The Department of Theatre and Dance invites you to be a patron of its 2015-16 season, which includes a variety of performance experiences with a special focus on female writers. View or print a season brochure.
“We’re actors, we’re Italians, we’re passionate people, and it’s 1569, that’s right, a Humanist age, but someone’s got to be the sensible one around here.” – Anna (“Lovers and Players”)
Written by Kathryn Walat, the contemporary comedy “Lovers and Players” will open the 2015-16 season of the Department of Theatre and Dance at the College of Charleston School of the Arts.
The story begins with a Commedia troupe arriving in Padua, Italy, just in time for Carnival in 1569. When their leader discovers that one of the members has gambled away all of their money and taken off, he has to come up with “alternative” means to keep the troupe going until the next performance. This zany new comedy is full of love, laughter, fun and frivolity. With live music and lots of antics and surprises, it is sure to tickle your funny bone!
Guest director and CofC arts management professor, Charlotte Tiencken, says, “This is a fun romp in the world of Commedia in Italy in 1569, coupled with modern day take on love and life. A mix of old world and new ideas that will be an evening of laughter and delight!”
WHAT | WHEN | WHERE + TICKET INFO:
The show will run Thursday, Sept. 24 through Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2015. Curtain times will be 7:30 p.m., except shows on Sunday, Sept. 27 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Performances will take place at the Emmett Robinson Theatre in the Simons Center for the Arts, 54 Saint Philip St. Tickets are $12 for College of Charleston students; $20 for the general public; $15 for senior citizens, College of Charleston employees and non-College of Charleston students. Tickets and season subscriptions can be purchased online at theatre.cofc.edu or by calling (843) 953-6306. (Online season brochure is linked here.)
The design team includes College of Charleston graduate Karen Burch as scenic designer, costumes by theatre student Heather Ringley, and lighting by theatre student Price Long. It includes a large cast with principal roles played by Randy Risher, Kat Wensel, William Rutkowski, Horry Kerrison, Addy Brown, Nate Cooper, Gibson Carter, Nick Brown, and Sadia Matthews. Julia Marks is the dramaturg for this production, and Cristy Landis is the movement coach.
Kathryn Walat’s plays have been produced Off-Broadway and across the country, including Victoria Martin: Math Team Queen, premiered at The Women’s Project (NYC) and published in New Playwrights: The Best Plays of 2007; Bleeding Kansas, premiered at the Hangar Theatre (Ithaca) and received a Francesca Primus Citation; and Creation, premiered at the Theatre @ Boston Court (Pasadena) and nominated for a 2013 Ovation Award for Playwriting. She is also the co-librettist, with composer Gregory Spears, of the chamber opera Paul’s Case, produced at PROTOTYPE in New York and at Pittsburgh Opera, and named in New Yorker magazine’s list of Ten Notable Performances and Recordings for 2014. Kate received her BA from Brown University, and her MFA from the Yale School of Drama. She teaches at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), and wrote Lovers & Players for her students there. www.kathrynwalat.com
Charlotte Tiencken is an arts administrator, director, producer and educator who has been working in the producing and presenting fields for 30 years. Before returning to her home town of Charleston to teach in the College of Charleston’s arts management program, she was managing director at Book-It Repertory Theatre in Seattle, Wash. for seven years. Tiencken has worked for many organizations throughout the United States, including Tacoma Actors Guild in Wash., Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in Mass., where she was general manager for four seasons, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Spirit Square Center for the Arts in Charlotte, N.C., and Tacoma Little Theatre, among others. Tiencken received her MFA from The University of Texas at Austin. Besides her work at the College of Charleston, she is an adjunct faculty member at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA.