Academic credit is also available if cast in either Sweet Charity or The Servant of Two Masters.

Select for further information or check the Callboard on the Lower Level of Waller Hall.

Department of Theater and Dance

Performance dates for the two Ten-Minute Festivals are either Thursday, December 3, or Monday, December 14, 2009. Further information on these auditions is available on the Theater and Dance Department webpage under the "Current Students" link. Information is also posted on the Callboard located in the Lower Lobby of Waller Hall.

Professor Barb Blackledge and company opened the Theater-by-the-Grove season with a record attendance for Oscar Wilde’s classic comedy The Importance of Being Earnest on Thursday night, October 1, 2009. The night was sold out, and a few sad patrons were even turned away. Larger-than-usual audiences attended performances Thursday through Sunday as well.

The Importance of Being Earnest comically reveals the adventures, mischief, and drama involved when two friends both lead double lives. More information can be found at the Lively Arts. Performances continue Wednesday, October 7, through Saturday, October 10, at 8:00 p.m. in Waller Hall.

Senior double major (Theater and Psychology) Addam Wawrzonek, pictured at right, plays Algernon, a “playboy” of the roaring 20’s in London. His love interest, Cecily, is played by junior Amanda Hohman, who is in the Musical Theater track of the Interdisciplinary Fine Arts degree. In the second act, Algernon goes to the country estate of his friend Earnest Worthing to discover all kinds of comic misadventure.

Senior Theater major Jake Santina’s costume design is beautifully realized in this production that resets Wilde’s play into 1925. “1925 gave me a great fashion period to work in,” says Santina. The cut of clothing changes dramatically in that year, providing lots of opportunty for costumes that reflect the strong, comic characters. Santina also used the abrupt change of fashion to distinguish the city characters from those in the country. Santina’s design is entered in the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival competition for student designers.

Department of Theater and Dance

Sarah Fritz and Anthony Lombardi have been hired by Vincent Lighting in Pittsburgh to assist with the massive technology involved in hosting the international event. Three days of work, entailing hours of running cable, hanging fixtures, and deploying control technology equipment, is great practical experience for these veterans of IUP’s Theater-by-the-Grove productions. The skills learned in their many production assignments prepared them for the job.

“IUP students come to Vincent ready to work and perform well. I love to hire IUP students when I can,” said Brandon Beale, rental manager for Vincent Lighting Systems.

Fritz has an added interest in the summit. Her second major is Political Science!

Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Theater and Dance will present A Year with Frog and Toad, a musical by Robert and Willie Beale, which runs October 16, 17, and 18, 2009.

Arnold Lobel’s well-loved characters hop from the page to the stage in Robert and Willie Reale’s musical A Year with Frog and Toad. Conceived by Mr. Lobel’s daughter, Adrianne Lobel, A Year with Frog and Toad remains true to the spirit of the original stories as it follows two great friends, the cheerful and popular Frog and the rather grumpy Toad, through four fun-filled seasons. Waking from hibernation in the spring, they proceed to plant gardens, swim, rake leaves, and go sledding, learning life lessons along the way, including a most important one about friendship and rejoicing in the attributes that make each of us different and special. We guarantee the entire family will want to see it again and again!

This Broadway musical hit was nominated for three Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Original Score Music. The musical is directed by Rob Gretta (assistant professor of Musical Theater at IUP), music directed by Tom Octave (instructor of Fine Arts at Saint Vincent College), and choreographed by Kayleigh Thadani (an IUP theater student).

A Year with Frog and Toad is on stage at the Indiana Theater (637 Philadelphia Street, Indiana, PA) on October 16 and 17 at 7:00 p.m., and October 18 at 2:00 p.m. Tickets for A Year with Frog and Toad are priced at a family-friendly $10 for adults, $5 for students/seniors, and free for children 10 and under. Tickets may be purchased at the door or at the HUB.

A special matinee performance for surrounding grammar schools will perform Friday, October 16, at 11:00 a.m. at the Indiana Theater. This is at a special group rate. Please call 724-357-4037 for information.

IUP Theater and Dance faculty member Rick Kemp is performing in a production of faustUS at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater in Pittsburgh, September 8 through 12, 2009.

The show is an adaptation of Christopher Marlowe’s play Doctor Faustus, dating from 1593, and is the first production of a new independent theater company, 404 Strand, that Kemp has formed with an international group of theater artists. The project is supported by an IUP Academic Excellence and Innovation Award and through major external funding from the Heinz Endowments and the Pittsburgh Foundation, together with assistance from Pittsburgh Filmmakers.

Roald Dahl’s timeless story of the world-famous candy man and his quest to find an heir comes to life in Willy Wonka, the stage adaptation of Dahl's book Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, featuring songs from the classic family film Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory.

