Aundria Brown, 18, hails from South Carolina, where she graduated from the prestigious South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, a two-year residential high school. There, she had lead roles in Chekov’s Three Sisters, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, and Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World.

Robert Beseda, assistant dean of the School of Drama, described Brown’s audition performance as “spontaneous … mature and confident.” Brown also exhibited a marked potential for musical theatre and trained with School of Drama singing teacher Greg Walter. Another UNCSA teacher, Robert Francesconi, founder of the S.C. Governor’s School drama curriculum, taught Brown in a mask master class as a guest artist.

While in high school, Brown demonstrated strong leadership skills, having served as senior class president, as well as strong academic skills in a school highly regarded for its academic achievements. In her UNCSA application, Brown wrote: “Acting is where you are allowed to take risks, to work from your core, and truthfully under the given circumstances experience something. It is a spiritual, physical, mental and emotionally demanding craft through which something beautiful is born.”

Speaking of her scholarship award, Brown said: “This is an added motivator in the pursuit of my goal to become a successful artist – knowing that someone is supporting my dream. I am truly thankful.”

Devinron Ready, 18, a native of Winston-Salem, just graduated from Robert B. Glenn High School in Kernersville this June. During his high school career, he pursued parallel interests in athletics and theatre, extending his theatre interest into summer productions. In 2009, Ready played the Pirate King in Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance, a production of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools’ Summer Enrichment Program. He returned this summer as another famous pirate, Captain Hook, in the same program’s production of Peter Pan, which was presented July 22-24 at Reynolds Auditorium. 

Diana Marshall-Shoaf, who directed Ready in Pirates of Penzance, attested: “His commitment is 110 percent.” Ready credits his high school theatre arts teacher, Linda Moody, for nurturing his talent and supporting him emotionally. She, in turn, found Ready to be a role model among his peers. His experience and passion for acting naturally led him to dream of admission to UNCSA. Regarding Ready’s audition, Robert Beseda, assistant dean of the School of Drama, remarked about his “natural instincts,” “theatrical flair,” and a “resonant bass/baritone” voice that makes him a good candidate for musical theatre.

Speaking of his scholarship award, Ready said: “It truly means a lot to me to know that someone cares to give me a better opportunity in achieving my goal as an actor.” He added that he is anxious to demonstrate his gratitude with his words and actions.

In the summer of 2007, the Winston-Salem Urban League, the North Carolina Black Repertory Company, and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts announced, at the National Black Theatre Festival, a new endowed scholarship to honor the late Larry Leon Hamlin, founder and artistic director of the National Black Theatre Festival, and his wife, Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin.

As recipients, Brown and Ready will have the opportunity to participate in internships or projects with the North Carolina Black Repertory Company as part of their scholarship award.

The theme of The Larry Leon Hamlin and Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin/Winston-Salem Urban League Endowed Scholarship at UNCSA is “Nurture the Talent.”

The Hamlin Scholarship is awarded annually to first-year undergraduate students, with preference given to students who will increase the diversity of the UNCSA student body. It is for students studying in either the School of Drama or the School of Design and Production, awarded in alternate years. Among the qualifications considered are: strength of the students’ auditions, community service, leadership capabilities, and academic records.

For more information on donating to the scholarship, please call the Winston-Salem Urban League at 336-725-5614.

The University of North Carolina School of the Arts is the first state-supported, residential school of its kind in the nation. Established as the North Carolina School of the Arts by the N.C. General Assembly in 1963, UNCSA opened in Winston-Salem (“The City of Arts and Innovation”) in 1965 and became part of the University of North Carolina system in 1972. More than 1,100 students from high school through graduate school train for careers in the arts in five professional schools: Dance, Design and Production (including a Visual Arts Program), Drama, Filmmaking, and Music. UNCSA is the state’s only public arts conservatory, dedicated entirely to the professional training of talented students in the performing, visual and moving image arts. UNCSA is located at 1533 S. Main St., Winston-Salem. For more information, visit www.uncsa.edu.