Michigan State University Department of TheatreMFA Design candidate Rose Legge is using projection mapping to cast graphic art images of voter information on to the side of the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum(MSU Broad). 

Her hope is that the presentation will empower citizens to vote by bringing attention to important details, like how to apply for a mail-in ballot or locate the East Lansing City Clerk’soffice. 

The projections will be viewable from the street to passing vehicles and pedestrians alike and will run from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. each night from October 24 through October 30.
Learn more here:
https://theatre.msu.edu/voice_your_vote/

​Fun Food videos from Rob Roznowski's MSU Students

Following the interruption to our plans for live instruction and performance, the Department of Theatre faculty have demonstrated a remarkable ability to shift to online learning. The results of this colossal undertaking are starting to emerge! Sarah Hendrickson and I have been leading an online THR 301 course exploring the art of comedy. We were so pleased with the student’s work that we’d like to share some of it with the world! 

THR 301 is a course devoted to comedy in a variety of forms including commedia dell'arte, comedy of manners, sketch comedy, sitcoms, and finally stand-up comedy. This assignment came after viewing a variety of sources like Charlie Chaplin's "Gold Rush" food dance , Lucille Ball working at the chocolate factory, Key and Peele's "Continental Breakfast" sketch among many others. Students were then tasked to create a short video that examined food and comedy. This is the result. You will find links to seven student works for your viewing enjoyment. You can also find them all on our YouTube Channel.https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDi8JYZobGaxO99jh7AmwkYCKDorRLDil


MSU EXPERIMENTAL SEASON

The Michigan State University Department of Theatreannounces an experimental season for Fall 2020, rooted in diversity, equity, inclusion, and public discourse. While conventional stage performances had to be canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Theatre has built a slate of nontraditional performative exchanges to showcase the work of its students and faculty. By making use of experimental practices, they are tackling themes related to the immediate social and political challenges.
 
While the format of the season is unfamiliar, the collaborative spirit shared by students and faculty has not waivered. Says Department of Theatre Chairperson Stephen DiBenedetto, “The ability of our students and faculty to answer the call to produce creative work that protects everyone’s safety is truly exceptional. We hope audiences are as excited as we are by this opportunity to engage in public civic discourse through innovation and novel contemporary performances.”
 
Topics explored throughout this experimental season include issues of pandemic health and safety, racial justice, LGBTQIA+ advocacy, neurodiversity, the #MeToo movement, grassroots political activism, gun violence, the economy, and more. For complete details of each experimental project, visit the MSU Department of Theatre website.
 
VOTE YOUR VOICE – Media Design
In her project, VOTE YOUR VOICE, Rose Legge, an MFA design candidate, will use a technique called projection mapping to cast graphic art images on to the side of the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum (MSU Broad). The presentation will empower citizens to vote by bringing attention to important information, like how to apply for a mail-in ballot or locate the East Lansing City Clerk’s office. In the transitions between the informational content, the artist has inserted visuals of timely social justice and human rights issues. The projections will be viewable from the street by passing vehicles and pedestrians alike. The content will span 20 minutes and loop for the two-hour duration. This MSU Department of Theatre special project is presented in partnership with the MSU Broad. 

Saturday, October 24 – Friday, October 30, 2020
6 p.m. – 8 p.m.
MSU BROAD 547 E. Circle Dr., East Lansing, MI 48824
 
LISTEN. (&VOTE) – World Premiere Play
LISTEN. (&VOTE) is a series of original recorded performances, written and performed by MSU students that examine how generational lenses can color a conversation. Actors have created a series of original vignettes discussing the social issues that are currently impacting college students. Each student actor will take on the roles of two people from different generations, discussing the social issues that are currently impacting college students. From the pandemic, to Black Lives Matter, Planned Parenthood, gun violence, the economy, and more, LISTEN. (&VOTE) will serve as a call to action to empower college students to vote and make a difference in the 2020 election.
 
MEDUSA - A New Musical Development Documentary
In its seventh year, the 2020 ĭmáGen collaboration with the Wharton Center Institute for Arts & Creativity supported by MSU Federal Credit Union shifts from staged reading to documentary film! Viewers will get an inside look at the work that goes into developing a new musical. The film follows Broadway directors, actors, and choreographers as they collaborate with MSU musical theatre students, dance students, and local high school actors in the creation of the new musical, MEDUSA.
 
