1st Stage Competitors

As the State's flagship, the University of Maryland (UMD) strives to bring students deeply into the process of discovery, innovation and entrepreneurship. Whenever possible, hands-on research complements classroom instruction. Interdisciplinary collaborations facilitate the understanding of complex problems like cybersecurity and climate change, and international study and diversity help our graduates become global citizens. Its location inside Washington, D.C.'s Beltway, along with its own Metro stop, gives students numerous opportunities to work with neighboring federal agencies and labs, think tanks and foreign organizations.

The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, located on 17 acres overlooking the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., is America's living memorial to President Kennedy as well as the nation's busiest arts facility. The Center, which opened on September 8, 1971, continues its efforts to fulfill President Kennedy's vision by producing and presenting an unmatched variety of theater and musicals, dance and ballet, orchestral, chamber, jazz, popular, world, and folk music, and multimedia performances for all ages.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater is a national center dedicated to the production, presentation, development and study of American theater. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Molly Smith and Executive Producer Edgar Dobie, Arena Stage is the largest company in the country dedicated to American plays and playwrights. Arena Stage produces huge plays of all that is passionate, exuberant, profound, deep and dangerous in the American spirit, and presents diverse and ground-breaking work from some of the best artists around the country. Arena Stage is committed to commissioning and developing new plays through the American Voices New Play Institute. Now in its sixth decade, Arena Stage serves a diverse annual audience of more than 300,000.