Feb. 08 The Actors Workshop / Impromptu by Tad Mosel

Impromptu by Tad Mosel
February 21-23 at 7:30 p.m.
February 23 at 2:00 p.m.

Student Director Justyn Reed

In this performance four actors sit on a darkened stage awaiting the arrival of the stage manager who has called them together. Lacking his authoritative presence they are merely characters in search of a play to become part of, for their own personalities seem unformed and shallow next to the full-blooded figures they are used to playing. They are also "types," and each of them has absorbed most of what he is from what he pretends to be on the stage. The "drama" which unfolds is a mixture of truth, fantasy and well-rehearsed situations, but out of it, in subtle progression, comes a deepening awareness of the real people behind the theatrical facades.

The Actors Workshop series is specialized  for the Performing Arts Lab (PAL). The students in the Actors Workshop series minimize the peripherals of sets, costumes and lighting and concentrate on character development.

The Actors Workshop performances are produced to provide audience members with a more personal experience with the production. David Dow Bentley III, the People’s Critic, said of last season’ s The Shape of Things “...the excellent acting of the young quartet of performers. Actors who can skillfully memorize very lengthy passages in a script always fascinate me. Each of the thespians demonstrated that ability, and that was particularly true of Miles and Saltz in the lead roles.”

All performances are held in the Performing Arts Lab (PAL) - (T101)

The Actor’s Nightmare by Christopher Durang
November 15-17 at 7:30 p.m.
November 17 at 2:00 p.m.

The Actor's Nightmare begins with George who casually wandered onstage, when he is informed that one of the actors, Eddie, has been in an auto accident and he must replace him immediately. Apparently no one is sure of what play is being performed but George (costumed as Hamlet) seems to find himself in the middle of a scene from Private Lives, surrounded by such luminaries as Sarah Siddons, Dame Ellen Terry and Henry Irving. As he fumbles through one missed cue after another the other actors shift to Hamlet, then a play by Samuel Beckett, and then a climactic scene from what might well be A Man for All Seasons—by which time the disconcerted George has lost all sense of contact with his fellow performers. Yet, in the closing moments of the play, he rises to the occasion and finally says the right lines, whereupon make-believe suddenly gives way to reality as the executioner's axe (meant for Sir Thomas Moore) instead sends poor George to oblivion—denying him a well-earned curtain call.

To find out more about auditions contact Chase Waites at chase.waites@lonestar.edu

Cast and crew should enroll in DRAM 1120 Section 41401 before 10/29.
All cast and crew need to attend rehearsal Thursday, 10/18, at 4:00 in the PAL (T101).