The Theatre Arts Management Shop at Catawba College Shuford School of Performing Arts Presents:

MC EPPTHE HOUSE: SPOTLIGHT CATAWBA COLLEGE 2300 West Innes St. February 2015 Vol 21, No. 4 www.catawba.edu/theatrearts Salisbury, NC 28144 TELEPHONE (704) 637-4481 EMAIL THEATREARTS @CATAWBA.EDU

Co-Editor: Verity Pryor-Harden Take a break from Winter and [email protected]

laugh with us! Co-Editor: Pen Chance [email protected]

THIS MONTH

UPCOMING PRODUCTION: THE COMEDY OF ERRORS The Bard meets commedia dell’arte in our hilarious, fast- paced rendition! Continued on Page 2

SO, YOU WANT A SUMMER JOB? Senior Maggie Saunders shares some advice on how to prepare for auditions as well as the skinny on Theatre Conferences The Cast of The Comedy of Errors (photo by Jacob Hylton) Continued on Page 3-4

PEYTON GLENDINNING PAINTS IT RED Freshman Peyton Glendinning directed a staged reading of RED by John Logan. Continued on Page 5

ALUMNUS OF THE MONTH: DANIEL HINES Learn more about the ’08 alum who is currently Mask making. (Photo by David Pulliam) starring in the National Tour of MEMPHIS! Continued on Page 6

LITTLE BLUE BOOK Check out what’s happening behind the scenes! Continued on Page 8

Like us on Facebook: /catawbatheatre | Follow us on Twitter: @CatawbaTheatre | Follow us on Instagram: @catawbatheatre THE SPOTLIGHT PAGE2 The Comedy of Errors by Daisha Stafford & Lauren Stacks

The Comedy of Errors Using the ancient Italian art Form, commedia dell’arte, Catawba College Theatre Arts Department will zoom in on the people of Ephesus in William by William Shakespeare Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors. The play will run in Hedrick Little Theater February 24–28 at 7:30pm. February 24-28, 7:30pm In this monumental collaboration, Catawba Theatre Arts Professors Dayna Anderson and Meredith Fox combine their expert knowledge to create a wildly Hedrick Little Theater different theatrical experience. This will be the last show that Anderson directs $12, adults | $10, senior adults & non-Catawba before she retires at the end of May after a 34-year career at Catawba. Students Collaborating with her is one of her former students now a fellow faculty www.catawba.edu/theatretix | 704-637-4481 member, Fox ’07, who earned her masters destree at the Accademia dell’Arte. Fox, working with Commedia Captain, student Verity Pryor Harden of Abilene, Texas, has trained the show’s actors in the 16th century masked art of Egeon: Collette Simkins commedia dell’arte. With the archetypal, highly stylized form, Fox challenges her actors to “go Duke: George Glass big or go home.” Through combined creativity, Anderson and Fox’s vibrant cast Antipholus of Syracuse: Alex Donato brings to life an Italian town brimming with mistaken identity, lust, and social Dromio of Syracuse: Cierra McDonald tension. First Merchant: Morgan Summers* Enter Egeon, a merchant of Syracuse, on a mission to find his family. For Adriana: Maggie Saunders* traveling between two rival cities, Egeon has been sentenced to death in Luciana: Maddy Auchter Ephesus. On the way to his death, Egeon explains that he came to Syracuse to find his wife and other twin son, who were separated from him 25 years before Antipholus of Ephesus: Matt Ensley due to a shipwreck. Thus enter the twins, Antipholus & Dromio of Syracuse and Dromio of Ephesus: Chaz Cable Antipholus and Dromio of Ephesus. As the other characters struggle to keep the Angelo: Alex Thompson twins’ identities straight, lazzi fueled hilarity ensues, animating this one of a kind Balthasar: Anna Kate Hall production of The Comedy of Errors. Luce: George Glass Want to come? Tickets to an evening of brilliant wordplay that only Shakespeare can deliver are $12 for adults and $10 for non-Catawba students Second Merchant: Addison Bevis and senior citizens. These are available online at www.catawba.edu/theatretix Courtesan: Morgan Summers* or at the box office the night of the performance. In honor of National Pinch: Joan Hedrick Commedia Day, all tickets to the show on February 26 are free. The show is Abbess: Anna Kate Hall rated G and good for all ages.

