What goes on
behind the scenes of a play as the actors prepare their dialogue and the
director fine tunes the performance? Discover this theatrical journey as the
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point premieres “The Seagull: Rehearsed” Oct.
16-18 and 21-24.
Performances will
be held in the Studio Theatre in the Noel Fine Arts Center at 7:30 p.m. Friday
and Saturday, Oct. 16-17, and Wednesday through Saturday, Oct. 21-24. A 2 p.m.
matinee will be offered Sunday, Oct. 18. It is appropriate for older students
and adults.
Written
and directed by Theatre and Dance Associate Professor and UW-Stevens Point
alumnus Tyler Marchant, “The Seagull: Rehearsed” will take audiences where they
seldom go - the rehearsal space.
“We are showing
audiences a behind-the-scenes look at the blood, sweat and tears of rehearsal,”
said Marchant. “There are both funny and serious moments as we see the actors’
personalities. The students are essentially playing two characters – themselves
and their role in the play.”
The play within
the play is Anton Chekhov’s “The Seagull,” a story about the romantic and
artistic conflicts between a writer, actress, a naive young woman and
playwright. A fan of Chekhov’s work, Marchant wrote his play last fall as part
of a semester-long sabbatical. He said it answers a question he often gets as a
director: “How did you get to opening night?”
“It’s fun to take
a play I’ve long loved and give people a chance to see the foibles and success
of rehearsal,” he said. It is also a new experience for his students to work on
an original play with the playwright in the room, he said, and to have the
possibility of changes to the script as they work on it.
“It will be a new
show every night, as students will have a couple of improvisational moments
during each performance,” he said. “It requires them to be on their toes, and
it’s exciting at the same time.”
Tickets for the show are $21 for adults, $20
for seniors, $16 for youth and $4.50 for students with UW-Stevens Point ID.
Tickets are available at the UW-Stevens Point Information and Tickets Office,
located in the Dreyfus University Center concourse, by calling 715-346-4100 or
at http://tickets.uwsp.edu.