E&H Theatre Department Presents Simon's 'Rumors'
Sunday, September 9, 2007 The Emory
& Henry College Theatre Department presents the Neil
Simon farce "Rumors" during four days in October.
The play begins at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through
Saturday, Oct. 4-6, with a matinee performance at 3 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 7 in the E&H Studio Theatre.
This delightful, "side-splitting" farce introduces
four couples who are invited to the 10th wedding
anniversary of the deputy mayor of New York City. When
the first guests arrive, they find that the host has
shot himself in the ear and his wife is missing. As
other guests arrive, the mayor’s lawyers try to cover up
the situation. Rumors fly, and the audience is taken on
a hilarious journey filled with unexpected turns and
fast-paced action.
The play is directed by Dr. Biliana
Stoytcheva-Horissian with set design by Richard
Wolf-Spencer.
Seating is very limited in the Studio Theatre.
Tickets for the performance are $8 in advance and $10
at the door. Emory & Henry students, faculty and staff
are admitted free of charge; students from other
institutions are admitted for $3 with ID. Advanced
tickets are honored until five minutes prior to the
performance. After that time, vacant seats become
available to those waiting in line.
For tickets and more information about the concert,
contact the Box Office at 276-944-6866 or 276-944-6846.
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E&H Professor’s Play Selected for Annual Reading
Thursday, July 26, 2007
A play written by an Emory & Henry professor was
selected as one of the winners of the 2007 Appalachian
Festival of Plays & Playwrights.
Assistant Professor of Theatre Don LaPlant's play titled
"Appalachian Reality" will be the first play presented
by the Barter actors in the Barter Theatre’s an annual
staged reading series.
Appalachian Reality is the account of two native
Southerners who are transplanted in L.A. to pursue show
biz careers. Then, they return to central Appalachia
charged by their elitist producer to find locations,
premises and talent for a new reality television show.
Christopher, who never fit in back home, is eager to
exploit the stereotypical "rednecks" who drove him away,
while Nicole seeks positive stories to tell about the
decent people of her hometown. These actions raise the
dramatic question, will Nicole be able to out-maneuver
Christopher and the executives, or will her efforts cost
her the job she left home to pursue?
LaPlant says his inspiration came from a New York City
café in 2005.
"This was the first time I'd been back to the city after
moving to Virginia, and I overheard a guy who was doing
his version of a southern accent. He and his friends
were all laughing about it and joining in. I'd lived in
the South before for a number of years, but this was my
first reminder in a long time that people outside the
South often had a pretty bad stereotypical image of
southern people as dumb rednecks. I think it hit me
differently at the time because I'd just spent a year in
Emory surrounded by southerners who didn't fit the
stereotype."
LaPlant thinks Appalachian Reality is the kind of
play that local audiences will understand better than
audiences anywhere else.
"I hope people from the area will come watch and offer
feedback at the staged reading. The opportunity for
feedback from the audience is one of my favorite things
about the way Barter presents their readings. I'm
particularly hoping members of the E&H community will
attend, since it's really my experiences and
conversations with them that inspired the play."
The Appalachian Festival of Plays and Playwrights was
founded in 2001 in order to provide an outlet for new
plays and playwrights with a distinctly Appalachian
voice. Six plays are selected and given readings each
year. Following each reading there will be a discussion
of the piece with the Festival Panel, made up of local
and regional theatre professionals, and the attending
audience. The Barter Theatre hopes this process will
shed new light on the plays allowing the playwright to
further develop their piece.
Appalachian Reality will be presented at the
Barter Theatre’s Stage 2 at 2 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 3.
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Stoytcheva-Horissian Selected as a Head Planner for the
National Conference of the ATHE
Dr. Stoytcheva-Horissian, an Emory
& Henry College theatre professor, was recently elected
as the head planner for the Association for Theatre in
Higher Education (ATHE) national theatre conference.
Stoytcheva-Horissian, who also
serves as the chair of the Emory & Henry Theatre
Department, has previously served in various capacities
with the Virginia Theatre Association (VTA) and the
South East Theatre Conference (SETC). She has also
presented papers and conducted workshops at numeral
state, national and international conferences. The new
appointment puts her in charge with all acting program
activities at the conference as well as collecting,
reviewing, and selecting all proposals for
presentations.
ATHE is the largest theatre
conference in the U.S. Its panels, seminars and
workshops are designed to serve as forums for innovative
research, mutual criticism, and pedagogical
experimentation among members with specialized interests
and areas of expertise.
“This is a great recognition for me
professionally as well as for the quality of the E&H
Theatre Department.”.
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Students Credit Theatre Dept. for Professional Successes
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
After a highly successful audition season, many students
are crediting the Emory & Henry College Theatre
Department’s unique program as one of the keys to their
recent professional successes.
Chandler Davis of Louisville, Ky.; Meghan Kelleher of
Roanoke, Va. and Kate Morton of Lansing, N.C. have
year-round jobs awaiting them at professional theatres.
Laura Crockarell of Lebanon, Tenn.; Christina Schildroth
of Richmond, Va.; Brandon Bentley of Big Stone Gap, Va.
and Mary Margaret Roberts of Raleigh, N.C. have accepted
jobs and internships with prestigious professional
summer theatres.
“One of the best things about our department is that our
faculty members take time to work with us individually
on choosing audition material and working on
monologues,” said graduate Kate Morton who recently
accepted a position with Atlanta’s Shakespeare Tavern.
Meghan Kelleher will spend her summer working with the
Prairie Fire Theatre in Minnesota before beginning a
year-long contract acting professionally with Theatre IV
in Richmond, Va.
“The faculty instilled a confidence in me and were
really supportive; they were always checking in with me
about all my job prospects.”
Student Mary Margret Roberts reports that after an
audition, directors commented that their acting “was a
breath of fresh air,” concluding “Emory & Henry must be
doing something right.”
Other students cite the Theatre Department’s extensive
production opportunities as particularly helpful in
developing their skills. Christina Schildrotha suggests
that the breadth of her practical production experience
at Emory & Henry made her an attractive candidate to
many theatres.
Theatre Department Chair Biliana Stoytcheva-Horissian
spent hours outside of class in one-on-one coaching
sessions preparing the students for auditions.
“Our students recognize how much time and effort it
takes to succeed in such a competitive field and their
success comes as a result of that work.”
Emory & Henry theatre majors attended numerous auditions
this year. From these auditions, Emory & Henry students
received a total of 13 job offers from professional
companies in states throughout the Southeast and as far
away as Nebraska and Minnesota.
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