Post Theater Company Chosen as One of Six University Theater
Groups to Perform at Kennedy Center
National Honor a First for C.W. Post Campus Theater Department
Brookville, NY - Members of the Post Theater Company (PTC) have won
the honor of performing Caryl Churchill's "The Skriker" before
a national audience of 500 at the 31st Annual Kennedy Center/American College
Theater Festival in Washington, D.C. this April.
Only five to seven productions are chosen to perform at the Kennedy
Center/American College Theater Festival each year, from more than 900
college productions in eight regions across the United States. The PTC,
based at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University in Brookville,
NY, will perform its production, "The Skriker," at 7:30 p.m.
on April 27 and 28.
"At this point in our students' careers, it is their Academy Award,"
according to Dianne Cheney, a Brookville, NY resident who is general manager
of the PTC.
"The success of our shows is largely due to our students' training
and ability to collaborate with each other and other working professionals,"
said Debra Bergsma Otte of Brooklyn, NY, director of theater and resident
costume designer at C.W. Post. "Our students are amazingly well-rounded
theater people who learn every aspect of theater production, so we end
up with a student body that supports each other incredibly, working both
on- and backstage."
Emma Griffin of New York City - who most recently directed the premier
of the English translation of Calderon de la Barca's "The Sickness
and The Cure" - is professionally directing the play. She calls
"The Skriker" a "mad, angry and glorious play which rushes
through a maze of pictures and words, forever blurring the line between
reality and fantasy, safety and danger, desire and fear."
Skriker, played by Maria Porter, a C.W. Post theater professor from
Ossining, NY, is an ancient being that morphs and changes itself into other
shapes. Lusting for the pulsing life of humanity, Skriker mutates herself
from a petulant little girl into an American barfly and attaches herself
to two young provincial English runaways (Lily, a bleak character played
by Sheila Mitchell, a senior from Hopkins, SC, and Josie, who visits the
underworld, played by Jessica Marie, a senior from Massapequa Park, NY).
A host of demons and angels follow Skriker through contemporary London
to torment and distort the boundaries of our world.
The Post Theater Company attained this honor at a regional competition
in Buffalo, held January 16, 1998, competing against Ithaca College, Suffolk
County Community College and Muhlenberg College. The Post Theater Company
has been chosen to participate in the regionals three times, in 1994, 1996
and 1998.
In addition to "The Skriker," other scheduled performances
at Kennedy Center will be James Madison University's "Carriage";
Louisiana State's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"; University
of Oklahoma's "Guarding the Bridge"; Hartwick College's "Specks";
and University of Nevada's "Falsettos."
The Kennedy Center/American College Theater Festival (KC/ACTF) provides
opportunities for college and university theater departments to showcase
their best work and to receive outside response. Through state, regional
and national festivals, KC/ACTF participants celebrate the creative process,
see one another's work, and share experiences and insights within the community
of theater artists. KC/ACTF honors excellence of overall production and
offers student artists individual recognition through awards and scholarship
in playwriting, acting, criticism, directing and design. Regional festivals
allow students to see each other's work and to share ideas. In addition
to performances, there are a wide range of other activities, including
workshops and seminars on such topics as playwriting, auditioning, voice,
movement, stage combat, theater for children, scene painting, and scenery
construction.
The 31st Annual Kennedy Center/American College Theater Festival runs
from April 27 through May 3. Free tickets are available beginning at 10
a.m. in the Kennedy Center lobby on Saturday, April 25, 1998.
For more information call the C.W. Post Public
Relations Office at (516) 299-2333 or e-mail cwpostpr@aurora.liunet.edu
or send mail to: Long Island University, C.W. Post Campus, 720 Northern
Blvd., Brookville, New York 11548-1300.
