theatre

Festival Playhouse Stages ‘Intimate Apparel’

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Intimate Apparel
Actors rehearse for “Intimate Apparel,” which runs through Sunday at the Nelda K. Balch Playhouse, 129 Thompson St. The play is set in a New York boardinghouse in the early 1900s.
Intimate Apparel
“Intimate Apparel,” which runs through Sunday at the Nelda K. Balch Playhouse, 129 Thompson St., won the 2004 New York Drama Circle and Outer Critic Circle awards.

The Kalamazoo College Festival Playhouse will present its final production of the academic year, “Intimate Apparel,” May 17-20 at the Nelda K. Balch Playhouse, 129 Thompson St.

The play – which addresses race, love and dreams – is set in a New York City boardinghouse in the early 1900s. It concerns Esther, a young African-American woman who pursues her ambition of becoming a seamstress. Esther falls in love with Mr. Marks, a white Jewish fabric seller, although she agrees to marry George, a Caribbean man with whom she corresponds under false pretenses. The play will be directed by Karen Berthel.

“Intimate Apparel” is written by Lynn Nottage, an associate professor of theatre at Columbia University, whose plays often discuss the lives of women of African descent. She is acclaimed as one of the most poetic and honored of contemporary American playwrights, and “Intimate Apparel” – the winner of the 2004 New York Drama Circle and Outer Critic Circle awards – is widely considered to be her most moving and thoughtful play.

Intimate Apparel
“Intimate Apparel” – the winner of the 2004 New York Drama Circle and Outer Critic Circle awards – is widely considered to be Lynn Nottage’s most moving and thoughtful play.
Intimate Apparel
“Intimate Apparel” focuses on Esther, who falls in love with Mr. Marks, a Jewish fabric seller, although she agrees to marry George, a Caribbean man with whom she corresponds under false pretenses.

Tickets, all of which are general admission, are free with a Kalamazoo College ID. Other student tickets are $5, senior tickets are $10 and adult tickets are $15. The May 17-19 shows will be at 7:30 p.m. The May 20 show will be at 2 p.m. A talkback with cast members will take place after the May 17 performance.

Call 269-337-7333 or visit festivalplayhouse.ludus.com to reserve tickets today. Tickets also will be available at the door one hour before each show.

Theatre Arts Professor Menta Receives Lux Esto Award

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Ed Menta, the James A.B. Stone College Professor of Theatre Arts, is this year’s recipient of the Lux Esto Award of Excellence, which honors an employee who has served Kalamazoo College for 26 or more years for a superlative record of stewardship and innovation.

Lux Esto Award Winner Ed Menta
Ed Menta, the James A.B. Stone College Professor of Theatre Arts, is this year’s recipient of the Lux Esto Award of Excellence, which honors an employee who has served Kalamazoo College for 26 or more years for a superlative record of stewardship and innovation.

Biology Department Chair Binney Girdler and Educational Technology Specialist Josh Moon, who received Outstanding Adviser awards, and the Rev. Elizabeth Candido, the College chaplain, who received the Outstanding First-Year Advocate Award, also were recognized at the annual Founder’s Day Reflection on Friday, honoring the College’s 185th year.

Menta, a faculty member since 1986, has directed dozens of productions at K, including award winners such as last year’s college debut of “Fun Home.” K’s staging of the Tony Award-winning musical, co-written by Lisa Kron ’83, was selected for a featured performance at the Region III Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival in January 2018.

Nomination letters by students, faculty, staff and alumni praised Menta for what they said has been his dedication to teaching, his efforts to build and bolster the theater community at K and across Kalamazoo, and his willingness to take on challenging and culturally relevant works that expand the horizons of actors and audiences.

In presenting the award, President Jorge G. Gonzalez cited a nominator who wrote that “Ed’s mark on the College is simply indelible.”

Provost Mickey McDonald, who after 10 years is leaving the College to assume the presidency of the Great Lakes Colleges Association, gave the keynote address for Founders Day, reflecting on how being a “fellowship in learning” — a concept that originated during the 1922-1935 presidency of Allan Hoben — has allowed K to navigate decades of challenges and changes.

“This has been an amazing, rewarding 10 years for me,” McDonald said. “I have witnessed Kalamazoo College continue to become a more equitable place to live and learn and work … and I have relished being part of a fellowship of learning that embraces a sense of innovation. That ability to change, to adapt, to reflect — as we are reflecting today —  is an essential part of what has kept Kalamazoo College vital and relevant for almost 200 years. And I have every confidence that it will sustain the College as it enters its third century.”

Senior Performance Series Starts Thursday

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Kalamazoo College students are continuing a tradition of directing and performing in their own theater productions through the Festival Playhouse’s Senior Performance Series. This year’s shows include:

Senior Performance Series
Senior Performance Series shows are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 15-Saturday, Feb. 17, with a matinee at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 18.

