Emporia State theater production invited to festival
By Drew Donahoo, ESU Media Relations
Friday, December 26, 2008
Members of the Emporia State University theater department will be traveling to Lawrence in January to participate in Region V of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. Among those attending the festival are company members from ESU’s November production of David Lindsay-Abaire’s “Rabbit Hole.”
A group of theater professors from schools in the region, which includes Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota in addition to Kansas, viewed nearly 300 collegiate theatre productions between January and December 2008. ESU’s production was one of five chosen to be presented at the festival.
“It’s a great honor to be selected for the regional festival,” said Jim Bartruff, director of theater at ESU. “Emporia State has long been one of the respected programs in our region and this selection reconfirms the strength and visibility of our department.”
This is the third time in the recent past that an ESU production has been selected to perform at the festival. Bartruff said if the production is well received at the regional festival, it could be selected to perform at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., in April.
“Rabbit Hole” tells the story of a family dealing with a deep loss and struggling to cope. The play focuses on Becca and Howie Corbett, portrayed by junior Kelsey Fredricks from Mandan, N.D., and Bob Hart, junior from Overland Park. Becca’s mother Nat, played by junior Lindsay Roland of Grand Island, Neb., and sister Izzy, played by freshman Elise Blann from Newton, are integral parts of the story as well. The final character, a 17-year-old boy named Jason is played by Olathe senior Ben Fleer. The intricate script won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize.
The production staff for ESU’s production of “Rabbit Hole” includes faculty members Ron Fowlkes, scenic designer; Craig Moxon, sound designer; and Nancy Pontius, lighting designer. Susan Samuelson, Burlington senior, designed the costumes and makeup for the show.
ESU theater students will be involved in many areas of the regional festival. In all, 27 Emporia State students will be submitting work for the design and technology exposition, including makeup designs, scenic designs, costume designers, stage management portfolios, and built properties. Several students will also be competing in the Irene Ryan Scholarship Auditions. To be eligible for this competition, students were selected by regional respondents who viewed productions in the 2008 year.
Those wishing to see “Rabbit Hole” before it travels to Lawrence will have one more opportunity to do so. The production will be revived in the Bruder Theatre in King Hall on the ESU campus at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 17. Tickets can be ordered for their usual price at (620) 341-6378. A reception will be held before the performance and donations to help cover the cost of the trip will be accepted.
Following the Saturday evening performance, the company will load the set, properties, and costumes into a truck and will leave for Lawrence the next day. “Rabbit Hole” will be the final production performed at KCACTF-Region V. The company will perform the play at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 23 at the Lawrence Fine Arts Center.
Comments
Post a comment
We allow registered users to post comments on this Web site. Our goal with this feature is to encourage thoughtful discussions about the news stories. Using the comment feature to make random attacks on people is not acceptable. Emporiagazette.com neither endorses nor guarantees the accuracy of any user contribution. Responsibility for what is posted or contributed to this site is the sole responsibility of each user. To learn more about our posting policies please read our User Poster Agreement Policy.
(Requires free registration.)