The Theatre Arts Management Shop at Catawba College Shuford School of Performing Arts Presents: MC EPPTHE HOUSE: SPOTLIGHT CATAWBA COLLEGE 2300 West Innes St. October 2013 Vol 20, No. 2 www.catawba.edu/theatrearts Salisbury, NC 28144 TELEPHONE (704) 637-4481 EMAIL THEATREARTS @CATAWBA.EDU Co-Editor: Verity Pryor-Harden Happy Fall! [email protected] Co-Editor: Pen Chance [email protected] THIS MONTH UPCOMING PRODUCTION: FOR COLORED GIRLS... For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When The Rainbow Is Enuf, directed by student Ashley Jackson ’14, highlights the trials and tribulations faced by women throughout the years. Continued on Page 2 ETC: LINE Join us for an evening of theatre in a strange location, as senior Brandon Engelskirchen directs an Tabitha Bass, Tynia Brandon, Cheyenne Hicks, Melissa Tarduno & Catilin Billings in “For Colored Girls...” (Photography by Tracy Ratliff) ETC production of Israel Horovitz’ Line. What is an ETC? Find out here! Continued on Page 6 BLUE MASQUE HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES Meet this years Blue Masque Hall of Fame’s Inductees! Continued on Page 7 ETC: Line, directed by Brandon Engelskirchen ALUMNUS OF THE MONTH ALUMNUS OF THE MONTH: BROOKE BEALL Meet our Catawba Theatre Alumnus of the Month! Continued on Page 8 Like us on Facebook: /catawbatheatre | Follow us on Twitter: @CatawbaTheatre | Follow us on Instagram: @catawbatheatre THE SPOTLIGHT PAGE2 For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/ When Te Rainbow Is Enuf For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf Cast & Crew by Ntozake Shange will open in the FBC Theatre at Catawba College on Lady in Green: Caitlin Billings Wednesday October 23 at 7:30 and will run until Saturday October 26. It is Lady in Brown: Cheyenne Hicks a choreopoem about Self Identity and liberation. Five women are uniquely Lady in Blue: Tabitha Bass bonded together by tragedy, pain, and female empowerment. Each woman Lady in Red: Tynia Brandon* is represented by a color of the rainbow. Not only do the colors represent Lady in Yellow: Melissa Tarduno their individual struggles, but also symbolize their unity. Director: Ashley Jackson -Katlyn Shaw ’15, Blue Masque Historian Stage Manager: Ashley O’donnell* Asst. Stage Manager: Cody Mangum Costume Design: Shannon O’Donnell* Lighting Design: Gyo Gamble Light Board Operator: Greg Stoughton Sound Board Operator: Cody Gasque Technicians: Martha Brucker, Jura Davis * Denotes membership in the Alpha Psi Omega Dramatic Honors Society Melissa Tarduno, Cheyenne Hicks, and Tabitha Bass The cast of “For Colored Girls...” (All Photography by Tracy Ratliff) Tynia Brandon as The Lady in Red Like us on Facebook: /catawbatheatre | Follow us on Twitter: @CatawbaTheatre | Follow us on Instagram: @catawbatheatre THE SPOTLIGHT PAGE3 Sit Down wit te Directr: Ashley Jackson lead you to something better. On top of that, you make sure that you surround yourself with strong people that will edify your life and not take away because iron sharpens iron. So if you have a strong core of friends that understand your struggle, you will prevail no matter what.” Q: Had you heard of this play before now or was it brand new to you? A: “Oh yes, I have heard of this play before. I’m a big fan of urban theatre, African American theatre and years ago I read it before and then I saw Tyler Perry’s version of Colored Girls and it was just a little bit different, it’s a different take on For Colored Girls, but he uses a lot of the same language and so that really sparked my Q: What made you choose this show? interest and I just knew that I wanted to do the show, I wanted to direct it. If I couldn’t act in it right away, I wanted to direct it because A: “I wanted to choose “For Colored Girls” because it has a story that it’s such an enriching story especially because of when it was made. It is universal to women. All women have gone through some type of was performed in 1974-75 and the issues that were going on then are relationship issue; they all have something to overcome. I thought that still prevalent today. Ntozake Shange fully updated this version of For Ntozake Shange painted the beautiful picture of women struggle and Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When what it means to be a woman through her poems.” the Rainbow Is Enuf to add elements such as the Iraq War, PTSD and how that affects the mind.” Q: During auditions, it was said specifically that the show would be color blind casting, which I found interesting for Q: You were in Once On This Island last year and you this show. Do you believe the show will benefit having were able to direct a One