Based on the original Greek myth, MEDUSA is the story of a woman who tries to make her own fate in a patriarchal world. When the god Poseidon assaults her by the sea one night, she learns just how little power she holds in the supposedly free and enlightened city of Athens. As Medusa fights back against both gods and mortals, rumors fly about this angry woman with “snakes in her hair.” The legend is born. Told with modern language and a darkly energetic score, Medusa is an ancient tragedy that is as timely and necessary now as ever. Book, music, and lyrics by Wes Braver and Rachel Dean.
 
This online event is only available for limited viewing on November 7 at 7 p.m. and November 8 at 2 p.m. Tickets go on sale Friday, October 22, through WhartonCenter.com. 
Ticket prices: $10 Students, $15 General Public
 
SODA POP SHOP! – World Premiere Play
Written and directed by Dionne O’Dell
SODA POP SHOP! is a 1950s-style interactive musical that centers on the main character Jitterbug, who is a nervous and jittery bug. He is uncomfortable with noise and chaos and is worried about attending the grand opening celebration of the shop. Through music, calming exercises, focus, and friendship, Jitterbug is able to enjoy the afternoon and his friends learn about true acceptance and inclusion. SODA POP SHOP! has been modified to be performed via Zoom for families with children who are neurodiverse and will tour throughout the 2020-2021 school year.
 
“PANDEMIC’D!” - A Mockumentary Comedy 
FRESHMEN SHOWCASE 2020
Directed by Sarah Hendrickson and Ryan Welsh
MSU Department of Theatre Freshmen are followed by a fictitious camera crew as they explore their first year in college. Using humor and satire, our actors delve into the uniqueness of their experience in a university and society that have been impacted by a pandemic. It's “Parks & Rec” meets “Glee” meets “Waiting for Guffman” meets “The Office”. It's PANDEMIC’D!
 
DEI AUDIO ANTHOLOGY – Audio Dramas
Directed by Deric McNish
An anthology of original radio plays inspired by poems on the topics of diversity, equity, and inclusion. The topics, voices, and styles for each play will vary, but all will engage with difficult questions chosen by student artists. Episodes will include links to the source material that inspired each play and a student-made documentary video about the creative process of the project.
 
TRANSFORMING MSU
Transforming Theatre Ensemble (TTE) is teaming up with the Department of Theatre to develop and present a series of student-written and performed video vignettes as a commitment to positive change on campus. The short scripts developed will be used to educate students, faculty, staff, and administrators at Michigan State on matters of diversity, equity, and inclusion in a series of workshop performances in 2021 via Zoom video conferencing.
  
DISTANCE SERIES – Costume Design
MFA Design Candidate Grace Foiles creates a collection of wearable sculptures with the intention of keeping people at least six feet away from their wearer, in response to calls for social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pieces are influenced by Antonin Artaud's philosophy on the “Theatre of Cruelty” and seek to "shock the spectator into seeing the baseness of his world" through bizarre structures and strong visual language. Foiles will start with 30 sketches and work from there to fully realize one to five pieces. The experience of public engagement will be documented.
 
UNTOLD STORIES – World Premiere Devised Performance
MFA acting candidates Sharon Combs, Abbie Cathcart, Kevin Craig, Eloy Gomez-Orfila, and Darah Donaher will direct the collaboration, creation, and performance of four original devised works based on current newspaper headlines. Final performances will be recorded and released for viewing near the end of the semester.
 
GRADS IN DRAG – Costume Design
GRADS IN DRAG is a web miniseries from the brain of second-year MFA design candidate Zech Saenz. The series of shorts will be hosted by Dinah Plate, a campy, voluptuous drag queen. This project is meant to shine a comedic light on modern-day issues such as the presidential election, the pandemic, and other struggles a person might encounter in 2020. There will be a strong emphasis on costume, hair, and makeup design, incorporated with student-generated content that will entice and engage a broad range of audiences.