Roald Dahl's story James And The Giant Peach comes hilariously to life in this delightful dramatization that reveals the wickedness of some, the goodness of others, and the indecision encountered by many when they are faced with crises. A magical peach! An imprisoned boy! Insect friends! An incredible journey!

Willy Wonka will perform at 7:00 on Friday, July 10, in Waller Hall’s main theater of the IUP Performing Arts Center. James and The Giant Peach will perform at 7:00 Saturday, July 11, also at Waller Hall’s main theater. For tickets call 724-357-2965, or purchase them at the door.

Footlight is supported by the Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts (PPA), the regional arts funding partnership of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency. State government funding comes through an annual appropriation by Pennsylvania’s General Assembly and from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Federal agency. PPA is administered in this region by the Pennsylvania Rural Arts Alliance (PRAA).

Department of Theater and Dance

Footlight Players Theater-for-Youth will host a giant puppet parade at IUP’s Picnic in the Grove this Wednesday, July 1, 2009.

The parade will feature the award-winning puppetry of Cheryl Capezzuti. Capezzuti will lead a puppet-making workshop for kids of all ages beginning at 11:30 a.m. in the Oak Grove. Then, at approximately 12:30 p.m., a parade will lead participants to a stage where Footlight Players casts will sing songs from this summer’s offerings: James and the Giant Peach and Willy Wonka.

Footlight Players is celebrating its sixth birthday with two productions that put the familiar lyric “Come with me, and you’ll be, in a world of pure imagination!” into practice. Casts of Indiana Area youth have been rehearsing Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka, the stage adaptation of Dahl’s book Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, and his James and the Giant Peach since June 13. Willy Wonka will be performed at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, July 10, in Waller Hall’s main theater of the IUP Performing Arts Center. James and The Giant Peach will be performed at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 11, also at Waller Hall’s main theater. For tickets, call 724-357-2965 or purchase them from any Footlight Player.

Footlight Players is a service outreach project of IUP’s Department of Theater and Dance and is supported by IUP’s College of Fine Arts and by the Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts (PPA), the regional arts funding partnership of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency. State government funding comes through an annual appropriation by Pennsylvania’s General Assembly and from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. PPA is administered in this region by the Pennsylvania Rural Arts Alliance (PRAA).

Founded in 1986, ATHE is a comprehensive, nonprofit, professional membership organization whose vision is to serve as “an advocate for the field of theatre and performance in higher education.”

In addition to his role as dean of IUP’s College of Fine Arts, Hood is also a tenured faculty member in the Department of Theater and Dance. Hood directs occasional productions for the department and also teaches Stage Combat, so it is no surprise that the broadsword fights in MacBeth 3 are noteworthy.

Adapted by Los Angeles playwright Lisa Wolpe, MacBeth 3 also features choreography by Joan Van Dyke, IUP associate professor of Dance. Van Dyke’s summer also includes her annual dance program at Cook Forest State Park.

Macbeth 3 continues through June 20, 2009. The Unseam’d Shakespeare Company production is held at Open Stage Theatre, 2835 Smallman Street, in Pittsburgh’s Strip District. Tickets are available through Pro Arts Tickets, 412-394-3353. 

Footlight Players Theater-For-Youth begins its sixth summer enrichment program for young people in the greater Indiana community on Monday, June 15, 2009.

This year over forty children and teens will participate in workshops and will produce two plays based on the imaginative books by Roald Dahl—James and the Giant Peach and Willy Wonka (a musical). Enrollements are still being accepted and applications are available on the Footlight Players website.

Footlight Players is a service outreach of the Department of Theater and Dance and provides a nurturing environment in which children can explore and discover their creative talents in the performing arts. Each year, IUP alumni, faculty, and regional professional artists work together to create four weeks of programming at IUP’s Performing Arts Center.

Funded in part by the Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts grants administered by the PA Rural Arts Alliance for the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.

Rick Kemp from the Department of Theater and Dance has received an Innovation Award from the Academic Excellence and Innovation Award Committee at the IUP Research Institute.

This award will support a theater research project in which Rick will work with an an international group of performers and award-winning British director Dan Jemmett to create an adaptation of Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragicall History of Doctor Faustus. Their adaptation will be called shopfrontfaustus and will be presented in September 2009 in a disused storefront in the East Liberty district of Pittsburgh as part of a festival of new works organized by the Kelly Strayhorn Theatre.The project is supported by funding from the Heinz Endowments and the Pittsburgh Foundation and sponsorship in kind from The Mattress Factory and Pittsburgh Filmmakers.

