Oct 28, 2021 | Theatre and Dance, Theatre and Dance News, xCVPA, xFeatured
Part improvisational theatre, part late-night comedy club, On the Spot invites audience members to shout out ideas for Xavier Smith’s improv troupe to develop on stage and “on the spot.” In between skits and games, three stand-up comedians will perform seven-minute sets of their best material. The last number of the evening will be a high-energy game the improv troupe calls “Madrigal.”
“On the Spot!!!” is a production of NIU’s Third Onion a long running project that allows students in the NIU School of Theatre and Dance to propose and produce their own work.
In addition to Smith, the performers are Logan Blake, Adriel Compean, Joey Filpi, Jack Gordon, A.J. Leidig and Qwayland McGowen. All are students at NIU’s School of Theatre and Dance.
“I have a deep love for everything comedic,” confides troupe leader Smith. “All summer I was in and out of comedy clubs all around Chicago. I saw Corey Holcomb perform. I saw DeRay Davis and Gary Owen and I thought, ‘why not bring club comedy back to NIU?’”
Smith promises that “laughter is the best medicine—even in times of pandemic.” While laughing out loud is permitted, performers and audience members will wear masks throughout the performance.
Performances will be in Corner Theater, located in NIU’s Stevens Building (behind the McDonald’s on West Lincoln Highway). Curtain time is 10:30 p.m. all three nights. General admission is $3.50 at the door, cash, Venmo and Cashapp accepted. Reservations aren’t needed.
Sep 27, 2021 | Theatre and Dance, Theatre and Dance News, xCVPA, xFeatured
A full season of live theater and dance productions returns to NIU this year, as the School of Theatre and Dance welcomes back audiences to the theaters in the Stevens Building on the main campus.
From classics like Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, new adaptions of Three Sisters, Edward II, RUR, The Conference of the Birds adapted from Attar’s epic poem, to newer offerings like Ike Holter’s Hit the Wall and Julia Cho’s The Language Archive there is something for everyone.
The season opens Friday, October 1 with a production of Kernel of Sanity written by Kermit Frazier and directed by School of Theatre and Dance alumna Alys Dickerson. Shows run for two weeks beginning with Friday and Saturday performances at 7:30 p.m. and a 2 p.m. Sunday matinee, then the next week Thursday and Friday at 7:30 with a final Saturday matinee at 2 p.m. The dance concerts feature four evening performances at 7:30 p.m.
The O’Connell Series are the shows held in either the O’Connell Theatre or the Black Box Theatre and the Sally Series are those in the Sally Stevens Players Theatre. Individual performance and season tickets are available at niu.edu/theatre. NIU students can attend free of charge by reserving their ticket in advance.
Fall
Kernel of Sanity
by Kermit Frazier
October 1-3 and 7-9
Sally Stevens Players Theatre (Sally Series)
On his way out to Los Angeles, Roger, a young black actor, stops in a Midwestern town to visit Frank, an older white actor who once starred in a production of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” in which Roger played a bit part. What transpires during this unlikely meeting is a mystery dealing with identity, sanity, and white privilege. Frazier’s play about marginalization was itself marginalized. The 1978 play languished without a professional production for years, only recently claiming its rightful place in the 20th-century American canon. Its prescience against the backdrop of our ongoing racial reckoning is startling. The production is directed by SOTD aluma Alys Dickerson and features a cast of third-year MFA actors.
Edward II
by Christopher Marlowe, adapted by Frankie DiCiaccio
October 15-17 and 21-23
Sally Stevens Players Theatre (Sally Series)
“Edward II” traces an imperfect monarch’s rise and fall. The court becomes obsessed with the king’s relationship with a male companion, inflaming political tribalism and hampering any chance at progress. Set in the not-too-distant future, against a backdrop of climate catastrophe and geopolitical turmoil, this new adaptation by director Frankie DiCiaccio explores how a deluge of ego, greed and the violence of gender prescription may pull us all under. The waters are rising, but all eyes are on Edward’s bed.
Twelfth Night
by William Shakespeare
October 29-31 and November 4-6
Black Box Theatre (O’Connell Series)
Did you ever have the urge to run away to the circus? The upside-down world of Illyria is a little like a circus. Expect mistaken identity, disguised lovers, comic chases and fights!
Three Sisters
by Anton Chekhov, adapted by Alexander Gelman
November 5-7 and 11-13
Sally Stevens Players Theatre (Sally Series)
This world premiere of a new adaptation, translated and directed by SOTD’s Alexander Gelman, breathes new life into Chekhov’s taut story of a family in the provinces hoping for a better life–always almost “going to Moscow.”
