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Casts, crews announced for annual C-SC one-act plays
Thursday, December 02, 2010

CANTON, Mo. – Stepping across the proscenium to direct a show adds creative dimension to any actor or designer’s dramatic experience. Students who major or minor in theatre at Culver-Stockton College have that opportunity as they direct one-act plays through the entire process from choosing and casting to practicing and performing.

Wanda’s Visit, directed by Erin Carmody, senior speech major from St. Louis, Mo., is a comedy and a somewhat realistic one act about a married couple, Jim and Marsha, who are a bit restless in their relationship, and who have their lives thrown into disarray when Wanda, Jim’s high school girlfriend suddenly shows up for a visit. The one-acts stars Amanda Eisele, senior arts management major from Mexico, Mo., as Wanda; Zach Martin, senior theatre major from Decatur, Ill., as Jim; Kathy Holstein, sophomore theatre major from Branson, Mo., as Marsha; Joey Burbach, senior theatre major from Grant City, Mo., as Waiter; Jeff DeGraw, sophomore arts management major from Canton, Mo., as Thug 1; and William Cooper, freshman music education major from Sikeston, Mo., as Thug 2.

In Jerica Exum’s one-act, A Dead Man’s Apartment, Lonnie, a married but lonely truck driver, and Nickie, his mistress, a married but lonely hardware store clerk, meet twice a week in an apartment. They have chosen a day to tell their spouses they are leaving them, but when the day comes, there is a message on Lonnie's answering machine: "You're a dead man." Lonnie wants to put off telling their spouses until he finds out who is after him. This play features Ian Heath, junior theatre and legal studies major from St. Louis, Mo., as Lonnie; Dakota McKee, junior theatre major from Pittsfield, Ill., as Nickie; Kayla Vanderbilt, sophomore psychology major from Lemont, Ill., as Valerie; and Travis Dahlhauser, senior speech major from Rockford, Ill., as Al.

Sam Kheim, senior art management major from St. Charles, Mo., will direct Foreplay: Or the Art of the Fugue, a play that takes place in several overlapping dimensions of time, chronicling the changing romantic fortunes of Chuck, a "Don Juan" of miniature golf. The cast includes Dylan Green, freshman biology major from Pittsfield, Ill., as Chuck 1; Josh Kollitz, sophomore music major from Grant City, Mo., as Chuck II; Tim Maples, sophomore musical theatre major from Chicago, Ill., as Chuck III; Lisa Button, freshman accounting and finance major from Adel, Iowa., as Amy; Hollyann Lillie, sophomore musical theatre major from Roscoe, Ill., as Annie; and Alex Westerhausen, senior biology and premed major from Girard, Ill., as Alma.

Pigeon directed by Beau Becraft, senior communications major from Memphis, Mo., is about Trep, his mom Arkad, his girlfriend Nina, who aspires to be an alternative rock singer, and Boris, Arkad’s boyfriend, who is an old punk hero. Stars of the show are Nick Johnson, sophomore theatre major from Fieldon, Ill., as Trep; Meghan Townley, sophomore art management major from Quincy, Ill., as Nina; Whitney Colston, senior theatre major from Neosho, Mo., as Arkad; and Treston Garner, freshman theatre major from Merriam Woods Village, Mo., as Boris.

In The Trips, directed by senior art management major, Krystyn Sarten of Canton, Mo., three men sit impatiently in a room, waiting for a stranger to arrive. All they have are simple instructions: end this person's life. The cast includes Kurt McKay, sophomore music education major from Florissant, Mo., as Lowell; Sara Dern, freshman theatre major from Merriam Woods, Mo., as Graham; and Dillon Ezell, freshman theatre major from Neosho, Mo., as Roland.

Joseph Madras, senior theatre major from Jefferson City, Mo., will direct Suppressed Desires a play that explores feminist theories between a married couple. The cast includes Aaron Robertson, senior art management major from Taylorville, Ill.; Hannah Kauffman, sophomore music education major from Festus, Mo.; and Alaura Cowart, junior music education major from Greencastle, Mo.

Covering the spectrum from controversial to comical, the plays are will open to the Saturday, Dec. 11 and Sunday, Dec 12 at 3 p.m. and at 7:30 p.m. in the Mabee Little Theatre in the Robert W. Brown Performing Arts Center on the campus of Culver-Stockton. The plays are grouped in sets of three and four; each set will have an afternoon and an evening showing on opposite days.

Admission to the Weekend of One-Acts is free and open to the public. Some material may be appropriate for mature audiences only and will be publicly designated as such. For more information, contact the C-SC Fine Arts Division at finearts@culver.edu or (573) 288-6413.