{"id":16936,"date":"2018-02-16T11:10:26","date_gmt":"2018-02-16T16:10:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/quantumnew.esu.edu\/insider\/?p=16936"},"modified":"2018-02-16T11:10:26","modified_gmt":"2018-02-16T16:10:26","slug":"department-of-theatre-to-present-the-musical-godspell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/department-of-theatre-to-present-the-musical-godspell\/","title":{"rendered":"Department of Theatre To Present The Musical Godspell"},"content":{"rendered":"

Building a community is the focus of Godspell<\/em>, the classic musical of the 1970s being performed February 28 and March 1-4 by East Stroudsburg University\u2019s department of theatre.<\/p>\n

Grammy- and Academy-Award winner Stephen Schwartz\u2019s first major work, Godspell, <\/em>retells parables from the Gospels for contemporary times in a fresh, engaging style with dance, stories, and a hefty dose of comedy.<\/p>\n

Using vaudeville, burlesque, folk, rock and pop genres, Schwartz composed many memorable songs, including hits such as \u201cDay by Day,\u201d\u201c<\/em>Beautiful City,\u201d and \u201cTurn Back, O Man,\u201d which enhance the musical\u2019s message of kindness, tolerance and love. Schwartz has updated the piece with references to current political and cultural issues in society to connect with today\u2019s audiences.<\/p>\n

\u201cOriginally conceived by a group of university students, Godspell<\/em> is the perfect vehicle to showcase the talents of ESU\u2019s growing musical theatre program\u201d said Margaret Ball, D.M.A., professor and chair of theatre and director of the ESU production. \u201cThe cast and crew are particularly focused on a note Schwartz included in the script which states \u2018Godspell<\/em> must be about the formation of a community,\u2019\u201d Ball added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole show is built around community,\u201d said cast member Emily McDermott, a freshman from Philadelphia, Pa. majoring in musical theatre. \u201cWe\u2019re doing a lot of team-building exercises rather than traditional scene blocking. Once the cast comes together as a group, the blocking will flow.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a very cast-involved show,\u201d added Marcell McKenzie, a junior from Kunkletown, Pa. who also is majoring in musical theatre. \u201cEssentially, you\u2019re playing yourself, but you have to find your own uniqueness, and to work out how your character relates to the rest of the cast.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Na\u2019Zir Postell, a freshman from Levittown, Pa. majoring in musical theatre, working out his character meant figuring out \u201cwho\u2019s my friend and who\u2019s not my friend. I also had to figure out when my character makes the choice to become part of the group.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt first, the show was hard for me to work on because I\u2019m not used to this kind of musical,\u201d noted Marti Goodfellow, a sophomore from Voorhees, N.J. majoring in digital media technology and theatre. \u201cMy character is meant to be a provocative, funny woman, and I had to do a lot of self-examination to connect to the character. It\u2019s difficult, but it\u2019s a challenge I\u2019m willing to take on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jalon Mathis, a freshman majoring in musical theatre from Bethlehem, Pa. faced a different challenge than the rest of the cast. His character, Judas, is one of the few defined by the script. \u201cJudas considers Jesus to be his best friend, but doesn\u2019t always agree with his actions, and questions things that he can\u2019t understand,\u201d Mathis explained, \u201cIn the end, Judas can\u2019t connect to the group, so he betrays Jesus. On stage, he\u2019s often isolated, not with the group.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCommunication is the key to building this production,\u201d added McKenzie, \u201cand because the theatre department has developed a solid foundation for us to work with, we can do this show at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

McKenzie also is serving as dance captain for the show, assisting theatre department alumna Tara Coyle in choreographing the show. Since several of the cast members belong to the campus step team, McKenzie has incorporated step-dancing into some of the choreography to make it more relevant to students on ESU\u2019s campus.<\/p>\n

Other members of the creative team for Godspell <\/em>include: scenic and lighting designer Christopher Domanski, associate professor of theatre; guest costume designer Fan Zhang; guest music director Ruth Kochera; and student sound designer Joshua Weidenbaum, a junior from Saylorsburg, Pa. who is majoring in musical theatre.<\/p>\n

Curtain times for the ESU production of Godspell <\/em>are 7:30 p.m. February 28 and March 1-2; 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. March 3; and 2 p.m. March 4. All performances are in the Smith-McFarland Theatre of the university\u2019s Fine and Performing Arts Center, Normal and Marguerite streets, East Stroudsburg.<\/p>\n

General admission, $12; senior citizens, faculty and staff, with ID, are $10; students, with ID, are $7; and youth, 13 and under, are $5. This play is recommended for ages eight and above.<\/p>\n

Tickets are available online in advance at esu.edu\/theatretickets<\/a> (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). For other information or reservations, please email esuarts@esu.edu<\/a> or call 570-422-3483.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Building a community is the focus of Godspell<\/em>, the classic musical of the 1970s being performed February 28 and March 1-4 by ESU\u2019s department of theatre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":16941,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[143,42,58,69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-news-release","category-slider","category-theater"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16936"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16936"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16943,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16936\/revisions\/16943"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}