Release Date: July 17, 2009
"Moby-Dick" earns top honors in Morocco
Wins "best performance," student Phillip Justman wins "best actor"
For media inquiries: Cheryl Anderson Brown, Director of Public Relations,
770-499-3417 or cbrown@kennesaw.edu
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Phillip Justman as Captain Ahab. |
KENNESAW, Ga.—Kennesaw State University’s trilingual adaptation of Herman Melville’s “Moby-Dick” won “Best Performance” in the 21st Annual Festival International de Theatre Universitaire de Casablanca hosted by Hassan II University in Casablanca, Morocco. Senior Phillip Justman won “Best Actor” for his portrayal of Captain Ahab.
While in Morocco, the group also attended lectures about Moroccan culture and participated in intercultural oral history workshops with a group of students from the Hassan II English and American Studies programs.
KSU Professor John Gentile, Instructor Hylan Scott, and Associate Professor Karen Robinson collaborated on this version of the spring 2008 KSU production that had been adapted by Gentile from the classic American novel. For this new abridged version, Gentile reduced his script from two full acts to one act emphasizing the movement sequences. Scott worked on re-staging the production’s movement and action for Moroccan audiences and directed the overseas performance. Robinson infused French excerpts into the script using a previously published French translation of Melville's novel and worked with KSU students to include Arabic translations.
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"Moby-Dick" cast and crew in Morocco with from KSU and Hassan II University. |
The cast of “Moby-Dick” included:
Briana Brock as “The Whiteness of the Whale;”
Lowrey Brown as Elijah, Flask, and Captain Gardiner;
Drew Hale as Captain Peleg and Cook;
Sean Haley as Ishmael;
Greg Garrison as Father Mapple and Gabriel;
Phillip Justman as Captain Ahab;
Andrew Puckett as Starbuck;
Ralph Del Rosario as Stubb; and
Omar Siddiqi as Queequeg
The company presented two performances of the revised “Moby-Dick” at KSU on July 1 and 2 on campus before traveling to Morocco.
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A member of the 35-unit University System of Georgia, Kennesaw State University is a comprehensive, residential institution with a growing student population of more than 21,000 from 142 countries. The third-largest university in Georgia, Kennesaw State offers more than 65 graduate and undergraduate degrees, including new doctorates in education and business.
The KSU College of the Arts is one of only four Georgia institutions to have achieved full national accreditation for all of its arts programs.