A widow communicates with dead musicians in a stage reading of the comic drama "The Spiritualist," performed by the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Department of Theatre and Dance Sept. 26-29.
The first performance will be held at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 26, at UW-Stevens Point at Marshfield's Black Box Theatre, located in the Helen Connor Laird Fine Arts Building, 2000 W. 5th St., Marshfield. Additional performances will be held at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Sept. 27-28, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 29, at UW-Stevens Point's Noel Fine Arts Center, Room 221, 1800 Portage St., Stevens Point.
"The Spiritualist" has 11 cast members who sit or stand while they read the play with all the emotions, energy and interactions of the characters but without the sets, costumes and props of a full production. Director Jared Hanlin, an associate professor of theatre and dance, was an actor in the play's initial stage reading as it was being developed by playwright Robert Ford, a mentor of his in graduate school.
The play focuses on Rosemary Dunn, who communes with the spirits of famous composers as they ask her help in completing their unfinished symphonies. As she speaks with Franz Liszt, Ludwig van Beethoven, Clara Schumann and even Buddy Holly, the play speaks to fame and immortality, Hanlin said.
"The show has a lot of heart, and it is sweet and funny," he said. "The spirits want to share their work as well as the message of what comes in the afterlife."
The stage reading allows the actors to clarify their characters' point of view through their voice and small movements, he said. "It inspires the audience to see the play in their mind's eye. Our actors provide the soundtrack and the audience fills in the gaps. I think that makes it really fun."
Stage readings also prepare students for work they will likely do as professional actors, Hanlin said, as well as offer more opportunities to students. The department will do another stage reading of a current student's play next February.
Tickets for "The Spiritualist" are $10 for general admission and free for UW-Stevens Point students with ID the day of the show. Tickets are available at the UW-Stevens Point Information and Tickets Office in the Dreyfus University Center concourse, by calling 715-346-4100 or at http://tickets.uwsp.edu.
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