Performances of "Woycezk" will be April 18 and 20 at 7:30 p.m. and April 21 at 2 p.m. "The Blue Room" will be presented April 19 and 21 at 7:30 p.m. and April 22 at 2 p.m.
Tickets are $6 for adults, $5 for students and senior citizens and $4 for MC students and staff. Reservations can be made via e-mail at theater@monm.edu and tickets can also be purchased at the door.
Janeve West, assistant professor of communication and theater arts and director of "Woycezk," describes the main character as a "hapless, hopeless soldier, alone and powerless in society, assaulted from all sides by forces he cannot control." West said the play, which was first performed in 1879 after the playwright’s death, is often seen as "working class" tragedy as it looks closely at the cause of the downfall of the "common man."
Hare’s "The Blue Room" is an adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s notorious erotic masterpiece "La Ronde." When the latter play premiered in Vienna in 1921, it was closed down by the police, and the actors in its first Berlin production the same year had to endure a six-day trial on charges of obscenity.
According to its student director Leanna Wilson, "The Blue Room" follows "a chain of sexual encounters (illegal, vulgar, gentle, corrupt, dishonest) between and among an intriguingly diverse selection of characters – a prostitute and a cab driver, a politician and a model, an actress and an aristocrat. It follows the journey they take, individually and collectively, in their relationships."
Commenting on the theater department’s bold decision to present the two productions in repertory, West said the experiment is giving the theater students an experience not often afforded undergraduate students.
"Because the cast and crew need to change the scenery daily, it is an opportunity for our students to experience what professional repertory theater is really like," she said. "In short, they learn it is intense, labor heavy and quite difficult."
Opportunities to perform in repertory, said West, are often reserved for graduate students at major universities with larger theater programs. "Needless to say, our students responded to the challenge with a high level of responsibility and accountability to get the sets designed and built in such a way that they can be torn down and stored in less than a half hour."
West gives a great deal of credit to senior Greg Malak, who not only designed the sets for both productions, but also designed methods for tearing them down and storing them after each production. In addition to his set designs to accommodate the difficult repertory concept, Malak also plays the part of Woycezk in the production.
Serving as stage manager for "Woycezk" is Jason Magafas, while Kevin Litwin serves as the dramaturge. In addition to Malak, the student cast includes Stephanie Haas, Stacey Field, John Wells, Kelsey Cole, James Shepard, Lindsay Brogan, Michael Wozniak, Mike Diamond, Kayt Griffith, Missy Metz, Karissa Inman and Heidi Benson.
Comprising the cast of the "The Blue Room" are Becca Busse, Blake Lyon, Kate Drost, Tynan Sinks, Sara Youngs, Arjun Ahluwalia, Aubreigh Moon, Michael Heaton, Ellen Ehrenhart and Mark Mullaney. Art is being provided by Cassie Tangney and Desiree Swanson, props are by Amye Bean and costumes are by Madelyn Ethington and Missy Metz. The assistant director is Abbey Hardin.
West is finishing her first year on the MC theater faculty. Her previous credits include multiple world premiere productions at the Omaha Theater Company as well as a wide array of academic, community and youth productions.
Wilson has been involved in theater since she was eight. She has studied in France twice and will be returning to Europe for graduate school with Webster University’s Global MA in International Relations program.
Nudity, language and adult situations are present in "The Blue Room." The show is intended for mature audiences only and is not for those who may be easily offended.