RECAP: Hunter Foster, Artistic Director of the Redhouse Arts Center Talked About Their Season on STARS IN THE HOUSE

Stars in the House continued this afternoon (2pm) with Regional Theatre Spotlight On: REDHOUSE ARTS CENTER with Hunter Foster, Jen Cody, Mike DiSalvo, Marc Palmieri, and Temar Underwood.

Hunter Foster, the Artistic Director for the Redhouse Arts Center in Syracuse New York hosted today's episode of Stars in the House. He began, "It's got two theatres and it's a really wonderful place to create theatre...our first season we opened with RENT which we actually did in the round which was really cool and it was very immersive...and one reason we chose it was because we wanted to embrace community...We were in the midst of doing fences...and we were in the first week of rehearsal when we had to pull the plug on the show unfortunately and we had to cancel the show and we had to cancel FUN HOME which was the final show of the season."

"We had a new works festival...I chose a play called TROPHY ROOM and when we got to the pandemic I was approached...about a play called WAITING FOR THE HOST and this is a Zoom play. It takes place on Zoom."

The cast, Jen Cody, Yarissa Millan, Robert Denzel Edwards, and writer, Mark Palmieri, of WAITING FOR THE HOST joined to talk about the show.

Robert talked about creating chemistry in a scene through Zoom. "It was extremely hard but then I started thinking...how are people dating today during this time and came across stories where there's still connection through the screen so I heavily relied on the words and relied on the story that was there to create that chemistry in a way."

TROPHY ROOM Playwright, Mike DiSalvo, and Director, Temar Underwood joined to talk about the show.

Mike DiSalvo gave a synopsis of the play. "The play is set in a warehouse which is actually a real place in the midwest which is a warehouse used to store all of the goods ceased by customs agents related to illegal poaching and endangered species...I read this piece in National Geographic about this warehouse and thought that's a really interesting place to set a play...the play centers on three security guards who work the night shift at that warehouse...The play deals with these three security guards themselves reacting to a series of police brutality in the community and how they deal with each other through that."

WAITING FOR THE HOST will be streamed again on June 18-21 with a new cast member, Jeremy Kushnier.

Click HERE to watch the full episode.

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Click HERE to learn more about The Redhouse Arts Center.

Current and past episodes can be found on the website starsinthehouse.com, as well as a donate button linking viewers to The Actors Fund.

Photo Credit: Genevieve Rafter-Keddy