Dr. Marilyn "Cookie" Hetzel Theatre Endowed Scholarship

Purpose:
The fund is established to support Theatre Majors involved in the Theatre Production program at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Dr. Marilyn A. Hetzel (known as Cookie) was the Chair of Theatre and a Full Professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver. She was also a voice/performance workshop leader (associated for eighteen years with the Denver Center for the Performing Arts); a theatre director and choreographer (with specialties in music theatre, developing original scripts with actor collaboration, and touring theatre); a theatre and communication consultant; and a performer with over forty years of experience. She earned her B.A. in Speech Education from the University of Illinois – Champaign/Urbana and her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Communication and Theatre from the University of Colorado-Boulder. She has taught at the Universities of Colorado, Wisconsin, and Denver (Semester at Sea), and at the DCPA’s National Theatre Conservatory (Semester at Sea.) In 1992, she traveled to Prague, Moscow, and Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) as an Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) delegation member sponsored by the People to People Citizen’s Ambassadors Program. In September 1994, the Alliance for Colorado Theatre (ACT) named her the Higher Education Theatre Educator of the Year. In 1999, she received the Metropolitan State College of Denver’s GLBT Ally of the Year Award. In 2008, she received the President’s Distinguished Service Award for 2008-2009. She is a founding member of the Entertainment Technology Certification Program (ETCP) through PLASA. During the summers in 1997, 1998, and 2000 she worked as a guest artist in the U.S. Territory of Guam developing new touring plays that address pertinent social issues. She regularly conducts workshops and gives presentations at regional, national, and international conferences.

Criteria:
• Be meeting MSU Denver’s Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) requirements and cannot be in default or owe any refund/repayment of federal, state or institutional aid
• Be taking a minimum of 12 credit hours during the semesters the scholarship is received
• Have a declared major in Theatre BA, BFA Music Theatre or BFA Applied Theatre Technology and Design
• Have a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.5
• Demonstrate involvement in the Theatre Production Program
• Applicants will submit an essay on “Theatre as Equipment for Living.”