* Denotes membership in Alpha Psi Omega Dramatic Honors Society ON WILLY SHAKES AND COMMEDIA DELL’ARTE by Emily Olszewski, Senior

William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon to his father John, a glove maker involved in law, and his mother Mary Arden, the daughter of a farmer. After attending grammar school, he married Anne Hathaway at the age of 18 and they had three children together. Shakespeare’s presence in the theatre was not officially recorded until the 1580s--it is rumored that his first job was minding the horses of theatre patrons in London. It was in 1592 that Shakespeare was thought to have written his first play. From 1594, Shakespeare’s works were performed by the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, which soon became the leading playing company in London. In 1599, his company constructed the Globe Theatre in Southwark, a district of Central London. His works consist of 36 plays in his First Folio classified as comedies, histories, and tragedies, although there were some added to the canon after publication. Furthermore, Shakespeare was an accomplished poet with his sonnets being some of his most well known work. He died on April 23, 1616, at the age of 52 and the cause of his death is ultimately unknown. (Continued on page 3)

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(Continued from page 2 Catawba College is that of commedia dell’arte. each character with the assistance of Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors is one Commedia is a form of theatre characterized by graduating senior and Commedia Captain, of his earliest plays, and is the shortest and the use of masks and began in Italy in the 16th Verity Pryor-Harden. The Comedy of Errors most farcical. A large source of comedy in century. This style of theatre is responsible for opens February 24 at 7:30 pm in the the play is its use of slapstick, a style of the advent of actresses as well as improvised Hedrick-Little Theatre and runs from humor involving exaggerated physical performances based on sketches or scenarios - February 28. Reserve your tickets now! activity, in addition to mistaken identities, think “SNL”. The origin of commedia is thought puns and word play. It has been adapted for to have come from Venice’s Carnival. Originally, opera, stage, screen, and musical theatre. performances were given outside on temporary The Comedy of Errors tells the story of two sets stages and relied heavily on the use of props in of identical twins--one set born to a place of set pieces. The characters of commedia merchant and his wife and the other set represented fixed social types known as “stock born to servants--accidentally separated characters” such as foolish old men, devious shortly after birth. The merchants’ twins, servants, and over-sexualized bar matrons. and their twin servants encounter each other The cast of students in The Comedy of Errors in a series of hilarious mishaps including have been under the direction of Professor seductions, wrongful beatings, and false Dayna Anderson in her 34th and final year with accusations of infidelity. The play was not Catawba, along with Visiting Assistant Professor published until it appeared in the First Folio Meredith Fox, who received her MFA in Physical in 1623. It is thought to be an adaptation of Theatre at the Accademia dell’Arte. The Menaechimi by Plautus. students have spent extensive rehearsal time The style in which Shakespeare’s improvising scenes, conducting mask work, as Illustrations of commedia stock characters Comedy of Errors is to be performed at well as creating their own individual masks for Artistic Staff & Crew SO, YOU WANT A SUMMER JOB? Director: Dayna Anderson by Maggie Saunders, Senior Commedia Movement: Meredith Fox Set Design: David Pulliam First, there are a few things you should always have ready in case you find out Lighting Design: Chris Zink about an awesome audition/ interview opportunity on short notice: Costume Design: Erin B. Dougherty Updated Resume - Even if you don’t have one printed at all times, you should Stage Manager: Hannah Lee* always have an updated file on your computer or a flash drive ready to print (or Asst. Stage Manager: Caitlin Billings* email) at a moment’s notice. Commedia Captain: Verity Pryor-Harden* Headshot - This is something you may want to always have at least one of in hand. Master Carpenter: Trey Irby Luckily, you can usually get photos printed in one hour but just in case that was Lead Carpenters: Chris Lange, unavailable, you need to keep at least one or two at all times. Cierra McDonald Rep Book - This is specifically for singers. You should always have an up to date Scenic Charge: Chelsea Retalic* notebook filled with songs that you’ve worked on and that remain in your repertoire. Lead Scenics: Tabitha Bass, It’s also important to have a couple of varying pieces for which you have audition Arnold Blohme cuts selected. Master Electrician: Caleb Garner Accompaniment track - Singers should also have accompaniment tracks (at least Lead Electricians: Mark Highsmith, for one song) ready in case there won’t be an accompanist provided. A great place Zach Dietz you can purchase these is pianotrax.com. They are played by a professional Audio Engineer: B’Jion Wright accompanist and if he doesn’t already have what you want, you can also order Asst. Audio Engineer: Sarah Taylor custom tracks. Props Master: Terrell Jones Portfolio - Theatre technicians should always be sure that their portfolio is up to Lead Props Artisans: Victoria Whetzel, date and in good shape. Laurel Edge You should also keep track of varying monologues you have used Asst. Costume Design: Summer Eubanks Monologues - 1st Hand: Katelyn Long and worked on in the past. This enables you to quickly select an appropriate one and 2nd Hands: Emily Olszewski* brush up on it rather than having to start from scratch every time. Jean White* Publicity: Daisha Stafford (Continued on page 4) * Denotes membership in Alpha Psi Omega Dramatic Honors Society

