Kathy Privatt

Tag: Kathy Privatt

Tony Award-Winning Musical “The Drowsy Chaperone” Performed at Lawrence University

Four performances of Lawrence University’s production of the Tony Award-winning musical “The Drowsy Chaperone” will be staged Oct. 25-27 in Stansbury Theatre of the Music-Drama Center.

Curtain time is 8 p.m. each night with an additional 3 p.m. matinee performance Saturday, Oct. 27. Tickets, at $10 for adults and $5 for students and seniors, are available through the Lawrence Box Office, 920-832-6749.

A “musical within a comedy,” “The Drowsy Chaperone” parodies 1920s musicals with a show-within-a-show plot device. The show begins in the apartment of a character known only to the audience as Man in Chair, an agoraphobic Broadway fanatic who has acquired a recording of a fictional 1928 musical titled “The Drowsy Chaperone.” As he listens to the record, the musical’s characters appear in his apartment to tell the farcical story of fiancés Janet Van de Graaf, a Broadway chorus girl giving up show business for married life, and Robert Martin, an oil tycoon.

“This piece echoes the 1920s, the decade that developed our shared definition of Broadway, and through those references lets us explore our own ideas about entertainment and escape,” said Kathy Privatt, associate professor of theatre arts and the production’s director.

Associate Professor of Music Phillip Swan serves as the music director for the production, which is based on a book by Bob Martin and Don McKeller.

Among the 1920s-era musical clichés “The Drowsy Chaperone” spoofs are stock characters — a ditzy chorus girl, comic gangsters and a stiff English butler, among others — impromptu tap-dancing numbers and mistaken identities.

Freshman David Pecsi plays the Man in Chair, with juniors Madeline Bunke and Alex York portraying Janet Van de Graaf and Robert Martin. Junior Gabriella Guilfoil plays the titular character, the drowsy chaperone, an alcoholic stage diva tasked with keeping Janet away from Robert until the wedding.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a world-class conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2013 and the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Individualized learning, the development of multiple interests and community engagement are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,450 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries. Follow Lawrence on Facebook.

 

Emotions — Hidden and Shared — Explored in Lawrence University “Devised” Theatre Production

A collection of original, borrowed and collaboratively written scenes that explore feelings all people have, hide and sometimes share closes Lawrence University’s 2011-12 main stage theatre season with four performances May 10-12 in Cloak Theatre of the Music-Drama Center.

“Show Your Face(s): A Masque” will be staged at 8 p.m. each day, with an additional 3 p.m. matinee performance on Saturday, May 12. Tickets, at $10 for adults and $5 for senior citizens and students, are available through the Lawrence University Box Office, 920-832-6749.

Kathy Privatt, associate professor of theatre arts and James G. and Ethel M. Barber Professor of Theatre and Drama, describes the play as “as a devised theatre piece.”  The work’s designation of “A Masque” is a reference both to physical masks and the Renaissance form of entertainment that featured a collection of scenes with acting, singing and dancing.

Unlike most traditional theatrical works, “Show Your Face(s): A Masque” is not based on a pre-existing script. Instead, Privatt and the production team created a script during the rehearsal process, drawing inspiration from the set, music and sound design, costumes, movement and mask work, improvisation and texts submitted by the cast, crew, Lawrence and greater Fox Valley communities.

Mask-making activities open to the Lawrence campus over the past year also served as inspiration for the production team.

“The play has been created collaboratively by both creating materials and using materials and texts that already exist to form a whole new production,” said Privatt, who director of the production.

Inspired in Part by Suicide Prevention Training

The play is being presented in conjunction with Lawrence’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) grant for mental wellness and suicide prevention.  The production represents a year of research and preparation by Privatt.

“I was specifically inspired by some material in the suicide prevention training that I received through the SAMHSA grant,” said Privatt. “That training reaffirmed that, just as we’re all human, we all experience the same emotions and we all make decisions about when to hide those emotions and when to share them.

