March 13, 1997 Contact: Barbara McKenna (408) 459-2495; mckenna@ua.ucsc.edu

UCSC ACTRESS RECEIVES THEATER ARTS SCHOLARSHIP

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SANTA CRUZ, CA--Nicole "Coco" Medvitz has been named as the recipient of the 1996-97 Priscilla Newton Undergraduate Scholarship in Theater Arts, given annually at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Medvitz, who has appeared in numerous campus and community productions, is a UCSC senior majoring in theater arts with a dual emphasis on drama and dance.

The scholarship program, now in its sixth year, was established to support students who have shown outstanding talent and dedication to their work in theater arts. The $3,000 scholarships are awarded on the basis of merit and need, with preference given to women.

Medvitz, who shared the scholarship last year with another student, is the first student to receive the scholarship a second time. "Coco has been an active and valued member of the Theater Arts Department since she came to campus," said theater arts chair Elaine Yokoyama Roos. "Her talent and her dedication are outstanding and we are delighted to be able to provide her with this deserved support."

Medvitz, who is currently performing in a UCSC production of Trojan Women, said she values the scholarship both for the financial support it provides and for the affirmation of the importance of women in theater. "I'm proud to be awarded the scholarship, and I'm excited. It feels especially significant because there is not a lot of support for women in this business. The essence of the award--that it is intended specifically for women--is encouraging because it recognizes the value of women in a field where they do not traditionally receive a lot of support."

The scholarship fund was, in fact, established to honor a respected Broadway actress. The late Bernard Oliver created the fund in 1991 in honor of his wife, Priscilla Newton, who died in 1994. In the early years of her career, Newton worked with such actresses as Ethel Barrymore and Helen Hayes in Broadway productions that included Our Town, Farm of Three Echoes, and My Sister Eileen. Her career continued on Broadway and in Chicago until World War II when Newton joined the USO and entertained troops in Alaska and elsewhere in the U.S. At war's end she married Bernard Oliver, then an engineer with Bell Laboratories. Soon after their marriage the couple moved to Palo Alto where Oliver became director of research for Hewlett-Packard. As mother of two girls and a boy, Newton left the professional stage but continued acting, playing major roles with the Palo Alto Community Theater, Stanford University, Foothill College, and the Los Altos Conservatory Theater. Newton died in 1994 at the age of 79. Bernard Oliver died in 1995 at the age of 79.

Medvitz, who is currently in the process of applying to graduate programs in theater arts, began acting as a freshman in high school. In her last two years of high school and freshman year of college, Medvitz played the role of Snow White at Disneyland. At UCSC she has performed as Blue, the lead role in Beirut; Pegeen in Playboy of the Western World; Louka in Arms and the Man; Lyse in The Illusion; and Prospero in Shakespeare To Go's Tempest. She also starred as Sally Bowles in Cabaret, presented by Sisyphus Repertory. This past year she performed in the campus's spring dance production, played Lychorida in Shakespeare Santa Cruz's Pericles; Doreen in the UCSC production of Tartuffe; and, currently, as Andromache in UCSC's Trojan Women.

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