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(Continued from page 3) performers fill up extremely fast Tips from the pros and you might be wait listed. “You should always have of 4-5 monologues Northeastern Theatre and 4-5 songs performance ready that show Conference (NETC) Similar to off your various skills for auditions and SETC, but in the northeast. callbacks. Always look for new audition Instead of an audition for material to add to your rep. You are a screening, you submit an constantly evolving person and that one application and after it is piece that works well for you now may not reviewed you find out if you are work for you in 2-5 years. If you wait for passed on or not. that piece to grow stale without any back- ups, you may find yourself scrambling at the Tips from the pros last minute to prep for an audition which “You are always ‘on’ when you might keep you from putting your best work are at auditions and conferences forward and getting a callback/job offer. ” regardless of the situation in - Meredith Fox which you find yourself so pay Katlyn Shaw, Jean White, and Maggie Saunders being surveyed at NCTC attention to how you present mind, search for the type of job you’re Now that you have everything prepared, it’s yourself at all times.” looking for. Even if you do go to time to go out and find the job! There are - Meredith Fox conferences, you can still send in several ways in which you can find summer applications and video auditions to other work. “The key to finding jobs is by not being shy. theaters that won’t be in attendance. You When you attend theatre conferences, booths are may also find theaters near by that hold there for you to explore companies and products. auditions on site which you can attend People are not always about selling their product! (CPCC is a great example). You are there to learn about opportunities, including prospective jobs… Make sure when “When seeking professional opportunities, your at a conference you don't just sit in the you are representing something bigger than Catawba booth. Go find those companies you you. How you market yourself is in turn like and start a conversation!” marketing everything you have to show on - Jerry Archer, ‘14 your resume and in your portfolio, i.e. the people, training programs, and companies Professors with/for whom you have worked/studied. Talk to the faculty! They may know of theaters Your success as a professional artist is our that you hadn’t even thought to look into. You success.” also never know if they will know someone on - Meredith Fox staff that they can put you in contact with. Also take advantage of having experienced people to look over your material. Don’t be afraid to ask Katlyn Shaw auditioning at the SETC screening for feedback on an audition package or for help auditions at NCTC in formatting and editing your resumes. Conferences Southeastern Theatre Conference Catawba Alumni On Facebook there is a page for Blue Masque (SETC) This is usually the first conference Alumni. If you have questions about a theatre many of us think of when they are you’re interested in or have a location in mind mentioned. Not only can you audition and but don’t know much about the theatre scene, interview for hundreds of companies, you post on the Alumni page. They are always willing can also attend a wide variety of workshops to answer questions or if they don’t have an to learn about your craft. This conference is answer, they probably know someone who does. great for people looking for summer work as Catawba Alum are always willing to help out well as those available year round. other Catawba students. United Professional Theatre Auditions (UPTA) This conference is a Research great place to find year long work so it is a A great place to start is to simply start wonderful opportunity for graduating researching on your own. If you know where you seniors. However, you have to make sure you want to work, do a search of theaters in and register as soon as it opens because slots for Ashley O’Donnell auditioning at the SETC screening around the area. If you have no location in auditions at NCTC

