Theatre VCU students, alumni and former faculty are all over Richmond!Some examples:
This will be the last weekend to see Annie Baker's
The Aliens at the Firehouse Theatre
Directed by retired Theatre VCU professor Gary Hopper and featuring two current Theatre VCU students - Maxwell Moore and Denver Crawford and one Theatre VCU alumni Ben Hill.
Other Theatre VCU folks involved in the production:
Phil Hayes – Scenic Design (alumnus)
Liz Hopper – Costume Design (Head of Costume Design, retired)
Erica Hughes – Vocal Coach (MFA student, May 2015 graduate)
Here's a description of the plot:
A pair of thirty-something dropouts hang out by the dumpster behind a coffee shop and meditate on music, philosophy, ‘shrooms, and Charles Bukowski. When a teenage employee tells them to relocate, they decide to teach him everything they know. Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Annie Baker creates a humorous and theatrically poetic story of friendship and rituals.
PRESS
“…director Gary Hopper – realizing how carefully Baker builds a schematic of trust and familiarity among her characters through banal, tentative wordplay – leaves the pacing and rhythm of The Aliens loose, jangly and full of open space.”
“Ben Hill brings jarring intensity to the role of Jasper…As KJ, Maxwell Moore carefully distracts us from his character’s lurking genius…And Denver Crawford, as the repressed, rule-bound Evan, needs only to flick his eyes to communicate how those who unexpectedly come into our lives might have the power to transform us.”
—Richmond Times-Dispatch
GO HERE for more info About The Aliens
YANK! The WWII Musical
Book and Lyrics by David Zellnick; Music by Joseph Zellnick
May 13 – June 13, 2015
YANK! is a love song to Hollywood’s “it takes one of every kind” platoon flicks and to 1940s Broadway. Suffused with songs reminiscent of the era – from swing to big band to boogie-woogie – YANK! concerns what stories get told in wartime, and how WWII became the great catalyst in bringing gay men and women together. “… a bright and enjoyable score that pays homage to the Rodgers & Hammerstein sound … YANK! is a bright, original and moving winner of a musical that earns its exclamation point!” – Variety.
These are the Theatre VCU students & alumni involved:
Directed by James Stover (MFA student, graduated May 2015)
Choreographed by Rebecca Frost Mayer (current MFA student)
Stage Managed by Brennan Jones (current undergrad) - He is also Assistant Director and playing the part of "Speedy" (which is just fun to say)
Set Designer - Grenville Burgess (current MFA student)
with
Alex Burkart - Artie Goldberg (current MFA student)
Drew Colleti - Stu (current BFA student)
Patrick Bello - the Professor (current BFA student)
Matt Riley - Cohen (current BFA student)
Keith Fitzgerald - the Sargent (MFA alumni)
Joe Winters - ensemble (BFA alumnus)
And of course our very own Noreen Barnes (Director, Graduate Studies) is the RTP Artistic Director
And of course our very own Noreen Barnes (Director, Graduate Studies) is the RTP Artistic Director
