The 50th anniversary of the Bela Kiralyfalvi National Student Playwriting Competition celebrates with the 2024 winner “The Angel of Death.” The competition began as the Wichita State University National Playwriting Contest in 1974 by Bela Kiralyfalvi. Before his retirement in 2003, Bela was a theatre professor and a director of the School of Performing Arts. In 2022, the School of Performing Arts renamed the competition to the Bela Kiralyfalvi National Student Playwriting Competition in his honor.
In 2024, Bela passed away at the age of 87. He will be missed but his passion for theatre and enthusiasm for teaching will live on through past students, alumni, faculty, staff, friends, and family.
“Teaching has always been exciting and interesting,” Bela Kiralyfalvi said following his retirement. “I’ve enjoyed learning and understanding things better through the process. I joke with students when they are getting ready to graduate after four or five years. They’ll say, ‘Oh I am going to be so glad to get out of here.’ I tell them, ‘You know, I’ve spent 45 years in college, and I still haven’t left.’ And it’s true you never cease to be a student. If you cease to be a student, you will not be a good teacher.”