Like us on Facebook: /catawbatheatre | Follow us on Twitter: @CatawbaTheatre | Follow us on Instagram: @catawbatheatre THE SPOTLIGHT PAGE5 Peyton Glendinning paints it RED by Lauren Stacks, Sophomore Along with main stage and Blue Masque productions, the Theatre Arts Department offers students yet another way to put on a show: the Experimental Theatre Collective, or ETC. ETCs are to be put together with two weeks of rehearsal and seek to fulfill the following objectives: 1. To provide new and exciting theatrical opportunities for Catawba students and faculty. 2. To explore new modes and means of performance and expression. 3. To provide unconventional experiences for our audiences. Freshman Peyton Glendinning proposed an ETC shortly after returning to school for the spring semester, and directed a staged reading of RED by John Logan that played for one night only on Friday, February 13. The show feature Senior Eric English as Ken and Adjunct Instructor/Scene Shop Foreman Craig Kolkebeck as Rothko. The Spotlight sat down with Peyton to learn a little bit more about the project.

Lauren: What motivated you to do an ETC? Peyton: I really wanted to get my feet wet, and I think that the ETC Lauren: How has this experience influenced your desire to projects are an incredible opportunity. Coming into this program, I be a director? Do you think you would want to do knew that I was going to take advantage of any and every something like this again? opportunity that’s thrown my way. Getting the most out of my Peyton: I would absolutely do something like this. I am already education is really important to me and I knew I would learn a lot working on fine tuning my next ETC. Working with Craig has from this project. been extremely beneficial and I cannot wait to get feedback from other professors. Part of this project was proving to myself that I Lauren: Why did you choose this play? could put up a show in a short period of time. It was kind of like a Peyton: I chose RED because it was my favorite play from dramatic personal make-it-or-break it. I am really looking forward to working lit. Not only is the dialogue highly intellectual, but it also inspired a with more of my peers and working on fresh and new projects. discussion among my peers like no other. There is a lot of gray area presented in RED. After reading the piece I began seeing some of Lauren: What was your concept for the show? Rothko in my professors and some of Ken in my peers, and vice Peyton: It can be summed up in one of Rothko’s monologues from versa. I really liked the discussion that RED inspires. Scene 4. “I am not fine. We are not fine. We are anything but fine.” The line is a commentary on an artists purpose in society. His Lauren: What was your process and experience directing a argument is basically that if art perceives everything as fine, then how dramatic reading as opposed to a fully realized play? far has the complacency gone? He feels that it is an artist’s job to Peyton: It was tough, especially when working with actors like Craig point out the flaws in society and to challenge them and if that notion and Eric; they both wanted to connect with each other through eye begins to die, then what is the point of anything? This is the contact. It was frustrating for them to not be off-book and make discussion I hope my piece has inspired. bolder choices, but we had to work with what we are given, that’s what makes us more adaptable artists. So it was definitely more Lauren: What do you think of when you think of the color challenging, but the lessons learned are some that I wouldn’t have red? gotten if they had been off-book. Peyton: RED is, if anything, bold. It’s eye catching (little pops of red). I think of roller coasters, bright red steel beams. I think of how Lauren: What are some challenges you encountered powerful red lights are, how it can totally consume everything around through this process? it. I think of the Taylor swift Red album. I think of the Red Hot Chili Peyton: Most challenges ended up being lessons learned for next Peppers. time. The big one was making sure I am communicating properly to everyone that needs to be in the loop. Others are making sure I have Lauren: What would you say about RED to students a clear plan for each rehearsal. Everything I’ve learned from this studying this play in Analysis of Dramatic Literature? project has been extremely beneficial. I am relieved that I am Peyton: Enjoy the discussion. It is a brilliant piece, and if you get a learning these things now, rather than later when I’m directing a chance to check out some of the interviews with the London cast, do larger-scale project. so. It is a powerful piece that will have you looking at time differently.

