Posting Date: March 4, 2010
Kennesaw State presents a full week of new and creative performances
Festival features new work from students and a professional playwright
By Scott Singleton
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Mannie Rivers and Stacie King in the 2009 production of "Memorabilia" by Rosemary Newcott for "New Works and Ideas" Photo by Ken Wietzman |
For the third consecutive year, the Department of Theatre and Performances Studies at Kennesaw State University will present “New Works and Ideas,” a festival of staged readings that features both student work and the work of a professional playwright. The festival will take place March 24-27.
Coordinated by Theatre and Performance Studies professors Dean Adams, Karen Robinson, Margaret Baldwin and Jane Barnette, the festival mirrors a performance tradition found around the world. Robinson explains, “The festival features and honors new works for the stage. It is a popular practice to devote a concentrated period of time to workshop and present staged readings of new works so that playwrights can hear their new writing in the presence of a live audience.”
The student work will be showcased in 10-minute plays that use concert reading style, which allows the performers to keep their scripts and use minimal gestures and movements. According to Robinson, this approach emphasizes the script itself and also allows the audience to use their imagination. The student plays will be performed in Howard Logan Stillwell Theater on March 27 at 8 p.m. They are free and open to the public.
The festival has also joined forces with the TPS “Principles of Directing” class and allows student directors to work with student playwrights to gain valuable experience. “We are patterning it after the cultivation of new works in the professional world,” Robinson explains.
Each year, the festival also includes the performance of a play by a professional playwright. This year, Associate Professor of English Aaron Levy’s play “Hunger Pains” will be performed March 24-26 at 8 p.m. in the Black Box Theater. Tickets for this event are $12 and are available for purchase at the box office. Student discounts are also available. Student tickets must be purchased in person at the box office with student identification. To guarantee a seat, please purchase tickets in advance.