{"id":17852,"date":"2018-09-25T08:46:29","date_gmt":"2018-09-25T12:46:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/quantumnew.esu.edu\/insider\/?p=17852"},"modified":"2018-09-25T08:46:29","modified_gmt":"2018-09-25T12:46:29","slug":"student-theatre-organization-to-present-the-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/backup_insider\/student-theatre-organization-to-present-the-library\/","title":{"rendered":"Student Theatre Organization to Present The Library"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stage II, East Stroudsburg University\u2019s student theater organization, selected Scott Z. Burn\u2019s contemporary drama, The Library<\/em>, for their October 4-7 production because the group wanted to produce a play that would spark discussion.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year\u2019s staging of The Laramie Project<\/em> started a lot of dialogue, and we wanted to launch a new conversation this year,\u201d said Stage II president Jenna Worrell, a senior majoring in psychology and theatre with a concentration in acting from Philadelphia, Pa .<\/p>\n

The Library<\/em> is a topical drama that examines the aftermath of a deadly shooting spree at a fictional high school. Someone revealed the location of students hiding in the A\/V closet to the gunman, but who was the informer? Which person is telling the truth, and how do the students, parents, and media vie to control the narrative of the story?<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople will have the misconception that this is a dark drama,\u201d noted director Sarah Thatcher, a senior majoring in theatre with a concentration in acting from Pen Argyl, Pa. \u201cTo some extent it is, but the play focuses on much more than just the shooting.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne reason we picked this play was that is doesn\u2019t point a finger or suggest solutions,\u201d Thatcher said, \u201cbut shows how we as Americans deal with the aftermath of events like this and offers insights into how much the media shapes the reaction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cArt is not art unless it is challenging,\u201d noted assistant director Matthew Namik, a senior majoring in theatre with a concentration in acting from Pocono Lake, Pa. \u201cWe want present a drama that speaks to college students and to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest challenge is to \u2018tell\u2019 the story,\u201d Namik said. \u201cBecause Scott Burns is also a screenwriter, there are some scenes that would be easy to do in film, but are more difficult to do in live theatre. You need to find just the right nuances to bring them to life.\u201d<\/p>\n

To create the right environment for the nuances of The Library<\/em>, scenic and projections designer Alison Wieder, a senior majoring in theatre with a concentration in technical theatre from Coopersburg, Pa, needed to design a versatile, interesting set that could show different locations and handle many set pieces, all with a small budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe book shelves are a key element because they double as a projection surface and can move around the stage to create different spaces,\u201d Wieder said. \u201cSome of the projections suggest the location of the scenes while others reflect the role of media in the drama.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaking the lighting work with the projections is the biggest lighting challenge in the play,\u201d added Worrell, who is also the lighting designer and production manager for the play.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s like Alison and I are doing a little dance to tell the story that the directors want to create.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe production is very much a partnership,\u201d Thatcher noted, \u201cwhere everyone is encouraged to contribute their ideas. As a transfer student to the ESU theatre department, I\u2019m honored and humbled that my fellow students would trust someone relatively new with this responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cProducing The Library<\/em> has been an amazing collaborative effort between the directors, the stage management team, and the design and technical staff,\u201d Worrell added. \u201cWe\u2019ve also had incredible cooperation and mentoring from the theatre department faculty. We wouldn\u2019t be able to do this if everyone hadn\u2019t worked together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Curtain times for the performances of The Library<\/em> are 7:30 p.m. October 4-6, and 2 p.m. October 7. All performances are in the Dale Snow Theatre of ESU\u2019s Fine and Performing Arts Center, Normal and Marguerite streets, East Stroudsburg. The drama is suitable for mature high school students and adults.<\/p>\n

General admission for the drama is $10; senior citizens, faculty and staff\u00a0 (with ID) are $7; and students (with ID) are $5. Because of the intimate size of the Dale Snow Theatre, there is limited seating available and purchasing tickets in advance is strongly recommenced.<\/p>\n

Tickets are available online in advance at esu.edu\/theatretickets<\/a><\/u> (credit cards only online). Remaining tickets are available at the box office one hour before curtain on performance dates (cash and checks only at the box office).<\/p>\n

For reservations or other information, please email esuarts@esu.edu<\/a><\/u> or call 570-422-3483.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stage II, ESU\u2019s student theater organization, selected Scott Z. Burn\u2019s contemporary drama, The Library<\/em>, for their October 4-7 production because the group wanted to produce a play that would spark discussion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":17867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[143,42,46,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-news-release","category-performing-arts","category-slider"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/backup_insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/backup_insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/backup_insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/backup_insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/backup_insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17852"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/backup_insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17868,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/backup_insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17852\/revisions\/17868"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/backup_insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/backup_insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/backup_insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/backup_insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}