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Alumnus of the Month: Daniel S. Hines ’08

Hello my young Catawban Compatriots! It is my privilege and my pleasure to write to you about a life on and off stage after graduation from the hallowed halls and sacred stages you currently occupy. I am currently starring (at least that is what the program says) in the national tour of MEMPHIS, and as I write this I am sitting in a private dressing room (it actually has a star on the door…for real) at the beautiful Capitol Theatre in Yakima, Washington, waiting to go on for our first preview tonight! This is all very exciting, but let me back up a few years and walk you through the journey that brought me from crossing the stage in Keppel to taking the final bow on this “fantastical” national tour. While at Catawba, I was turned on to the big ol’ cattle calls—UPTA, SETC—you know, those large unified auditions. It was there that I first discovered the great benefit of casting one’s net widely. It was also at those auditions that I finessed the art of schmoozing (really “networking” would be more appropriate but is less fun to say). After failing to pass the screening audition at NCTC (ouch), I got an override—letters of recommendation from directors who were willing to vouch for me—and found success to the tune of thirty-two callbacks.

Lesson # 1 - Bring your best audition to the audition room, and leave your audition in the audition room. The schmoozing I mentioned before is not about sitting around the bar scoping out which artistic directors seem to have knocked back the most long islands and clinging to them like some kind of résumé-toting remora. In fact, the schmoozing should begin and end in the audition and callback rooms. I have watched many of my actor cohorts attempt to “subtly” suggest their wants and hock their wares around the bar to no avail. At that moment, with drink and snack in hand, the creatives are looking to forget about the day; they do not want to strain to remember your rendition of “What do I need with Love” (Millie was sung at SETC 2007 by more than thirty young hopefuls…I was one of them). If you bring it in the room, and behave like a normal person outside the room, those companies will be reaching out to you long after you accept or decline that first offer. How long? When I was working a gig in the fall of 2011, I received a phone call from a director who said “Hi Daniel, I’m sitting here looking at your résumé from SETC 2007…” I was getting an offer for the summer of 2012. Five years after the audition. I have worked thirteen jobs all over the country in the past ten years that were directly linked to one of those original auditions.

Lesson # 2 - Do NOT burn bridges. The world of regional theaters is so tightly interwoven that your bad behavior will follow you. It’s not that it might; it will. It is incredibly important to conduct yourself in a manner that positively represents you and your potential employer. I am going to write something now that may offend you: Our generation has a terrible sense of entitlement that proffers great expectation of great reward with minimal effort.

Lesson # 3 - Make the effort to make a personal connection. Yes, electronic submissions and social media networking have created a pathway to pursue jobs and connections from the comfort of your boxer shorts or bathrobe. But the people who are casting and hiring are (generally) not quite as tech-savvy as you are. They want to meet you in person and have a real human interaction. They want to see you audition right in front of them and then offer direction and see how you make adjustments. They want to feel like they can know and judge the person, the actor, not just the character and the belt-your-face-off song you recorded down in the FBC. So make the effort to meet them whenever possible, and once you land the job, continue to be the wonderful person they hired! In addition to the things I have learned on my journey post-graduation, I learned many wonderful lessons at Catawba. I learned how to “stop acting and just be.” I learned methods of finding, creating, becoming a character. I learned to take what works for me, discard what doesn’t and move on. I learned how to paint, build, weld, design, direct. But Dr. Woodrow Hood once gave me a piece of advice that was so simple and has rung so true time and time again: (Continued on page 7) Hines as Huey in MEMPHIS

