Each year, the eight Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival regions honor individuals or organizations that have made extraordinary contributions to the teaching and producing of theatre and who have significantly dedicated their time, artistry and enthusiasm to the development of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. Most importantly, recipients have demonstrated a strong commitment to the values and goals of KCACTF and to excellence in educational theatre. It is the most prestigious regional award given by KCACTF and is considered one of the great honors in theatre education.
Be Boyd is an Associate Professor at UCF. Before coming to UCF, she was an Associate Professor at Texas Christian University where she led the Acting Program, an Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and an Assistant Professor at the University of Vermont.
Recent shows she has directed at UCF include The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Stop Kiss, The Fantasticks, Lysistrata, and The Laramie Project. Favorite directing successes include: La Llorona (2002) (chosen by the American College Theatre Festival as one of the best six productions in the nation from 600 participating academic programs), The Illusion ("Best Director" & Best Show" – Fort Worth Star Telegram, 2000), Antigone, Extremities, Jesus Christ Superstar ("Best Choreography" Fort Worth Star Telegram, 2000), Candida (playwright Athol Fugard wrote that this production was "outstanding"), My Fair Lady, Nunsense, A Raisin In the Sun, Dead President’s Club, Top Girls, Vinegar Tom, The Foreigner, The Glass Menagerie, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, South Pacific, and the opera, Bardos. Favorite roles include: Fires In the Mirror ("Best Actress Award" Allied Theatre Group, 2000 and "Best Actress Award" Raymond Taylor Theatre, 1997). Her most recent recreation of Fires was at Columbus State University (February, 2003).
She has also played the following roles: Calpurnia – Julius Caesar at Orlando Shakespeare Festival, Goneril – King Lear with Earle Hyman of The Cosby Show at the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, Elizabeth – Richard III at Shakespeare and Company, Mistress Quickly –Henry IV, Part II, Henry V, Sylvia – Two Gentlemen of Verona, Ariel – The Tempest, Audrey – As You Like It at Kentucky Shakespeare Festival, Tranio – The Taming of the Shrew at Fort Worth Shakespeare Festival , Sister Hubert – Nunsenseat the Barter Theatre and Toinette – The Imaginary Invalid at Vermont Repertory Theatre. She received her vocal training from Kristin Linklater and has a number of vocal and dialect credits including: King Lear, The Woman in Black, Love’s Labours Lost, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Candida, Dancing at Lughnasa, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Heathen Valley, Macbeth, Vinegar Tom, Agnes of God, Antigone, Tartuffe and Pentecost. Choreography credits include: Nunsense I and II, Sweet Charity,Cabaret, Street Scenes, Jesus Christ Superstar, My Fair Lady, and South Pacific.
She is member of the Dramatist’s Guild. Her work includes: The Dream Keeper (Premiered at the Virginia Stage Company, 2000),Mother of Civil Rights (Juneteenth Festival in Kentucky), In Focus: A Recollection of Black Thought, Fortified Harmonies, And the Blind May Lead,A Fight For Justice: The Greensboro Sit-in. She has received the Dean’s Merit Award and Chair Award (University of North Carolina – Greensboro) for Excellence in Teaching and Creative Activities, an Excellence in Teaching Award (University of Vermont) and recognition as a Ronald T. McNair Mentor (Texas Christian University).