Fall Dance Concert
November 17-20
O’Connell Theatre (O’Connell Series)
The talented dancers of the NIU School of Theatre and Dance take center stage for their annual crowd-pleasing Fall Dance Concert.
Spring
Hit the Wall
by Ike Holter
February 4-6 and 10-12
Sally Stevens Players Theatre (Sally Series)
It’s 1969, summer in New York, and Judy Garland is dead. Police raid the Stonewall Inn on June 28, sparking several days of protests and birthing the modern gay rights movement. We all think we know this story. Chicago playwright Ike Holter explodes this myth, using fictionalized characters to retell history and make it live again for a new generation of activists.
RUR
by Karel Čapek, adapted by Matt Yee
February 25-27 and March 3-5
Sally Stevens Players Theatre (Sally Series)
Before “RUR” there were automatons and androids, but this is the play that gave us the word “robot.” Čapek’s 1921 play tells the story of a dystopian world where a corporation creates synthetic humans that become a servant class and eventually revolt. SOTD Alumus Matt Yee adapts this early science fiction tale directed by Matt O’Brien of GreatWorks Theatre Company.
The Conference of the Birds
by Sholeh Wolpé, adapted from Attar’s epic poem
April 1-3 and 7-9
Black Box Theatre (O’Connell Series)
Based on a 12th century Suffi poem, “The Conference of the Birds” follows a group of birds on a spiritual quest for enlightenment. This lyrical adventure fantasy play unfolds through figurative language, movement and dance.
The Language Archive
by Julia Cho
April 22-24 and 28-30
Sally Stevens Players Theatre (Sally Series)
Researchers studying a dying language become involved in a love triangle in this absurdist farce that teases out the quirky differences between what’s expressed and what’s meant.
Spring Dance Concert
April 27-30
O’Connell Theatre (O’Connell Series)
Our season concludes with another dance concert performed by the talented dancers of our NIU School of Theatre and Dance.
Also, don’t miss our MFA/BFA Actor Showcase, April 13-16 in the Sally Stevens Theatre at no charge. The showcase is the culmination of the training and hard work for our actors here at NIU. The showcase will present both video reels and live-action scenes that have been hand-picked to highlight the best of each actor’s abilities.
The Northern Illinois University School of Theatre and Dance follows the COVID-19 protocols of the university. The guidelines are updated as conditions change. At this time, face coverings are required in all indoor university spaces, including our theaters. Updated information is available at niu.edu/protecting-the-pack.
Apr 15, 2021 | Theatre and Dance, Theatre and Dance News, xCVPA, xFeatured
For the past 28 years, Paula Frasz has been designing dances that mirror her students, their experiences and the world we all live in.
“All artists reflect wherever they are,” she said. “I don’t just see our students in the classroom. This is my community. This is their community and their surroundings.”
As the makeup of the students in the dance program has become more diverse, Frasz has challenged herself to create works that reflect her students and their world.
For all of her efforts over nearly three decades, Frasz has been named a 2021 Presidential Engagement and Partnerships Professor.
In 2018, students from the NIU Dance program earned an invitation to the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. to perform, “ENUF” a dance choregraphed by Frasz. The dance had been judged to be the best performance at the Central Conference of the American College Dance Association (ACDA).
“In the summer of 2016 I was sitting in my car waiting for the endless train to pass by in downtown DeKalb,” Frasz said. “The news was all about another young black man shot by police, and the Colin Kapernick kneeling situation during the national anthem. One of the train cars that went by had a graffiti tag on it that said ENUF in capital letters.
“I sat there and thought to myself, ‘Yes, I agree. ENUF already.’ I decided at that moment, because we have a wonderful group of minority dancers, that my next piece of choreography would be a dance addressing the history of oppression, suppression and violence against minority groups. I am an old hippie and protest is in my blood. It was time to speak out and my forum is movement.
“The dance, “ENUF,” was born.”
For Frasz, ENUF’s recognition and selection for the Kennedy Center performance was especially meaningful.
“I made it my mission to attract and train minority students as professional dancers, and to include dances in our concerts that were specifically choreographed for Black, Hispanic and other minority casts. To see seven Black, three Hispanic and one white dancer perform it with such heart, helped me realize the meaningful message of that dance.”
One of those who performed “ENUF” at the Kennedy Center was Amber Echols, a 2018 graduate of the dance program.
“I didn’t meet Paula until I transferred to NIU in the fall of 2016, but I had already heard of her and how amazing she is,” Echols said. “When she sees something in a dancer she pushes them to become better than they can ever imagine. I have studied so many types of dance styles, but once I was under her wing, I started to learn so much about the history of different minority dances. She took the time to learn for herself so she could help us understand it.”
