Trica Stogsdill, Allen Community College’s theatre and film director, had a hand in picking up some illustrious hardware over the summer.
Stogsdill, who works in the summer months at the American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wis., learned in June that APT brought home the 2026 Regional Theatre Tony Award — the highest such honor a theatrical program can receive.
Only one such Regional Theatre award is given out annually to an institution that displays a sustained level of artistic excellence and contributes significantly to the advancement of theater in the United States.
(Yes, this is from the same Tony Award ceremony that honors the best of the best on Broadway each year.)
“It’s like the Oscars or the Super Bowl of theater,” Stogsdill said. “I am incredibly proud to be a part of the company at American Players Theatre, and to celebrate this monumental achievement with them.”
Stogsdill was in Spring Green — she’s worked there the past seven seasons as a wig artisan — during the Tony Awards ceremony.
She and throngs of her colleagues watched the ceremony from a local bar as ATP’s artistic director and managing director received the award.
“And then they brought it back to us, and we all got to hold the award we helped win,” she laughed. “I joked that I held someone’s baby and the Tony in the same week, and I was way more nervous holding the Tony.”
This is Stogsdill’s second time working at a Tony Award-winning regional Theatre. She previously worked at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minn., but this was her first time being on staff during the win.
STOGSDILL, who is entering her fifth year at Allen, strives to leverage her professional networking to provide unique opportunities for her ACC students.
She’ll take a group of students to Wisconsin to the aforementioned ATP home base for exclusive workshops, backstage access and industry networking rarely available to first- and second-year community college students.
“We aren’t just teaching theater from a textbook at Allen,” Stogsdill said in an email. “We are actively operating at the highest levels of the American theater industry, and it shows in our productions.”
It’s worth mentioning that John Leahy, Stogdill’s husband and Allen’s technical theatre instructor, also previously worked at the Guthrie Theater and APT, Stogsdill said.
“Our students get to train under faculty who are active professionals at Tony-award winning theaters, allowing them to graduate with a massive competitive edge, whether they are transferring or bypassing the extra debt and directly entering the entertainment industry.”
SHE CARRIES ambitious plans for a storybook year at Allen.
The first production, actually, has been in the works all summer.