“The process has been one of the most collaborative I’ve ever experienced, with each element having strong impact on our choices,” Privatt added. “We started with a basic framework of episodes, each chosen to explore a range of related emotions.  We worked together, with mask expert Adam Pagdon, and movement experts Deb Loewen and Laura Murphy, to choose and create material for each episode. The performance showcases the pieces that we ultimately felt compelled to share.”

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a world-class conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. Ranked among America’s best colleges by Forbes, it was selected for inclusion in the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Individualized learning, the development of multiple interests and community engagement are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,445 students from 44 states and 35 countries. Follow us on Facebook.

 

British Comedy “The Storm or ‘The Howler'” Performed in Lawrence University’s Cloak Theatre

British playwright Peter Oswald’s “The Storm or ‘The Howler,'” an appalling mistranslation of Plautus’ Roman comedy “The Rope,” will be performed Feb. 18-20 by the Lawrence University department of theatre arts.

Show times will be Thursday, Feb. 18 and Friday, Feb. 19 at 8 p.m. with two shows on Saturday, Feb. 20 at 3 and 8 p.m. in Lawrence’s Cloak Theatre. Tickets, at $10 for adults and $5 for senior citizens and students, are available through the Lawrence Box Office, 920-832-6749. Due to suggestive content, this production may not be appropriate for anyone 16 years or younger.

While Oswald’s translation draws from the main plot of Plautus’ original comedy, he takes great liberties in retelling the story. First produced in 2005, “The Storm or ‘The Howler'” deals comically with freedom and loss and employs physical comedy, audience interaction and various anachronisms.

Kathy Privatt, associate professor of theatre arts and James G. and Ethel M. Barber Professor of Theatre and Drama, is directing the production. She says Oswald was having fun in giving his translation a double title.

“All the action of the play is set in motion by a storm and then the romp that follows will hopefully make the audience ‘howl’ with laughter,” said Privatt.

Plautus’ original comedy, written around 211 B.C., revolves around Palaestra, a young girl kidnapped by pirates at the age of three and sold into prostitution. When a storm causes a shipwreck, washing Palaestra ashore, she seeks shelter in a temple of Venus, where she is found by a slave. Comedic confrontations between slaves and masters, masters and pimps and pimps and slaves ensue.

Lawrence University Theatre Dept. Presents Wilder’s Pulitzer-Winning Play “The Skin of Our Teeth”

APPLETON, WIS. — Thornton Wilder’s 1942 Pulitzer Prize-winning play “The Skin of Our Teeth” comes to Lawrence University’s Stansbury Theatre May 14-15 at 8 p.m. and May 16 at 3 and 8 p.m.

Tickets, at $10 for adults and $5 for students, are available through the Lawrence Box Office, 920-832-6749.

The comically anachronistic tale focuses on the trials and misadventures of the nuclear American family. With biting wit, Wilder examines the perseverance of the human race through all of life’s disasters and the lessons of history to provide answers for the future.

“Wilder’s deft juxtaposition of the familiar with the unlikely takes us on a wild romp through history and humanity,” said Kathy Privatt, associate professor of theatre arts and James G. and Ethel M. Barber Professor of Theatre and Drama, who will direct the production.

Wilder creates archetypal characters like the protective mother, the prodigal son, and the seductive maid to tell the story of the Antrobus family in this universal drama. Wilder’s loose conception of time and non-continuous plot bring the characters into extreme situations during each act.

The family travels from the dawning of the Ice Age to the moments before the Great Flood (of Noah). Written in 1942, Wilder anticipates the eventual end of World War II: the final scene takes place in the aftermath of a great world war that even included animals.

“Choosing to direct this play was giving myself permission to spend artistic energy on a favorite script,” said Privatt. “World events in the last year have made it a tremendously topical play, including its underlying message of hope.”

Seniors Eric Ohlrogge and Nora Taylor play Mr. and Mrs. Antrobus while sophomores Jeff Rudisill and Erika Thiede play the Antrobuses’ children, Henry and Gladys, respectively. Sophomore Katie Cravens portrays Sabina, the family’s maid.