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(Continued from page 6)

Lesson # 4 - “Make yourself necessary, and you become indispensable.” There are a thousand people who are qualified and available to play that role or build that rig or paint that set or sew that gown. There is always someone ready to replace you. So find what it is about you that is unique and necessary, and show it to the powers that be. Prove whenever possible that you are not just a good fit, but the right choice, and you will find yourself continually employed. I, like most young artists with a piping hot-from-the-printer diploma, had dreams of Broadway calling me before my twenty- third birthday. I do not discount or discredit the precious few for whom that has been the case, but it is not common. So I went about living my life with another goal: to be an employed actor. I do not know what life holds for me, but I do know this: I have been working professionally for ten years now going from one performing job to the next without a Hines in Oklahoma! break. I can pay my bills. I live comfortably. I am blessed to be doing what I love for a living. Simply put, it just don’t get no better than this.

Lesson # 5 - Whatever you want to do; go do it. Life is too short and you are too young to avoid pursuing your dreams. You must of course do so responsibly. You cannot neglect to pay your bills or perform your civic and social duties, but you can steer those actions toward your dreams. Do it. In the fall of 2009, I was living in New York City with fellow Catawba Alum, Jared Wietbrock. He and I went to go see a new show on Broadway called MEMPHIS. We sat watching Chad Kimble (and the entire cast truly) deliver an inspired performance (for which he would later receive a Tony nomination). That night, I lived the story along with them. I wanted badly to take my turn telling that story, and I said as much to Jared on the subway ride home. And now here we are! Sitting on a bus in the snow-covered mountains of northern California (a few days have passed since I began this from the dressing room in Yakima, WA) on my way to share this story with another couple thousand people tonight. Though it may sound corny, dreams do come true! HOCKADOO!

If you want to reach Daniel S. Hines or find out more about MEMPHIS on tour, check out www.danielshines.com or www.memphistour2015.com for all kinds of good stuff!

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Be sure to mark your calendars and Just a few reminders: check out our upcoming productions! Have you read our student blogs? SPRING 2015

As a way to reach out and let parents and prospective students know what it’s like to be a theatre major at Comedy of Errors Catawba, we have begun a blog with posts written by a By William Shakespeare | Directed by Dayna Anderson few of our very own, very talented, very busy theatre February 24-28, 2015 at 7:30pm Hedrick Little Theater majors. Check it out! http://www.catawba.edu/gallery/2013/blog/theatre/

www.facebook.com/catawbatheatre Guys & Dolls Music & Lyrics by Frank Loesser, Book by Jo Swerling & Abe Burrow | Directed by Joe Hernandez @CatawbaTheatre April 16-18, 2015 @ 7:30pm & April 19 @ 2:30pm Keppel Auditorium

@CatawbaTheatre Call the box office at Buy tickets! www.catawba.edu/theatretix (704) 637-4481 or visit www.catawba.edu/theatretix to purchase tickets! Do you have a friend or loved one in a Catawba College or Blue Masque theatre production? Do you want to show your appreciation for all of their hard work? The Spotlight Staff: Then purchase a Blue Masque Break-a-Leg Gift for just $8.00! Verity Pryor-Harden, Senior | Co-Editor

Break-a-Legs include a beautiful mylar balloon with Pen Chance, Senior | Co-Editor an equally exquisite red carnation and a personalized note. Emily Olszewski, Senior | Writer

To have a Break-a-Leg delivered to your loved Maggie Saunders, Senior | Writer one, please send $8 in cash or check to the following address by Monday, February 23: Morgan Summers, Junior | Writer

Hannah Lee Jacob Hylton, Sophomore | Photographer 2300 West Innes St. Box 951 Lauren Stacks, Sophomore | Writer Salisbury, NC 28144 Peyton Glendinning, Freshman | Writer Thank you! Hannah Lee [email protected] Joe Hernandez | Faculty Supervisor The Blue Masque Treasurer