William McMillen is a man of many passions. As provost and executive vice president of academic affairs for the University of Toledo he is committed to higher education and in his downtime he is just as passionate about the written word.

McMillen’s personal quest for creativity recently led him to pen a new play for the Glacity Theatre Collective. The play, “Exhibition,” is set to open in the University’s Center for Visual Arts at 8 p.m. Jan. 27.

The production features Brian Purdue, Starr Chellsea Cutino, Ben Pryor, Jennifer Lake, Pamela Tomassetti and Dave DeChristopher (a Toledo Free Press contributor). Cornel Gabara is directing for the company.

According to a news release, “The play is composed of three scenes that focus on a couple, Sharon and Raymond, at key points in their married life: their engagement, in the midst of raising children, and after the children have grown and gone.  Each of the three couples is played by a different pair of actors, and, though the characters at the focus of each scene are not aware of it, their older/younger selves are also onstage, providing depth and nuance to each story as it unfolds in real time under the disinterested eye of a security guard.”

“The set for the piece is extremely simple, just a bench in front of a painting, yet I think this is a very challenging play for the audience, with all of the characters interacting at the same time,” McMillen said.

McMillen, who is originally from Wisconsin, first got his start as a writer while in graduate school at Ohio University in Athens where he majored in English/creative writing and minored in theater. Exhibition marks his debut as a produced playwright.

“One of the reasons why I wrote this particular play is that I’ve always been interested in family relations. I thought Glacity was a good fit for the play because I had been following their productions, and I really admire theater that goes outside the mainstream. This is a different theater experience in a different setting, but that’s a good thing. Theatre can be funny, it can be song and dance, it can be serious; that’s the beauty of it.”

Additional performance dates are Jan. 28, 29 and Feb. 3, 4, 5. Sunday matinees will begin at 2 p.m., Friday and Saturday shows begin at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20 at the door and may be purchased at www.glacity.tix.org. Jan. 29 is a “Pay What You Can” matinee. The Center for Visual Arts is located at 620 Grove Place next to the Toledo Museum of Art.

For more information, visit www.glacity.org.

Tags: Ben Pryor, Brian Purdue, Dave DeChristopher, Jennifer Lake, Ohio University, Pamela Tomassetti, Starr Chellsea Cutino, University of Toledo, William McMillen

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 24th, 2012 at 10:59 am and is filed under Uncategorized.
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