Boston College Theatre Showcases Original Student Plays in NEW VOICES 2013, 3/22-23

The Boston College Theatre Department continues its 2012-2013 season with "New Voices 2013," which showcases original short pieces by Boston College student playwrights, curated by Associate Professor and Theatre Department Chair Scott T. Cummings. The production will be presented in BC's Robsham Theater Arts Center, in the Bonn Studio Theater, today, March 22-23, with performances at 4 and 8 p.m.

"New Voices is a great opportunity not just for student playwrights but for student actors as well to learn about the new play development process," said Cummings. "We're making something brand new, and the crucible of rehearsal prompts lots of changes and adjustments in the scripts. It's an exciting process."

This marks the fourth time since 2005 that the BC Theatre Department has produced original student-written plays, put together by Cummings under the "New Voices" title.

The program features six short works: four ten-minute plays by student playwrights Kyle N. Brown '14, Chris Gouchoe '13, Maggie Kearnan '14, and Timothy N. Kopacz '13; and two original pieces created by students in the Workshop in Puppet and Object Theatre led by John Bell, BC's 2012-2013 Monan Professor of Theatre Arts.

Cummings will direct Kearnan's "16 Gigs," a comedy about an office romance, and an existential mystery play by Gouchoe titled "A Night in the Low Light." BC Theatre Department Lecturer Theresa Lang will direct Brown's "Let Me Go Ever," about a bittersweet reunion between two ex-lovers, and Kopacz's "Marcel at Alice's," a simple tale about three female friends taking tea and tussling over paying the bill. Bell will direct the students in his workshop class-Kopacz, Kearnan, Christine Movius '13, Elliott Purcell '14 and Katie Donnelly '14--in creating a shadow puppet theatre piece titled "The Nightingale," based on a story drawn from medieval literature, and in an experiment in object theater titled "The Wall."

The casts for the four ten-minute New Voices 2013 plays include Dustin Pazar '15, Sarah Devizio '14, Andrew Gaffney '16, Ben Halter '16, Kathryn Raskin '15, Chase Gabrielson '13, Danielle Wehner '16, Caroline Portu '16 and Aryn Mello Pryor '16.

The "New Voices" series is part of the Theatre Department's commitment to foster new work by students and faculty. Earlier projects have included "CodeMonkey," a musical comedy by faculty member Luke Jorgensen inspired by the songs of Jonathan Colton; "Ashley's Purpose," a multi?media ensemble creation about celebrity, violence and the news conceived and directed by Cummings; and "Dreaming Shakespeare," a collage of Shakespeare scenes, songs and dances assembled by faculty member John Houchin.

The "New Voices 2013" production team includes BC Theatre Department faculty members Jacqueline Dalley as costume designer and Jeff Adelberg as lighting designer. Guest artist J. Hagenbuckle is the sound designer; Victoria Sponsel '13 is the stage manager.

Performances will be today, March 22 and Saturday, March 23 at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. in the Bonn Studio Theater in the Robsham Theater Arts Center. Tickets are $15 for the general public and $10 for students, seniors, and BC faculty and staff. All tickets are available online at www.bc.edu/theatre, through the RTAC Box Office, or by calling 617-552-4002. For more information, please go to www.bc.edu/theatre.

In 1865, two years after Boston College opened, theater began at BC. It continued for many years as a student activity under the aegis of the Dramatics Society. In the early 1970s the College of Arts and Sciences established a theater major as part of the Department of Speech, Communications and Theatre. The Robsham Theater Arts Center opened in 1981 as the center of theater production on campus. In 1993 the Theatre Department was established as an independent department. Since then, both the academic and production programs have grown steadily in terms of faculty staff, theater majors, course offerings, and the quality and quantity of productions.

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