In 2019, Frasz wrote the dance, “Your Excellency” inspired by black Union soldier James Henry Gooding’s letter to President Abraham Lincoln. Gooding had been born a slave in 1838 but as a child his freedom was purchased, perhaps by his father, and he was sent to school in New York City. In 1863, he enlisted in the Union Army and wrote letters that were published in his local paper. But it was a letter he wrote to President Lincoln that is most famous. Gooding wrote to Lincoln about the disparity of pay in the army, with Black soldiers earning three dollars less per pay period than white soldiers did. “We have done a Soldiers Duty,” Gooding wrote, “Why can’t we have a Soldiers pay?”
Frasz wrote “Your Excellency” with a specific cast in mind.
“We had these three fantastic male dancers and a wonderful actor,” she said. “I wanted to give them something, I wanted to give them a voice. I wanted to present it in a way where these four talented Black men could express anger and frustration, not in a rage. The way the letter was written, because it was the 1860s, the language is very proper, very respectful to President Lincoln. I could use that to make the movement contrast and really dynamic to show the anger and frustration.”
“Your Excellency” was performed at the American College Dance Festival at Western Michigan University at the beginning of March 2020, one of the last live dance performances before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The dance was first performed in November 2019 in conjunction with the NIU Art Museum exhibition, Exploring Aspects of War In and Through the Visual Arts.
Our BIPOC dancers are extremely talented and my work is enhanced by their skill,” Frasz said. “As our dance program attracts more highly skilled BIPOC dancers, my research also has become more focused. What better opportunity to give voice to an underserved population than to place their issues and concerns on stage? My personal growth has been profound, as the students generously share their cultural experiences and viewpoints, which helps me develop choreographic material to best suit them.”
This post originally appeared in the April 15, 2021 edition of NIU Today.
Mar 4, 2021 | Theatre and Dance, Theatre and Dance News, xCVPA, xFeatured
The NIU School of Theatre and Dance presents “Everybody” by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Friday, March 5 and Saturday, March 6 at 7:30 p.m. via Zoom. There is no charge for tickets but you must reserve your space.
This modern riff on the fifteenth-century morality play Everyman follows Everybody as they journey through life’s greatest mystery—the meaning of living.
The production is directed by Edwin Lee Gibson. The assistant director is Victor Jaimes.
For tickets, visit the School of Theatre and Dance online Box Office. (Don’t forget to make sure you choose the performance date you wish to view.) The School of Theatre and Dance began experimenting with presenting theatre online in early 2020 due to the COVID 19 pandemic. In the Spring 2021 semester, we are continuing this presentation of non-traditional performances to showcase the work of our students and faculty, and we are pleased to be able to now share them with you! Performances will take place at 7:30 pm each night listed. Please check back for more information and where these productions will be streamed.
This performance will be streamed on Zoom Webinar. You will receive a confirmation once you place your order. Then, 60 minutes prior to the show, you will receive a customized link and password to the performance.
Cast
Isabelle Ajemian (Mind/C) Isabelle Ajemian is a sophomore BFA in acting candidate, and this is her second show with NIU. She is so grateful to get to share this work with you all and is excited to show what can be accomplished in this new zoom theatre world that she has gotten the unique opportunity to be a part of. The rehearsal process of this show has been the first time in a year that she has gotten to act and dance in the same room as other creators, and she has never felt more moved, humbled, and abundantly grateful. She would like to thank the cast, crew, and the genius Edwin Lee Gibson for making this a possibility. Nothing is more powerful than a room full of artists all creating with the goal to inspire.
Sophia Arnold (Chorus/B/Beauty/4th Somebody) is s a third year BFA in acting candidate. She has understudied with Indianapolis Shakespeare Company and interned with Oak Park Festival Theatre. Some of her favorite roles at NIU include Helen in Troilus and Cressida, Kitty in The Time of Your Life, and O’Casey in The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. Past productions include Adrianna in The Comedy of Errors (Two-Town Theatre Company), Margaret in Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare Playworks), and Maria in Twelfth Night (Shakespeare Playworks).
Nicholas Bishop (Kinship/Evil) is a television, film, and stage actor who has appeared in Chicago Med, Hamlet, and Art Collectors. He is a second year BFA candidate at Northern Illinois University. Nicholas has an interest in script writing and starting a production company and in his free time he enjoys playing guitar and skateboarding. Lastly, he is thankful for being a part of this amazing show and cast.