• “Too Close to the Tracks,” written and directed by Sam Meyers ’18;
• Selections from “The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe” by Jane Wagner, performed by Tricia LaCaze ’18; and
• “Mal Ojo,” written and directed by Johanna Keller Flores ’18.

The shows are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 15-Saturday, Feb. 17, with a matinee at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 18, at the Nelda K. Balch Festival Playhouse’s Dungeon Theatre. General admission tickets are available online. They’re free for Kalamazoo College students and employees with a College ID and $5 for the general public.

For more information, visit reason.kzoo.edu/theatre/festival/.

‘Fun Home’ Invited to Kennedy Center Festival

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The Festival Playhouse of Kalamazoo College production of the Tony award-winning musical “Fun Home” will be presented at the Region III Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) in Indianapolis in January, preceded by an encore performance at the College’s Dalton Theatre.

Fun Home at Kennedy Center Festival cMUMMA 2017 2
The Festival Playhouse cast of “Fun Home” will have a special fundraising performance of the play Jan. 8 at Dalton Theatre to support its trip to the Region III Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) in Indianapolis.

In November, K staged the college premiere of the musical, based on a graphic novel by Alison Bechdel and co-written for the stage by Jennifer Tesori and Lisa Kron ’83. The Broadway production won the Tony Award for Best Musical of 2015; Kron and Tesori shared a Tony for Best Original Score; and Kron won for Best Book of a Musical.

A panel of college and university theater professors from around the Midwest chose the Kalamazoo College production of  “Fun Home” as one of seven from a list of 21 in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin that it considered for invitations to the festival. Ed Menta, the Kalamazoo College James A. B. Stone professor of theatre arts, called it a great – and rare – honor.

“This is only the fourth time in my 32 years at K that we’ve been invited to perform at this festival,” said Menta, adding that three of those plays were written by two alums: Kron and Joe Tracz ’04, whose “Allison Shields” was invited in 2011 and “Phenomenon of Decline” in 2006. Kron herself acted in a prior invitee, “El Grande de Coca Cola,” in 1984.

“We’re honored, thrilled and proud, especially on behalf of our students,” said Menta.

Adding to the honor, he said, KCACTF chose “Fun Home” to be the closing presentation of the festival, with performances at 1:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 13, 2018, at the University of Indianapolis’ Ransburg Auditorium.

Though the play – a compelling portrait of a lesbian woman’s relationship with her gay, closeted father – was challenging to stage, “All of our students rose to the occasion,” said Menta, adding that he hopes the exposure the musical receives at the festival will encourage other colleges to produce it.

College troupes that perform at the festival must cover their travel expenses, and to defray the cost, the 45-member cast and crew of “Fun Home” will present a fundraising performance at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 8, at Dalton Theatre, with tickets available to the public at a suggested donation of $15 each.

For reservations, please visit https://festivalplayhouse.ludus.com/index.php.

 

 

Festival Playhouse Stages ‘Fun Home’

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“Fun Home,” a Tony Award-winning musical adapted for the stage by Kalamazoo College alumna Lisa Kron ’83 and Jeanine Tesori from a best-selling graphic memoir of the same name, will be the Festival Playhouse’s first production of its 54th season.

Fun Home actors rehearse ahead of premiere
The musical has earned Tony awards for Best Musical, Best Score and Best Book, as well as the N.Y. Drama Critics Circle Award, Lucille Lortel Award, The Outer Critics Circle Award and the Off-Broadway Alliance Award.

K is the first college in the nation to present “Fun Home” and organizers expect each performance to sell out. The shows are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Nov. 2-4 and 2 p.m. Nov. 5 at the Nelda K. Balch Playhouse, 129 Thompson St., at the north end of the Light Fine Arts Building.

“Fun Home” tracks Alison Bechdel, a middle-aged cartoonist. Writing her memoir in the present, Alison actively combs her past, including life as a 10-year-old as well as a first-year college student, when she came out as a lesbian. She particularly struggles to piece together a truer version of her father, Bruce, who was in the closet, and his suicide.

The musical has earned Tony awards for Best Musical, Best Score and Best Book, as well as the N.Y. Drama Critics Circle Award, Lucille Lortel Award, The Outer Critics Circle Award and the Off-Broadway Alliance Award. It also was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

A recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship as well as numerous other grants, Kron teaches playwriting at Yale and also continues to work as an actress to great acclaim, most recently in the La MaMa production of Brecht’s “The Good Person of Szechwan.”

Tickets for all four shows are available by visiting festivalplayhouse.ludus.com/index.php or by calling 269-337-7333.

