The Tony-nominated Broadway musical “A Year with Frog and Toad” is based on author/illustrator Arnold Lobel’s “Frog and Toad” children’s book series. The musical, directed by professor opens Nov. 20. Additional performances are Nov. 21 and Dec. 3, 4 and 5 at 7:30 p.m. with matinees Nov. 22 and Dec. 5 at 3 p.m. Tickets can be purchased through the 91¶ĚĘÓƵ box office at 540-432-4582 or .

“Our production is set here in the Shenandoah Valley and the animals are the kind you would find in the woods and ditches right here in western Virginia,” says Vogel. Her vision was to have the actors portray human characters with animal qualities instead of being in animal costumes. “The actors have studied the way the animals move and are using that in their portrayals. Also, the characters reflect folks you might meet here too.”

For history major Derrick Turner, assistant director and dramaturg, the show brings back memories. “I loved those books. My mom read them to me when I was a child.”

To spark the actors’ imaginations, Turner conducted extensive research with 91¶ĚĘÓƵ professor and conservation photographer . He then compiled movement videos and information on each portrayed animal for the actors, including habitat, food and skeletal structures.

91¶ĚĘÓƵ hasn’t done a children’s play in at least a decade, Vogel says, but the play meets the ‘s educational goals. “Theater for Young Audiences (TYA) is a hugely important genre of theater that our students should have experience performing and producing. Children are a different audience than adults.”

The cast will perform three additional matinees for students from six local schools and three home school groups, says Turner, who made study packets accessible for K-5 grades.

“Adults are much more well-behaved, but I find performing for children is a much more interactive experience,” says actor Josh Helmuth, a music composition major who performed for elementary students while in high school.

Helmuth portrays four animals, including a showy bird and a straight and narrow lizard. “Yeah, I don’t get a break,” he says, smiling.

Playing animals has never been a favorite role for English and theater double-major Makayla Baker. “I don’t like when people portray animals. It’s so weird. But here I am—I’m a turtle,” she deadpans. “But it’s been great.”

Baker’s turtle is a laundry woman carrying a basket on her back and a scrub board around her neck.

Myriam Aziz, a graduate student in the master’s conflict transformation program, was cast as Frog. “A female playing a part for a male, I think that’s really funny,” says Aziz, who is active in theater in Lebanon. But having a male as a pal, she says, “reminds me of my friend back home. We’ve been friends for 13 years.”

The cast and crew agree that even though “A Year With Frog and Toad” is based on a children’s book series, adults will also appreciate the cheerful upbeat musical.

“There’s a lot of comedic effect in it,” Helmuth says.

“It is funny,” says Baker, noting that the 91¶ĚĘÓƵ community is inviting younger family members and people from their church to the show. “A lot of 91¶ĚĘÓƵ students were raised on these books.”

Cast

Myriam Aziz, Christian Parks, Ezrionna Prioleau, Bianica Baker, Esther Ajayi, Josh Helmuth, Makayla Baker, Zoe Parakuo, Hailey Holcomb

Crew

Director – Heidi Winters Vogel
Choreographer and Costume Designer –
Accompanist – Jim Clemens
Stage Manager – Caitlin Randazzo
Assistant Stage Managers – Lydia Hales and Belen Fernandez
Props Designers – Alex Rosenberg and Kevin Clark
Assistant Lighting Designer – Sierra Comer
Assistant Director and Dramaturg – Derrick Turner
Music Director –
Set Designer –
Lighting Designer –

“Twelfth Night: A Musical Remix” will be performed by a troupe of actors from 91¶ĚĘÓƵ and at the in Washington D.C. Performances will be July 9, 18, 21, 23 and 25 at the Trinidad Theatre.

The production is visually and kinetically dynamic, with music, choreography, make-up and costumes inspired by carnivals and underwater dance. It has been adapted, directed and produced by Assistant Professor of Theater , with an original score composed by James E. (Jim) Clemens.

“This is an opportunity to showcase our work and our student actors to an international audience in a major metropolitan area and important cultural center,” Poole said.

The Capital Fringe Festival takes place over 18 days in July with over 140 productions, roughly 800 individual performances, showcasing 5,000 artists. Organizers encourage potential performers to “express their talents and to develop their artistic freedom without any curatorial barriers,” according to the website.

“This is a massive international festival,” Poole said, “and the fact that it’s unjuried encourages innovation and creativity. Anyone can come and perform, but at the same time, it’s a place where well-known professionals can be innovative, venture into new art forms, experiment and take risks.”

While the original production was technically ambitious, with swings and a rotating piano, Poole says the “remix” has been condensed and simplified to meet festival requirements. Despite what he calls “trimming the fat” – from three hours to 70 minutes and from 11 actors to six – the most compelling features are intact, including the makeup, costumes and original musical score, sung by the actors and accompanied by Clemens on piano and 91¶ĚĘÓƵ sophomore Jacinda Stahly on violin.

“This production enables us to tell the same sweeping story while relying more heavily on the essential components of any theatrical production: the actors’ voices, bodies and imaginations,” Poole said.

The cast, comprised of students, alumni, and former students, includes MaKayla Baker, Holly Hanks, Clara Bush and Shannon Dove. Belen Fernandez is the make-up artist. Rachelle Kratz is assistant director and stage manager. Costumes are created by Ama Ansah, based on the original designs of Holly Labbe.

The cast also includes actors from Wanderlust Theatre Company co-founded by Poole and his wife, Amanda. The company specializes in experimental productions of classical works and the development of original performances inspired by border crossings and cultural issues.

Performance Dates and Times

Thursday, July 9 at 6 p.m.