Marcell Boclair (Cousin/1st Somebody) is a second year BA in theater studies candidate with a focus in acting and health sciences major here at NIU. He hopes you enjoy the show as he makes his debut!
Caroline Byrne (Stuff/Chorus) This is Caroline’s fourth production with the school of theatre and dance. She hopes you enjoy the show!
Clark Cheatham (Chorus/Cousin/3rd Somebody) is a Junior BFA in acting candidate from St. Charles, Illinois. His credits at NIU include: Nick in The Walk Across America for Mother Earth, Dudley R. Bostwick in The Time of Your Life and Jim Crocket in The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. Other favorite credits include Algernon in The Importance of Being Earnest, Marius in Les Miserables, and Squire Trelawney in Treasure Island.
Wesley Hutchinson (Strength/A/5th Somebody) is a second year BFA in acting candidate from Michigan and a student at NIU. This is his second role at NIU. Some of his past roles include: NIU’s production of Love and Information, Grandpa Joe in Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, and Vice Principal Douglas Panch in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Romeo High School.
Morgan Mallory (Girl/Time/2nd Somebody) is a second year BA in theatre studies candidate, and she is very excited to be a part of this production of Everybody. Some other things she has been a part of are Northern Illinois University’s 24-Hour Theatre Play Festival as well as Crete Monee High School’s productions of Mamma Mia and Noises Off. She hopes that you all will enjoy the show!
Savannah-Lee Mumford (God/Usher/Understanding) is a second-year MFA in acting candidate here at NIU. Savannah-Lee’s NIU credits include #7 in Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves and Actor in Love & Information. Savannah-Lee is a North Carolina native who holds a BFA in drama from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. After graduating, Savannah-Lee primarily worked in New York. Some of her credits include: Off-Broadway: Candy in 12 Steps: The Musical (Original Off-Broadway Cast). Workshops: Barb Holland in Stranger Sings: The Parody Musical (Original Cast), Sigourney Weaver! in PITS: The Unauthorized Holes Musical. Concerts: Barb Holland in Stranger Sings: The Parody Musical with Christina Bianco at 54 Below. Regional: Evil Stepmother/Witch u/s in Into the Woods (Charlottesville Opera), Sherrie in Rock of Ages (ATC, BroadwayWorld Nom.), Fiona u/s in Shrek: The Musical (SSMT). Other credits include Imelda in On the 20th Century, Mae in Reefer Madness, The Drowsy Chaperone in The Drowsy Chaperone (UNCSA), Dolly Levi in The Matchmaker (UNCSA), Claudia in Nine (UNCSA), Lady of the Lake in Spamalot. As always… this is for Sandy Beam.
Jamaque Newberry (Everybody) hails from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He received his BFA degree in filmmaking from Western Kentucky University while competing for their world-renowned speech and debate team. While competing, he accumulated multiple national awards in dramatic and poetic performance. Before coming to NIU, Jamaque taught dramatic performance and film techniques for various middle school and high school programs. He is now furthering his love for performance and art at Northern Illinois University as an MFA in acting candidate.
Naava Ofri-Akman (Senses/D) is a sophomore BFA in acting candidate. This is her second production at NIU, the first being Bird in the Hand. It has been such a joy to work in the space and craft this piece. May we all define and find peace within our own realities.
Kaz Qutab (Death) is an MFA in acting candidate from central Massachusetts. Everybody is his third virtual production at NIU. He dreams of doing a traditional show before graduating, though he couldn’t ask for better people with whom to weather this storm. Previous credits: Nick in The Time of Your Life and Givola in The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui.
Makenzie Weatherford (Love) is a second year MFA in acting candidate. At NIU, she recently performed as Susan in A Bird in the Hand and as Maria in a reading of Summertime. Raised in Idaho, she moved to California and received two BAs at Concordia University Irvine: English and theatre. Some of her favorite performances at Concordia include Antigone in Antigone, Beatrice in The Servant of Two Masters, Mrs. Hardcastle in She Stoops to Conquer, ensemble in All Shook Up, The Secret Garden, and The Plain Princess, and her favorite, an original script adaptation of Ten Days in a Madhouse as Nellie Bly.
Rachael Yoder (Friendship) is a second year MFA in acting candidate, who is thrilled to join the Everybody team for this special virtual production. Favorite credits include, NIU: The Wolves, Girls and Dolls. Regional: Sleepy Hollow (Capital Repertory Theatre) A Christmas Carol, Amadeus (Geva Theater Center) Richard III, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, The Winter’s Tale (MaineStage Shakespeare) Love’s Labour’s Lost, Two Gentlemen of Verona (Shakespeare in the Valley) New York: Fifth of July, Independence (Stella Adler Studio) Pretty Theft (Jordan Bean & Co). Rachael also serves as managing director of The Outer Loop Theater Experience, overseeing partner projects in Tanzania with her husband Michael. For more information, please visit outerlooptheater.org. Proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.