The Eastern District is the largest of the nine AAHPERD districts. Their mission includes advocacy for dance in education and promotion of physical activity as a component of healthy lifestyles. Boda-Sutton has been a leader in Pennsylvania’s state chapter of AAHPERD for years and has been a faculty member on the Pennsylvania Department of Education Governor’s Institute for the Arts, where she has also served as dance representative to the Steering Committee.

Tentatively titled “New Works/New Voices,” three to five short plays (from ten-minute to one-act lengths) will be chosen for this production. Guidelines toward submitting play scripts for consideration are to be found at Playwright Applications for New Works/New Voices.

Department of Theater and Dance

• The Importance of Being Earnest, a comedy by Oscar Wilde. Directed by Barb Blackledge.
• A Year with Frog and Toad, a children’s musical. Directed by Rob Gretta.
• Saving Alice, a new play written by Jack Culbertson. Coproduced/directed by Jack Culbertson and Scott Fetterman.
• A collage of David Ives’ comedies. Director: TBA.

For further information, visit For Current Students or check out the Callboard in the Lower Lobby of Waller Hall.

Auditions are open to all IUP students.

Registrations are now being taken for the popular summer program that will begin on June 15 at Theater-by-the-Grove on IUP’s campus. Youngsters ages 7 to 12, and teens ages 13 to 17, will enjoy four weeks of fun preparing plays and musicals. These will provide a summer treat for the whole community on the weekend of July 10.

Workshops and rehearsals in IUP’s recently renovated Performing Arts Center begin daily at 9:00 a.m., and last until 4:00 p.m. Under the direction of professional artists, students are engaged in age-appropriate activities to explore their talents for acting, singing, storytelling, and dance, as well as behind-the-scenes crafts.

Theresa McDevitt’s daughter Elizabeth has attended Footlight since it started. “Footlight has such a way of blending instruction and recreation that it has become our best four weeks of the summer,” says McDevitt. “Elizabeth is learning a sense of self-assurance, and I just think every kid should have this opportunity. She just loves to go.”

The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, through its Partners in the Arts program, distributes funding to help support the program. Footlight has received a grant every year from the Pennsylvania Rural Arts Alliance to cultivate the arts in our area.

Holly brings her expertise to bear on plans for a new major in dance at IUP. In addition to the Interdisciplinary Fine Arts degree with a Dance Track, the Department of Theater and Dance will be requesting a new major in Dance. Holly is developing this new major with colleague Joan Van Dyke. The new major, if approved, will focus on dance pedagogy. With it, graduates will be prepared to become teaching artists in school and community settings.

Performances take place at the IUP Performing Arts Center’s Waller Hall on Nov. 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14 and 15 at 7 p.m. and Nov. 9 at 2 p.m.

“Picnic” is the story of a love triangle involving the characters of beautiful Madge; her not-so-attractive sister, Millie; and the nomadic, charismatic, mysterious and handsome Hal. Things begin to unravel when a wealthy suitor, Alan, wants to marry Madge and forces her to choose between her mother’s hopes for a good life with Alan or her own affection for Hal. This play contains strong situations to which some audience members may object and which may not be appropriate for children.

Chimonides said the cast spent time exploring the similarities the characters have to people of today.

“Society’s values are always shifting, but human beings don’t change. We used this philosophy to explore a contemporary understanding of the play,” he said. “Audiences will be able to recognize their contemporary selves in the situations and predicaments of ‘Picnic.’ ”

Tickets are available at the Hadley Union Building and at the door 45 minutes before the performance begins. Tickets are $14 for regular admission, $12 for senior citizens and groups of 15 or more, and $8 with a university I-Card.

This production is co-choreographed by Boda-Sutton and IUP dance faculty member Joan Van Dyke. Performances take place at the IUP dance studio in Zink Hall at 7 p.m. Oct. 24 and 25 and at 2 p.m. Oct. 26. The show includes guest dancers from the Mahoning Valley Ballet.

The production follows the adventure of fairy tale characters Tom Piper and Mary Contrary and others as they “save” Mother Goose Village from Barnaby and his minions. The show includes the signature tunes of “Toyland” and “March of the Toys.”

Boda-Sutton said she adapted the original 1903 operetta to explore the humorous side of the familiar nursery rhyme characters in Mother Goose Village.

Tickets for Babes in Toyland are available in advance at the Hadley Union Building, along Pratt Drive on the IUP campus. Remaining tickets will be sold at the door starting 45 minutes before the performance. Tickets are $14 for regular admission, $12 for senior citizens and groups of 15 or more, and $8 with a university I-card.

This production is co-choreographed by Boda-Sutton and IUP dance faculty member Joan Van Dyke. Performances take place at the IUP dance studio in Zink Hall at 7 p.m. Oct. 24 and 25 and at 2 p.m. Oct. 26. The show includes guest dancers from the Mahoning Valley Ballet.

