The drama society at Lourdes University wants everyone to get into the act— one production at a time with their annual festival of one act plays. The renowned three day event, now in its 6th year, will kick off in the Franciscan Center Theatre on April 19.

“We are thrilled about the festival this year. We received 145 submissions, up from 80 the year before and three of the winners will be coming in to see their plays and these pieces are all original works. I think a lot of people who go to the theater, not just in the Toledo area, but all over, tend to see productions that they are already familiar with, one of the things that our festival does, is show that new plays can be just as exciting,” said Drama Society Faculty Adviser Keith Ramsdale.

Featured plays include “Couples Therapy” by Matt Crowley, “Eternity” by Elan Garonzik, “Jodi, Ree and Joe-Joe” by Edward Versailles, “Native Tongu”e by George Bryjak, “Recalculating” by L.E. Grabowski-Cotton, “Quality Time” by Chris Shaw Swanson, “The Shakespeare Critiques “by Louis Felder, “Testimonial” by Jack Rushen, “This Could Never Happen to Rosemary Clooney” by Carl Williams.

“We really wanted to make all of the productions intimate and accessible for the audience so one of the things we did this year is to build a stage on the stage where we placed 130 chairs per performance. One of our first goals was to produce original works by playwrights from around the world and here we are doing just that. The fact that these are one act plays allows us to offer a lot of variety which is a rare thing and for that reason I think that audiences won’t want to miss this,” said Ramsdale.

The casts for the various productions includes Morgan Rohan, Nate Kuehnl, Danita Binkowski, Dave Caygill, Courtney Gilliland, Megan Carter, Brad Somogye, Megan Mockensturm, Rachel Esposito, Paula Larsen, Matthew Will, Frank Saucedo, Sarah Wright, Bob Sutton, Kelly Fandrey, and Tim Robinson.

Eternity, the Shakespeare Critiques and Couples Therapy were the winners of the Drama Society’s One Act Playwriting Competition held last fall.

Performances will be Friday, April 19 and Saturday, April 20 at 7 p.m., and Sunday, April 21 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $8 for general admission and $5 for seniors

For more information, call 419-824-3999 or visit www.lourdes.edu.

Tags: "Couples Therapy" by Matt Crowley, "Eternity" by Elan Garonzik, "Jodi, "Native Tongu"e by George Bryjak, "Quality Time" by Chris Shaw Swanson, "Recalculating" by L.E. Grabowski-Cotton, "Testimonial" by Jack Rushen, "The Shakespeare Critiques "by Louis Felder, "This Could Never Happen to Rosemary Clooney" by Carl Williams, Bob Sutton, Brad Somogye, Courtney Gilliland, Danita Binkowski, Dave Caygill, Franciscan Center Theatre, Frank Saucedo, Keith Ramsdale, Kelly Fandrey, Lourdes University, Matthew Will, Megan Carter, Megan Mockensturm, Morgan Rohan, Nate Kuehnl, Paula Larsen, Rachel Esposito, Ree and Joe-Joe" by Edward Versailles, Sarah Wright, Tim Robinson

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 16th, 2013 at 8:29 am and is filed under Arts and Life, Theater.
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The Lourdes University Drama Society has something to prove and its numbers are starting to add up. The group is set to open David Auburn’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Proof” in the Franciscan Center at 7 p.m. Sept. 28.

The production features Tim Robinson, Kelly Fandrey, Megan Mockensturm and Nate Kuehnl. Keith Ramsdell will direct. Ramsdell, who is the university’s director of graduate admissions, also serves as the group’s adviser.

“We chose to do this play for a number of reasons, the first being that the piece is just so compelling and well-written. Secondly, it’s not overwhelming to produce and cast, and, most important of all, it really allows us to highlight the talents of some of our best actors,” Ramsdell said. “Directing this play really stretched my abilities. You can’t do this piece justice by merely looking at what lives on the surface, you have to be willing to go much deeper; you have to look at what makes these characters great. It’s about trust.”

“Proof” was originally produced by the Manhattan Theatre Club on May 23, 2000. It transferred to Broadway’s Walter Kerr Theatre on Oct. 24, 2000. The first Broadway production starred Mary-Louise Parker, who won a Tony Award for her performance. In 2005, there was a film adaptation by Rebecca Miller featuring Gwyneth Paltrow, Anthony Hopkins, Hope Davis and Jake Gyllenhaal.

“This humorous and compassionate story is the perfect kickoff for what promises to be an amazing season of theater on our campus,” Ramsdell said. “There are a lot of plays that are done in the Toledo area, but it’s not every day that audiences get to experience Pulitzer Prize-worthy material. I think people will connect with this play in a very unique way.”

“Proof” marks the drama society’s first full production in the Franciscan Center.  Tickets are $10 for general admission and $8 for seniors. There will be additional performances at 7 p.m. Sept. 29 and 2 p.m. Sept. 30. Advanced purchase is suggested as seating for all of the performances is limited. For more information or to purchase tickets, call the Franciscan Center box office at (419) 824-3999. There will be a reception following the opening performance to introduce the donor of Lourdes’ newly endowed $10,000 theater scholarship. Lourdes is located at 6832 Convent Blvd., in Sylvania.

For more information, call (419) 885-3211 or visit www.lourdes.edu.

Tags: Keith Ramsdell, Kelly Fandrey, Lourdes University, Megan Mockensturm, Nate Kuehnl, Proof, Tim Robinson

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 25th, 2012 at 5:33 pm and is filed under Arts and Life, Theater.
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