Production Team
Branden Jacobs Jenkins (Playwright): Hailed as “as one of this country’s most original and illuminating writers about race,” Jacobs-Jenkins has written on a variety of topics, often taking a much-older play as a starting point. His 2014 hit An Octoroon, slyly subverted an 1859 melodrama about mixed-race romances. Everybody riffs on an even older model: a late-medieval morality play called Everyman. Because the title character in both plays represents any human on the verge of death, the actor who played the role in the original run of Everybody was chosen randomly every night. Jacobs-Jenkins explains: “The concept…is that every night there’ll be a different Everyman, chosen by lottery, so the cast will shift a lot. This may be an insane idea. We’re assuming all these lovely actors are going to memorize the entire script.” The NIU production isn’t quite so ambitious.
Jessica Ferreira (Assistant Stage Manager) This is Jessie’s first show that she has worked on and completed. Previously she had worked on Time of Your Life, but sadly that show never saw the light of day. Jessie is a sophomore in the school of Theater and Dance and is pursuing a BFA design and technology degree. In taking on the role of assistant stage manager, Jessie is one step closer to her goal of one day becoming a stage manager.
Vincent Juarez (Student Choreographer) is a third year BFA in acting candidate at Northern Illinois University. His past NIU credits include Paris in Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida, Newsboy in The Time of Your Life by William Saroyan, and Gabriel in Bird in the Hand by Jorge Ignacio Cortinas. Vincent is grateful for the opportunity to have collaborated with Sophia Day Arnold, Jamaque Thomas New-berry & Kendra Holton to direct and produce the Danse Macabre.
Justin Williams (Stage Manager) is a BFA design and technology alumni class of 2016 and has been in the professional world ever since. With his first production in 2011, he has spent almost 10 years doing shows all over. Starting at Crete-Monee High School and finishing at Northern Illinois University, Justin spent years learning multiple skills in the entertainment world that made him the success he is today. Most notable work experiences are Cedar Point Amusement Park, Carnival Cruise Lines, and now currently at Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines Ltd. When asked how it feels to be doing a NIU show again he said, “Returning to NIU and joining the production of Everybody has been an unexpected pleasure.”
Director / Edwin Lee Gibson
Assistant Director / Victor Jaimes
Stage Manager / Justin Williams
Assistant Stage Manager / Jessica Ferreira
Technical Director / Brysen Hannappel
Scene Shop Supervisor / Ethan Rosing
Movement Coach / Kendra Holton
Student Choreographers / Vincent Juarez, Sophia Arnold Costume Consultant / Jeremy Floyd
Casting Director / Dr. Kay Martinovich
Production Liaisons / Kendra Holton, Jeremy Floyd
Director of Marketing / Suzanne Rosenik
Outreach Coordinator / Sylvie Baldwin
Run Crew / Elijah Bustamante, Hernan Acosta
Student Editors / Jamaque Newberry, Alexander Boyer, Clark Cheatham, Wesley Hutchinson, Aidan Murphy, Alexa Wiljanen Properties Designer / Dave Doherty
Feb 20, 2021 | Theatre and Dance, Theatre and Dance News, xCVPA, xFeatured
Nicole Upton, an NIU graduate who earned her bachelor of arts in comprehensive theatre studies from the School of Theatre and Dance has been promoted to managing director of Ingenuity.
Ingenuity is an organization founded in 2011 to increase arts education access, quality and equity in Chicago Public Schools in direct response to decades of arts divestment. They believe Chicago has a once in-a-generation opportunity to make change within the arts on a scale that matters.
Upton had previously served as Ingenuity’s director of partnerships and professional learning beginning in 2015. In her new role she is responsible for the strategic and operational progress toward Ingenuity’s mission of ensuring every CPS student has access to a high quality arts education.
Prior to joining Ingenuity, Upton worked in the CPS Department of Arts Education where she oversaw projects, programs and initiatives for students, teachers, principles and community stakeholders.
She also worked as the senior director of education at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, where she launched ArtsXChange, a collaborative professional development program for classroom teachers, and directed Hands Together, Heart to Art, an arts-based summer camp for children who have experienced the death of a parent. Upton also has experience as a director and stage manager and as a high school theater teacher.
In addition to her BA in comprehensive theatre studies from NIU, she has a master of arts in educational theatre from New York University.
