Performing arts hosts two free events

By Chloe Gregg
Associate Editor

The LCC Performing Arts department is hosting two fun events for students, faculty and community members during the last week of the spring semester.

The first event, “An Evening of One-Acts,” takes place Thursday, May 5, and Friday, May 6 at 8 p.m. each evening in the Gannon Building’s Black Box Theatre.

The second event, “10-Minute Play Festival,” takes place on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 8 from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Black Box Theatre as well.

LCC Performing Arts Coordinator Paige Tufford-Dunckel said “An Evening of One-Acts” is a capstone project for students enrolled in the beginning studio performance class.

The performance is composed of three acts: “This is the Rill Speaking” by Lanford Wilson, “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell, and “Overruled” by George Bernard Shaw. The event is directed by Andy Callis.

"This is a production that is an outgrowth of what the students have been working on all semester in their acting classes,” Callis explained, “creating believable and interesting characters, reacting honestly, expressing themselves vocally and physically, and connecting emotionally with their characters.

“The three plays are varied in style and genre - from an elegiac montage of the 1960s Ozarks (‘This is the Rill Speaking’) to a rollicking comedy of manners (‘Overruled’)."

Tufford-Dunckel said she is excited to see Callis’s production.

“These three pieces are well written and a perfect vehicle for acting students to exercise their acting chops,” Tufford-Dunckel said. “Two of the pieces are realism, but with an interesting and unique subject matter, and the third is a play for voices. I'm excited to see the variety of acting techniques students have learned this semester.”

The second upcoming event, “10-Minute Play Festival,” is a performance instructed by Tufford-Dunckel. She said it is another capstone project, but for students in the stage-directing class. She said the performance is a long-standing tradition at LCC.

“We've been doing it for the past 10 years and this is our first year back at it after the two-year hiatus,” Tufford-Dunckel said. “The students really get excited about presenting their work and actually applying everything they've learned in class, to an actual public performance of a play they directed.

“It's a lot of fun. Most of the plays are comedies, but there is one dramatic piece that is very well done. I'm very proud of what the students have accomplished, and I think they are too.”

Both of these events are free, although donations are appreciated. For more information, visit the LCC Performing Arts website or the LCC Performing Arts Facebook Page.