10 Apr 2017 Conway Arts Awards to be held on April 13

Dr. Rosemary Henenberg, Willis H. Holmes Distinguished Professor of Theatre Arts, Emerita, will be recognized with the Faulkner County Library Lifetime Achievement Award at the upcoming Conway Arts Awards celebration and reception sponsored by the Conway Alliance for the Arts (CAFTA).

The Conway Arts Awards celebration and reception will be at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 13, in the Trieschmann Fine Arts Building at Hendrix College. Other awards to be given include Outstanding Arts Educator, Outstanding Student Achievement, the Gene Hatfield Outstanding Individual Artist, Rollin R. Potter Outstanding Patron of the Arts and the Mayor’s Award for Community Advocate in the Arts.

Henenberg earned a bachelor of arts degree and a master of arts degree from Baylor University, and a doctorate in comparative arts from Ohio University. During her tenure at Hendrix, Henenberg served as chair of the Theatre Arts department and area chair for the humanities division. She was also named the original director of the Hendrix-Murphy Foundation Programs in Literature and Language at Hendrix. She retired in 2002.

Under Henenberg’s leadership, Cabe Theatre Arts Center was constructed. Her energy and vision assured that the College now has one of the finest performing arts centers in the region. Henenberg has directed more than 100 productions, involving almost 5,000 students, at Hendrix.

The late Dr. Eric Binnie, Professor of Theatre Arts, Emeritus, and past recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award, said of Henenberg, “The best image for Rosemary’s teaching, directing and aesthetic/pedagogical collaborations is that of a pebble dropped gently into a pool creating an ever-expanding series of ripples: she draws out responses that reverberate in the recipient’s awareness long after the initial thought. Rosemary’s method may be characterized as an initial precision which leads to a deeper, more subtle, multi-layered engagement long afterwards. What’s more, she herself has, and she creates for others, a great deal of fun in doing so; ably demonstrating the chiasmus which has become one of her more memorable maxims, ‘serious play, played seriously.’”

According to CAFTA board chair Dr. Gayle Seymour, “We were very impressed with the impact that Dr. Henenberg has made not only at Hendrix, but in the cultural life of the Conway area. We encourage all of her former students to come out and support Dr. Henenberg as she receives this prestigious award.”

The public is invited to attend the artist awards ceremony free of charge, which will include performances by local artists. The ceremony will be followed by a reception.