Act, but how is that different from different races of women in it? acting and then going into directing? Is there one you like better? A: “I think either or whether I decided to color blind cast or have a full cast of African American women, I believe the story will still serve the A: “Oooooh gosh that’s hard, which one do I like better? I love them purpose and the ultimate purpose is to show these women as beautiful both and they actually go hand-in-hand in a way because as an actor and also damaged and how do they overcome those obstacles of you always have to think of the overall picture and how you fit in that abortion, of rape, those issues are not necessarily African American puzzle and then as a director you have to see how all of the elements fit issues or exactly Caucasian issues, rather than women issues as a to create the world of the play. In regards to acting in Once On whole, but whether or not I decided to color blind cast or make it fully This Island and directing a One Act, those are experiences that I African American I believe that the story will still remain the same.” took with me, I used for this play. The elements that I learned about time management, about making sure I was organized and effectively Q: What about the show inspired you to make it a part of communicating with my cast and my crew I took those elements from Catawba’s theatre season this year? my one act and infused them to the full length play.” A: “I believe very strongly in womanhood and feminism and I wanted Q: Have you found that you expected directing to be easier a show that showcased the strength of women and I really saw a need but it’s harder or vice- versa? for a all women cast for this season and I also wanted to use a very strong piece that can not just showcase the talent that we have at A: “It’s interesting because I entered this time, any time I take on a Catawba, but also illuminate some of the issues that women face.” project, I enter with no expectations. I just try to see how things go. Everything that I take on has been different. I love this process For Q: What do you want your audience to take away from this Colored Girls. I would say that there’s necessarily a part that’s show? easier and a part that’s harder, it’s just different for every little element, every project that I take on is completely different.” A: “The most important thing I want my audience to take away from this show is that no matter the circumstance, no matter the issue, no matter the drama that is surrounding you, you’ll always have a way -Interviewed by Leanna Hicks ’16 out. There’s always that rainbow, there’s always that path that can Like us on Facebook: /catawbatheatre | Follow us on Twitter: @CatawbaTheatre | Follow us on Instagram: @catawbatheatre THE SPOTLIGHT PAGE4 depression and changed her name. young cheerfulness. They are short In Xhosa, one of the official outbursts, song-length; her characters languages of South Africa, her name are perceived in flashes, in Ntozake means “she who has her illuminating vignettes.” own things” or literally, “things that She and her sister, Ifa Bayeza, belong to her”. Her last name, recently released the novel Some Sing, Shange, means “he or she who Some Cry in 2010. Her individual walks/lives with lions” which means poems, essays, and short stories “the lion’s pride” in Zulu, the most continue to appear in numerous prevalent language of South Africa. magazines including The Chicago Shange moved to New York Tribune, VIBE, and Essence Magazine. City in 1975, where in that year her Ntozake Shange first and most recognized play, For ...was born Paulette L. Colored Girls Who Have Considered -Emily Olszewski ’15 Williams in Trenton, New Jersey on Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf, was October 18, 1948. At the age of produced Off-Broadway. Colored eight, she and her family moved to Girls first began in 1974 as a stirring the previously racially segregated St. performance by Shange and four of Louis, Missouri. As a child, she and her close friends in a women’s bar, For Colored Girls Who her three siblings were bused to a the Bacchanal, in Berkeley, CA. The white school where they were the play was a 20-part poem which Have Considered Suicide/ victims of racism and racist attacks. chronicled the lives of Black women When The Rainbow Is Enuf However, her family encouraged her in the United States. As they moved artistic education and often and danced, they recited Shange’s By: Ntozake Shange entertained many inventive guests poems about coming of age, Directed by: Ashley Jackson such as Miles Davis, Chuck Berry, heartbreak, sexual assault, and and Dizzy Gillespie in their home.