College Of Fellows Announces 2022 Uta Hagen Winner

The College of Fellows of the American Theatre and the Kennedy Center's American College Theatre Festival in partnership The HB Studios, present the2022 Uta Hagen Award to Professor Yesenia Garcia Herrington from Central Texas College in Killean, Texas in recognition of her leadership as a distinguished educator and award-winning performing artist. The award was established in 2019 by the College of Fellows of the American Theater to honor the centennial of the birth of legendary actor/director/acting teacher Uta Hagen. The combined support of these three organizations affords the 2022 recipient the opportunity to attend the HB Teaching Lab in person in New York City during the week of August 7, 2022.

Yesenia Garcia Herrington is a professor of drama at Central Texas College and serves as an adjunct faculty member at Austin Community College, Temple College, Concordia University, Texas State University, and Southwestern University. In 2010, she founded C2C Multimedia, a company focused on elevating arts education and media for underrepresented populations. In 2020 she became part of Southwestern University's second "18 Under 40" cohort for her work in the arts. In 2022, she was selected to be part of the second cohort of the New York based Theater Producers of Color's (TPOC) Commercial Theater Producing 101. She is represented by The Acting Group (TAG) in Austin, Texas.

She is an actress, educator, and entrepreneur and a graduate of Southwestern University and The University of Texas at Austin MFA Acting Program. Her film and television credits include the award-winning documentary Horton Foote: The Road to Home, the award-winning National Geographic mini-series The Long Road Home, HBO's The Leftovers, AMC's The Son, among others. On stage, her role as Carolina in the National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere of The Madres by Stephanie Allison Walker earned her an Austin Broadway World nomination for Best Leading Actress.

"It's an honor to receive the Uta Hagen award and be able to attend the teachers' lab. I am grateful to the collective vision of KCACTF, HB Studios and the College of Fellows of the American Theatre for investing in me as a professor of practice. This will be a transformational experience in my career which will undoubtedly have a far-reaching impact on my future students." Yesenia Garcia Herrington