lighting should never be noticed on just its own, rather it should enhance and complement the main attraction: The Art. 

Lighting Designer Peter Platz gained his initial experience as a lighting technician while performing his community service at a school for the deaf. He subsequently held permanent positions as a lighting technician at the Stadttheater Heidelberg and the Nationaltheater Mannheim. From 2003 to 2017, he worked as a master electrician at the Bavarian Theatre Academy (located at the Prinzregententheater in Munich). He has been working as a freelance lighting designer since 2017. Peter Platz has designed lighting for productions at various venues, including the Metropoltheater Munich, the Shanghai Theatre Academy, the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, the Prinzregententheater (August Everding Theatre Academy), the Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin, Theater Coburg, and the ETA Hoffmann Theater Bamberg. He has also managed lighting design production for exhibitions such as Harry Potter, Titanic, and Human Body for the production companies GForce Exhibitions and Imagine Exhibitions.

FESTIVAL STAFF

Vic Phillipson, Festival Technical Director, has worked for Army Entertainment for over 44 years.  He was an Entertainment Director in Giessen from 1992 until 1995, and then in Heidelberg from 1995 until 2000.  Since moving to Norway in 2000, he has worked as a technical consultant for the program. He has served as the Technical Director and Stage Manager for the annual IMCOM Europe One Act/One Page Play Festivals and the Tournament of Plays (TOPPERs) Awards Show and Ceremony for over 30 years.

Cindy Krewson: Light Operator & Assistant Technical Director

Autumn Mann: Festival Host & Stage Manager

The Amelia Earhart Playhouse, Entertainment Staff & Participants:  Hospitality Staff

Dane Winters: IMCOM Europe Entertainment Program Manager & Producer

Sarah Wilson: IMCOM E Entertainment Specialist, Festival Timer & Assistant Producer

Victoria Hanrahan: IMCOM E Entertainment Specialist, Stage Manager & Assistant Producer

Under Construction