Visual and Performing Arts News

Auditions!!
for
Christopher Durang’s

BABY WITH THE BATHWATER

When:  Tuesday, September 2, and Wednesday, September 3,  7:00-10:00 pm (Choose one.)
Where:  McArdle Theatre, Walker 207
Who:  Any student, faculty, or community member!
How:

• Arrive at 7 pm to fill out a contact form.
• We will begin a group audition at 7:15 pm, followed by readings from the script.
• You are welcome to perform a prepared scene, up to 5 minutes, with a partner, otherwise you will simply read from the script.
• Tips:
  • Familiarize yourself with the script so you understand the plot and characters.
  • Practice so that you can make the most of eye contact when you read with a partner.  (Try to glance at the script and deliver the line to the other person and really listen and respond to them.)
• Scripts are available in the VPA office, Walker 209.  You may check out a script for 24 hrs. or for a weekend.  (We need to keep them available for all.)

Performances will be October 16-18, and October 23-25.

Rehearsals are Sunday-Thursday, 7:00-10:00 pm beginning September 4.  We will also rehearse Friday and Saturday October 10-11.  Rehearsals during “Tech Week” (Oct 8-15) may be extended.  A cast list will be sent via email late Wednesday evening.

About the play:

Characters –

• Helen, the mother
• John, the father
• Nanny, the nanny
• Cynthia
• A woman in the park
• Another woman in the park
• Mrs. Willoughby, the principal
• Miss Pringle, a teacher
• Young Man
• Susan

Contact Patricia Helsel

Associate Professor Patricia Helsel is directing Red Jacket 1913, a special production in collaboration with the Calumet Theatre. This play uniquely presents the history and conflict surrounding the 1913 copper strike, focusing on one family’s struggles. While fictional, Red Jacket 1913 is based entirely on historic events.

Dennis Kerwin, former VPA faculty, heads the cast comprised mostly of community members, while Jonah Mueller, a Tech sound design major, and Dollcie Webb, majoring in theatre and electronic media performance, are both involved in the play’s production.

Performances are tomorrow and Friday at 7:30 p.m. Contact the Calumet Theatre box office for tickets at 337-2610.

From Tech Today.

Associate professor Kalen Larson (VPA) will be an Instructor for the TOP Flight workshop hosted by the North American Association of Flying Effects Directors held in DeKalb, Illinois, Aug. 13-16. This four-day workshop covers topics ranging from designing performer flying effects systems to choreography techniques.

From Tech Today.

Two Visual and Performing Arts majors, Josh Maiville and Devin Miller, will be part of the popular summer series, “America’s Got Talent,” broadcast live from Radio City Music Hall in New York this week.

They will be riggers and flying-effects operators for Mothmen Dance, an aerial performance group created by On the FLY Productions–the production company that partnered with Michigan Tech last year to produce the flying extravaganza, “Beautiful: A Cirque-Tale of How the Butterfly Grew Her Wings.”

Maiville and Miller were riggers and operators for the productions of Beautiful, and Maiville performed some flying stunts on stage. 

On the FLY was so impressed with Michigan Tech’s students that the production company invited several of them to work with Mothmen, according to Associate Professor Kalen Larson (VPA). Michigan Tech is one of the only schools teaching performer flying, Larson said.

The live broadcast of “America’s Got Talent” is scheduled for 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 12, on Charter Cable channels 6 and 785. An elimination round will follow at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 13. See the audition.

This is not the first time Michigan Tech has been represented at Radio City. Ken Showler, a 2007 Tech graduate in sound design, was a designer with 7th Sense for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular 2011. He received an Excellence in Live Design Award for that work.

From Tech Today.