Adults are $15, seniors are $10 and students are $5 with an ID. Kalamazoo College students, faculty and staff are admitted free with their school ID.

This season’s Festival Playhouse theme is “Theatre and Making New Families,” reflecting stories of characters searching to make sense of their family’s past or trying to create a new vision of family all together. Learn more about “Fun Home” and the upcoming theatre season at reason.kzoo.edu/festivalplayhouse.

Students Welcome to Audition for ‘Fun Home’

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Students are welcome to try out for “Fun Home,” a Tony-award winning musical that will be the first Festival Playhouse production of the year.

Fun Home Auditions at Festival Playhouse
Festival Playhouse will conduct auditions for “Fun Home” from 7 to 10 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 12, and Wednesday, Sept. 13.

Auditions are scheduled for 7 to 10 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 12, and Wednesday, Sept. 13. Callbacks are Thursday, Sept. 14.

Find more information on what to expect with auditioning and the upcoming rehearsals at our Theatre Arts website.

Festival Playhouse to Present ‘In the Heights’

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The Festival Playhouse of Kalamazoo College will present “In the Heights,” its final production of the academic year, from May 11-14 at the Nelda K. Balch Playhouse, 129 Thompson St., in Kalamazoo. The musical, written by “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, maintains the season’s theme, “Broadway Firsts: Stories of ‘Outsider’ Cultural Landmarks in American Theatre.”

In the Heights
The cast of “In The Heights” celebrates as they sing “Carnaval Del Barrio.”

The Broadway show premiered in 2008, exploring three days in the lives of several characters from the predominantly Latino neighborhood of Washington Heights in New York City. The score features hip-hop, Latin, salsa, merengue and soul music.

Bodega owner Usnavi is dating Vanessa, who works in a beauty salon. He dreams of opening a bar in his home country, the Dominican Republic. He soon realizes he sold a winning lottery ticket worth $96,000, prompting others in the neighborhood to discuss how Usnavi and Claudia, who raised Usnavi after the death of his parents, would spend the money.

Nina loves Benny, a shy, young African-American man who worked for Nina’s parents for years. Nina’s father opposes their relationship because he wants Nina to finish her education at Stanford University. She doesn’t want her father to bankrupt himself paying for her education, but her father is prepared to sell his car-service business for her sake.

The shows start at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 11-Saturday, May 13, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 14. Kalamazoo College students, faculty and staff are admitted free with their school ID. The general public may purchase tickets online or call the Playhouse box office at 269-337-7333 for more information. Reservations are encouraged.

For more information, visit the Festival Playhouse website.

 

Festival Playhouse to Present ‘A Raisin in the Sun’

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The Nelda K. Balch Festival Playhouse will present the Pulitzer Prize winning drama “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry from Feb. 23-26 at the Playhouse, 129 Thompson St., in Kalamazoo. Karen Berthel will direct the show in keeping with the season’s theme, “Broadway Firsts: Stories of ‘Outsider’ Cultural Landmarks in American Theatre.”

The play follows the Youngers, a poor African-American family living on the South Side of Chicago in the 1950s. Lena, the family’s matriarch, receives an insurance check when her husband dies. Lena wants to use the money to buy a house. However, her son, Walter, would rather quit his job as a chauffeur and invest the money in a liquor store. The family’s tragedy is that everyone fails to see how achieving their individual dreams might cost others theirs.

Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun” was the first play written by a black woman to be produced on Broadway, and was the first with a black director. The New York Drama Critics’ Circle named it the best play of 1959. Kalamazoo College students Quincy Crosby ’17, Tricia LaCaze ’18, Shown Powell ’18 and Donovan Williams ’20 are among the actors featured.

The shows start at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 23-25 and 2 p.m. Feb. 26. Kalamazoo College students, faculty and staff are admitted free with their school ID. The general public may call the Playhouse box office at 269-337-7333 for tickets. Reservations are encouraged.

For more information, visit the Festival Playhouse website at kzoo.edu/festivalplayhouse.

Raisin in the Sun at Nelda K. Balch Festival Playhouse
Patricia Lacaze and Donovan Williams rehearse for the Nelda K. Balch production of “A Raisin in the Sun.” The show will run from Feb. 23-26.
Raisin in the Sun at Nelda K. Balch Playhouse
Quincy Crosby rehearses for “A Raisin in the Sun,” which will run from Feb. 23-26 at the Nelda K. Balch Festival Playhouse at Kalamazoo College.
Patricia Lacaze and Shown Powell rehearse for the Nelda K. Balch production of "A Raisin in the Sun." The show will run from Feb. 23-27.
Patricia Lacaze and Shown Powell rehearse for the Nelda K. Balch production of “A Raisin in the Sun.” The show will run from Feb. 23-26.