The production follows the adventure of fairy tale characters Tom Piper and Mary Contrary and others as they “save” Mother Goose Village from Barnaby and his minions. The show includes the signature tunes of “Toyland” and “March of the Toys.”

Boda-Sutton said she adapted the original 1903 operetta to explore the humorous side of the familiar nursery rhyme characters in Mother Goose Village.

Tickets for “Babes in Toyland” are available in advance at the Hadley Union Building, along Pratt Drive. Remaining tickets will be sold at the door starting 45 minutes before the performance. Tickets are $14 for regular admission, $12 for senior citizens and groups of 15 or more, and $8 with a university I-Card.

Kemp is now at work on a production of The Museum of Desire for Quantum in collaboration with Dan Jemmit, to be performed at the Frick Art and Historical Center in Pittsburgh.

Violet Sharp, a new play written by William Cameron and directed by Barb Blackledge, will be first produced here at IUP on the Waller Mainstage: October 2–5 and 8–11. (Note: This production will be toured to regional high schools in October and November.)

Babes In Toyland, a co-production of IUP Dance Theater Company and the Van Dyke Dance Company, directed by Holly Boda-Sutton and Joan Van Dyke, Zink Dance Theater: October 24–25.

Picnic, an American classic by William Inge directed by Jason Chimonides, Waller Mainstage: November 6–9 and 12–15.

Anything Goes, a co-production of Theater-by-the-Grove and IUP Music Theater, directed by Rob Gretta, musical direction by Sarah Mantel, Choreography by Joan Van Dyke, conducted by Jack Stamp, Fisher Auditorium: February 18–21.

Dance and Percussion, a co-production of IUP Dance Theater and IUP Percussion Ensemble, Fisher Auditorium, March 28.

A Boy's Life, a contemporary comedy directed by Rick Kemp, Waller Mainspace, April 16–19 and 22–25.

In addition, Jason’s newest play, The Bluest Water: A Hurricane Camille Story, will be getting its world premiere in Virginia this summer. Produced by the Endstation Theatre Company in cooperation with the Blue Ridge Summer Theatre Festival, this play will open on July 9, 2008. (For further information, please check the Enstation Theatre Company website.)

Chimonides is a member of the Theater and Dance faculty.

Buried: The Sago Mine Disaster

by Jerry Starr
Directed by Barb Blackledge
April 3-6 at 8 p.m.

Encounter

Directed by Ryan Winder
April 12, 2008 at 8 p.m.; April 13 at 2 p.m.

Brilliant Traces

by Cindy Lou Johnson
Directed by Molly Simpson
April 19-20 at 8 p.m.

Life Under Water

by Richard Greenberg
Directed by Sarah Morrow
April 26-27 at 8 p.m.

Preview performance April 16, 2008. Regular performances April 17 – 19 and 23 – 26, 2008 at 8:00 p.m.; April 20, 2008 at 2:00 p.m. All performance in Waller Theater.

Tickets on sale at the HUB starting Monday, April 7, 2008. Reg. $12, Disc. $10, I-Card $7.

An IUP Dance Theater/Theater-by-the-Grove Production

Tickets on sale at the HUB starting Monday, March 24, 2008. Reg. $12, Disc. $10, I-Card $7

A joint production of the IUP departments of Theater and Dance and Music, “The Threepenny Opera” was performed Feb. 21–23 and Feb. 27 through March 1.  

The classic musical, with music by Kurt Weill and a text by Bertolt Brecht, weaves the stories of murderous con artists, aggressive beggars, and ladies of the evening with a musical score that boasts the classic, “Mack the Knife.”

A milestone of Twentieth Century musical theater, “The Threepenny Opera” profoundly broke from the standard opera and operetta forms of its time, combining a barbed, political perspective with the sound of 1920s Berlin.

Macheath, a notorious bandit and womanizer, runs afoul of Jonathan Peachum when he marries Peachum’s daughter, Polly, in a ceremony of doubtful legality.

Described by American composer Virgil Thompson as “one of this century’s most powerful creations,” “The Threepenny Opera” premiered in 1928. Through the 1930s, the musical production was banned throughout Germany by the Nazi government, which stopped performing the music publicly because it was being enjoyed by too many people.

An English production premiered a new translation off-Broadway in 1954 with a now recognizable cast including Lotte Lenya, Bea Arthur, Charlotte Rae and John Astin. Since that time, “The Threepenny Opera” has been performed all over the world, including five major Broadway revivals, the latest performed in 2006 in the legendary Studio 54.

“The Threepenny Opera” is a joint production by the departments of Theater and Dance and Music and is funded, in part, by the Student Cooperative Association.