2.18.10 New York Success Story

Currently in production, The Trip to Bountiful, produced by Brooklyn, NY's The Heights Players has a familiar OCU face on stage. Mindy Pierson, 2008 MA Theatre for Young Audience graduate, currently portrays the role of Thelma in this piece written by American playwright, Horton Foote. This production takes place during the 1950's in Houston, TX, and it will be running in Brooklyn through February 21st. Break a Leg, Mindy!

OCU Department of Theatre Receives Nomination

The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) has nominated Oklahoma City University Department of Theatre’s production of The Importance of Being Earnest to be performed in late February at the KCACTF Region VI Festival. The production ran from Oct. 2 to Oct. 5 with KCACTF officials visiting on Oct. 4.

Following the production, several individual students received standout credits as well. Rebecca Maiten (Costume Design), Jeff Sherwood (Sound Design), Mitch Crossley (Property Design) and Anthony Bullock (Stage Management) have all qualified as KCACTF Design Finalists, and cast members Quinn Gasaway (portraying Algernon), C. Jaye Miller (portraying Cecily), and Shelby Nash (portraying Gwendolen) have all been named as KCACTF Irene Ryan Acting Nominees.

The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) is a national theater program comprised of 18,000 theatre students from approximately 600 colleges and universities. The KCACTF is broken down into eight regions, and the regional festivals held in January and February showcase the finest of each region’s entered productions. The productions performed at regional festivals are judged by a panel of three individuals, who are selected by the Kennedy Center and the KCACTF National Committee. Following the regional festivals, the judges and the KCACTF Artistic Director select four to six of the best productions showcased at the regional festivals, and these productions are then shown in the spring at the annual, non-competitive KCACTF National Festival.

10.8.2008 - Theatre Fall Season Continues This Weekend with Two New Openings

After its season debut with last weekend’s production of The Importance of Being Earnest, Oklahoma City University’s Department of Theatre continues with great momentum as it deters from the comedic and focuses on the dramatic. The openings of its next two productions, The Laramie Project on Friday, October 10th and The Exonerated on Saturday, October 11th, change the focus of the cumulative season as the chosen scripts question and challenge social justice and injustice in today’s society.

Chosen for production on the ten-year anniversary of Matthew Shepard’s death, The Laramie Project is a collection of interviews conducted by Moises Kaufman and The Tectonic Theatre Project, which collectively tell the heart-wrenching story of the events that led up to and have followed the violent beating and ultimate death of a young, homosexual college student in Laramie, Wyoming. According to Director Ben Corbett, although seemingly controversial due to its language, sexual content, and graphic violence, this series of first-hand interviews conducted in the wake of a local catastrophe also truly captures opinions of “God’s love, God’s hate, God’s judgment, and God’s power.” However, it is the undertone of the power of love that ultimately turns a gruesome tragedy into a story of prevailing hope and justice.

Also a compilation of interviews, The Exonerated stems from conversations collected as its authors traveled across the country speaking to citizens who were mistakenly sentenced to death row and were later cleared of all charges after new evidence surfaced to prove their innocence. This chilling and brutally honest depiction of the cracks in the American legal system comes straight from these horrifying interviews, along with court records, and letters and writings drafted on death row. According to Director Dr. David Pasto, the relevance of the production relies on the unabridged stories of the six individuals featured in the script as “these individuals had been silenced by the legal system and need to be heard in their own words.” These are the words that shake the audience’s belief in the justice system and encourages them to question its foundation.

Tickets for both productions range from $5 - $12, and they are available through the Oklahoma City University Box Office at (405) 208-5227. The Laramie Project has nightly showings at 8:00 PM on Friday October 10th, Saturday October 11th, Thursday October 23rd, Friday October 24th, and Saturday October 25th. There are also two Sunday matinee performances at 2:00 PM on October 12th and October 26th. All Performances will be in The Black Box Theatre in the Wanda L. Bass Music Center. The Exonerated will take place in the Homsey Family Moot Courtroom in The Sarkeys Law Center on Saturday October 11th and Saturday October 25th. Both performances will take place at 2:00 PM.

9.26.2008 - Fall Season Opens with The Importance of Being Earnest

If laughter is the best medicine, then Oklahoma City University’s Department of Theatre has the right prescription with its production of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest. This piece persists as one of the most widely known and wildly popular comedy of manners as it follows two gentlemen through London of the 1890’s and more importantly through their web of deceit, mistaken identities, and hilarious romantic confusion.

Chosen specifically for its unique wit and candor, Director D. Lance Marsh believes that this production will expose the students and audiences to a particular style of comedy that will help enrich their theatrical experience. According to Marsh, Earnest is one of the funniest plays in the English language due to its comedic versatility. “Funny, sexy, and silly haven’t changed that much in the last 113 years, and Wilde exposes this fact of human nature as he questions and challenges everything we take for granted. He has created a world in which we can still experience twenty-first century passion and relevance in nineteenth-century style.”