EA (Eaters Anonymous)
Janet Colson’s New Script Airs Friday, October 30 at 8 pm 

Familiar actress/director at Riverwalk and other local stages, Janet Ehrlich Colson, last year received her MFA in creative writing from Vermont’s Goddard College with a concentration in playwriting.
Her thesis was EA (Eaters Anonymous) a full-length script that promises, “Every body (two words) is welcome at this 12-Step meeting where the only requirement is having a body that needs to be fed. There are no dues, but there is no promise of recovery, either.” 
An informative, entertaining article about Janet by David Winkelstern in the City Pulse archive reviews Janet’s resume and explains that Janet herself battled an eating disorder but recovered after her children were born. 
EA (Eaters Anonymous) will be directed by Janet’s husband, noted actor Mark Colson, on October 30, at 8 pm as a Riverwalk virtual staged reading, presented  with the help of Production Manager  Rita Deibler and emcee Jeff Magnuson. The cast includes  Christine Fisk, Connor Kelly, Rico Bruce Wade, Sara Frank-Hepfer, Rose Jangmi Cooper, Amy Rickett, Angela Dill, Erica Beck, and Iris Raine Paul.
This will be presented as a Zoom webinar that you can join via the link to below, also provided on Riverwalk’s Facebook page and website. You will NOT need to join or download Zoom; just click the link. If you already have Zoom installed, you will be prompted to open your Zoom app on your computer or phone. If you don’t have it already installed, you can simply choose to view the “meeting” through your web browser. 
Be sure to join five or ten minutes before the 8pm start time, since we will be limited to 85 audience members. Viewing will be on a first-come-first-served basis. But don’t despair if we fill up the 85 slots and you can’t join. A recording of the presentation will be available for the rest of the weekend on our website, and YouTube channel. 
We hope you enjoy this show! If so, please consider donating to our Act 2 Campaign via links to our website. http://www.riverwalktheatre.com

Please click the link below to join the E.A. webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82927022629?pwd=aWNES2N1YjRWMzlmamFZblhLNGxHQT09
Passcode: Riverwalk

After the performance, the recording will be available through the remainder of the weekend ONLY on our Facebook page and our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNn-HpMtd9r5EaIauCC6vCg

​PEPPERMINT CREEK THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES OPENING OF ORIGINAL FILM:  “Hear Our Cry”

PCTC produces the premiere of film highlighting diverse voices 
 
Peppermint Creek Theatre Company is proud to announce the first event in their 2020 -21 season, the three-day showing of the original film, Hear Our Cry, adapted for the screen by Kathleen Egan and Chad Swan-Badgero. 

“Hear Our Cry”, running October 22 - 24, 2020, will bring audiences together in a classic drive-in movie style set-up in downtown Lansing for a film created both centuries ago and yesterday. Lansing community members suggested texts from diverse voices across American history, and those were coupled with modern authors’ responses. PCTC then filmed actors from across the United States reciting these seminal and provocative texts to ask audiences to reflect on just what it means to be American.   

“Peppermint Creek’s 2020-21 season will not only challenge our audiences to engage in some timely and thorny topics, but it’s also going to challenge US as a theatre company as we explore new and radical ways to connect with audiences during a time when gathering together in a theatre building as we typical do isn’t permitted,” said Chad Swan-Badgero, Artistic Director of PCTC. “And yet, this couldn’t be a more important time for us to be producing theatre that stays true to our mission. There are so many issues that we are grappling with as a society right now that demand dialogue and exploration. We are excited to offer four different events that will allow audiences to do just that.”  

In May, PCTC put a community call out for diverse texts from across American history to be used in this production.  The theatre received over 25 suggestions that were narrowed down to seven.  Voices included in the film event are Harvey Milk, Langston Hughes, Cesar Chavez, Hillary Clinton, Ruth Margaret Muskrat, Emma Lazarus, and a house resolution bill recognizing the significance of Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month. PCTC then contacted living authors from across the country to choose one of the historical pieces as the inspiration to then write their own response. Authors who have contributed to the film event with their own piece include Diane Glancy, Shawntai Brown, Brittany Rogers, Marianne Chan, and Sandra Seaton. More information about the authors can be found on the PCTC website, www.peppermintcreek.org.  

Actors from across the country then performed the text on camera and the theatre company has edited all of the pieces together into this premiere film event focusing on the diverse voices that comprise America.  Actors represented on screen include Deb Vaughn, Chris Swope, Zurich Dawson, Eloy Gomez Orfila, Jeffrey Omura, Aiden Kakela, Jennifer Rupp, Sarah Hendrickson, Meghan Corbett, Greg Hunter, Briana Lofton, Maegan Murphy, Samantha Le, Sharriese Hamilton and Susan Oetgen.  

“Peppermint Creek is thrilled to be highlighting the voices of such a diverse array of Americans, especially at a time in our country’s narrative when so much is working to divide us,” Swan-Badgero says. “Our hope is that by spending an evening absorbing the powerful voices of the authors in the production will help our audiences appreciate that more connects us than divides us”. 

The film will be shown in a drive-in movie style presentation where attendees will watch the film from their vehicles and listen on their radio. The event will take place in the surface parking lot on the corner of S. Capital Ave and Washtenaw in downtown Lansing and will run Thursday, October 22 – Saturday, October 24.  The film will begin at 7pm each evening and is free, though RSVP’s are suggested at mailto:[email protected].   
Peppermint Creek Theatre Company
Chad Swan-Badgero, Artistic Director, 517-927-3016; [email protected]