Oklahoma City University’s Department of Theatre kicks off its 2008 Fall Season as performances begin nightly on Thursday, October 2nd and run through Saturday, October 4th at 8:00 pm. There are also two additional matinee showings on Saturday, October 4th and Sunday, October 5th at 2:00 pm. Tickets range from $5 - $12, and they are available through the Oklahoma City University Box Office at (405) 208-5227. Following the production of The Importance of Being Earnest, the 2008 Fall Season continues rapidly with the opening of The Laramie Project on Friday, October 10th and the opening of The Exonerated on Saturday, October 11th.

06.04.08 - Young Company Theatre Camp Moves to OCU

Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park’s Young Company Theatre Camp has moved to the Oklahoma City University campus.

The camp is geared toward artistic teens who want to supplement their theatre arts training.

Some of the area's leading artists and educators conduct workshops and direct camp performances. The camp performances serve as pre-show productions for Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park's main stage production.

Camp options include: a two-week option at $325 a session- June 16-28 — Session 1 — "Romeo and Juliet” and July 21 to Aug. 2 — Session 2 — "All's Well that Ends Well;” or a one-week option at $200 a session -- June 16-21 — Session 1 — Scene Showcase and July 21-26 — Session 2 — Scene Showcase.

For more information, e-mail
mandee.chapman-roach@oklahomashakespeare.com, or go to www.oklahomashakespeare.com.

02.27.08 - Lend Me A Tenor Lands 5th Place Alternate for American College Theatre Festival

CONGRATULATIONS TEAM TENOR!!!!
The cast and crew of Lend Me A Tenor performed their hearts out on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008, at the Regional KCACTF Festival at Sam Houston State Univ. in Huntsville, TX, and were selected as an alternate (came in 5th place in the entire country - only 4 plays are selected to advance)to perform at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. That's 5th place out of 600 plays across the nation!

Before Act I ended, the audience was applauding, as intermission ended and the lights were going down to begin Act II, the crowd was clapping again and even before the curtain call started, the audience was on its feet for a standing ovation. It was an amazing performance by TheatreOCU’s cast and crew with an outstanding audience of 500 cheering theatre students, faculty, and staff from the region.

We also want to congratulate AVIVA PRESSMAN and DUKE ANDERSON for making it all the way to the final round to advance to the Kennedy Center for the Irene Ryan Award. Excellent work!!

In addition, the committee and Gregg Henry were very complimentary of the production and the production’s values and extended a special invitation to our own Marty Moreno, (Tito Merelli) who was invited to Washington as a special guest of the national committee. CONGRATULATIONS MARTY!

02.07.08 - Theatre Students Excel at Regional Conference

Oklahoma City University Theatre students won several awards at the recent Southwest Regional United States Institute of Theatre Technology Conference and Design Exhibition at West Texas A&M University.

The conference includes an adjudicated exhibition for student members. Students from five states exhibited design and technical work for the adjudication by working professionals and faculty.

OCU student Mitchel Crossley presented his Properties Design from TheatreOCU’s production of Lend Me A Tenor (OCU’s Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival regional entry) and won third place. Megan Skinner was awarded third prize for her sound design for TheatreOCU’s production of Lend Me A Tenor.

Elizabeth Nordenholt placed second in sound design and Brandt Gentry won third place in scene design.

Mary “Bridget” Bode won first place in stage management and second place scenery design.

OCU students Anthony Bullock and Megan Skinner were nominated for Student Director at Large for the region. The election will take place in March at the national conference.

08.06.07 - PHENOMINAL DEPARTMENTAL GROWTH!

The past three years have been an exciting time of building and revitalization as the Department of Theatre has undergone an EXTREME MAKEOVER. We have been charged with building a program that matches the strengths of OCU's nationally recognized programs in Music and Dance & Arts Management.

During this time we have made numerous changes. We have implemented new recruiting strategies (we now attend auditions such as the North Texas Drama Auditions, Booker T. Washington HSPVA Showcase, TETA, SETC, MWTA and USITT). We have reformatted our season selection process; we now have a system in place that will expose our students to a four-year rotation of styles that they will encounter in the professional world. These styles include Shakespeare, American Classics, Chekhov, Farce, Modern Classics, Greek/Roman and recent Broadway productions.

As a result, the number of theatre majors has risen from 30 to 120 in three years. We will bring in two more classes of approximately 50 students and then maintain an enrollment of 220 majors (amongst the BFA, BA and MA degrees).

The Administration at OCU has recently made a significant commitment to support and sustain this growth. In Fall 2008, we filled five new full-time faculty positions for the Department of Theatre.

Explosive growth and opportunity is what you will find at Oklahoma City University. These are exciting times to get on board with TheatreOCU. We are well on our way to becoming the best theatre training program in the region.