Saturday, July 18 at noon

Tuesday, July 21 at 9:45 p.m.

Thursday, July 23 at 6 p.m.

Saturday, July 25 at 8:15 p.m.

All performances are Trinidad Theatre. For venue information, directions and tickets to the Capital Fringe Festival, visit or call (866) 811-4111.

Editor’s Note: On July 26, with recognition for Favorite Musical, Favorite Ensemble and Favorite Overall Show. Additionally, three actors were among those honored as Favorite Performers: Holly Hanks, Sean Byrne and Shannon Dove.

“It is richly comic and has dark undertones, which are rarely explored as fully as we are exploring in our production,” says , director and assistant professor, of his favorite Shakespearean work.

“ opens Wednesday, Nov. 19, at 7:30 p.m. in the Lee Eshleman Studio Theater and continues with nightly performances through Saturday, Nov. 22. Matinees are on Saturday, Nov. 22, and Sunday, Nov. 23 at 3 p.m.

The story revolves around Viola, played by Rachelle Kratz. After the shipwreck, she is rescued on the shores of Illyria, thinking that her twin brother Sebastian (Jeremiah Hines) is dead. She disguises herself as a young man named Cesario, and enters the service of Duke Orsino (Sam Swartzendruber). The Duke believes he is in love with a woman named Olivia (Clara Bush), who falls for Viola’s masculine persona. Love triangles, pranks, and hilarity ensue.

“The language of Shakespeare is passion put to pen,” says Poole. “It takes all of an actor’s physical and mental capacity to play it well.”

Baker, who plays Olivia’s gentlewoman Maria, reads not only lines but personality from the script. “My biggest challenge has been finding the pockets where Shakespeare is telling me secrets about the way I should deliver my lines,” she says. “My character never speaks in iambic pentameter, which means that she is rough around the edges with her speech.”

Her acting process involves taking the script and a backstory she creates, and filing that away. “I keep my brain clear and my body becomes the storyteller for my character,” Baker says.

Swartzendruber humorously describes the month-long experience of learning the Duke’s part, “squinting at a page and having no idea what you’re yelling about,” struggling to heed Poole’s instructions to behave naturally, “because nothing about the situation is anywhere close to natural.”

In the end, though, embodying that foreign character for an audience is what keeps Swartzendruber in the theater. “It’s one of the best feelings I’ve ever experienced,” he says.

Considering the complexities of the set, costumery and props, the technical crew working behind the scenes is multi-faceted. Assistant stage manager Mindy Esworthy calls herself a “jack of all trades during rehearsal.” On any given day, she’ll be taking notes or making props.

“Sometimes the writing [of Shakespeare] can be offputting, and people don’t see how truly creative it is,” says Esworthy. “I’m hoping that our interpretation of Twelfth Night will help show that creative side of the formal language.”

Creative interpretation is a driving force behind this production. An original score by local composer James E. (Jim) Clemens, who has collaborated with 91¶ĚĘÓƵ musicians in the past, is a highlight, says Poole.

Swartendruber suggests that audience members familiarize themselves with the plot beforehand to better appreciate the show.

“Justin’s directing always twists things in different ways to kill any preconceived ideas people have about the way things are going to turn out,” he says.

Despite its complexity, playgoers should expect anything but stodginess in what Baker calls “the Moulin Rouge version of Twelfth Night.”

Tickets are available at the 91¶ĚĘÓƵ Box Office in University Commons weekdays from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Costs are adult ($12), senior 65 + ($9), youth up to age 18 ($9), 91¶ĚĘÓƵ student ($5), and 91¶ĚĘÓƵ faculty/staff ($9). The Thursday evening performance is “pay what you will” for 91¶ĚĘÓƵ faculty and staff to benefit the 91¶ĚĘÓƵ theater scholarship fund.

Performances:

Wednesday, November 19, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, November 20, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, November 21, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, November 22, 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Sunday, November 23, 3 p.m.

Andrea Andresakis, a stage director and choreographer from New York City, directs this .

“Andrea brings a rich background in theater, music and dance, working with both professional and student actors all over the country,” says , 91¶ĚĘÓƵ chair of .

of Arms and The Man are scheduled for: 7:30 p.m., April 5 and 6.

The play tells of a young woman who awaits the return of her heroic fiancé from war. A disheveled soldier from the other side sneaks into her bedroom, fleeing the fighting. Finding his simplicity more alluring than her fiancé’s arrogant posturing, she wrestles with which man to choose while her servant makes her own play for one of the men.

Since the first performance of this play in 1894, theater critics have praised the way Shaw expressed the absurdity of highly romanticized patriotism and highly idealized love.

Andresakis says the play also reflects 91¶ĚĘÓƵ’s social justice ideals of solving conflicts with words, not weapons: “While on this communal journey we ask ourselves, am I not like the chocolate soldier? Wouldn’t I rather carry chocolate in my pockets instead of weapons?”

are $10 for adults ($12 at the door), and $8 for seniors and non-91¶ĚĘÓƵ students ($10 at the door). Tickets are available through the at 540-432-4582 or emu.edu/boxoffice. Group rates are available.

Information regarding age-appropriateness for 91¶ĚĘÓƵ events is available through the at 540-432-4360 or theater@emu.edu.

Cast

Makayla Baker, a first-year student from Augusta, W.Va.

Hattie Berg, a sophomore from Yorktown, Va.

Gabriel Brunk, a 2012 graduate of 91¶ĚĘÓƵ from Harrisonburg, Va.

Eric King, a junior from Harrisonburg, Va.

Andrew Mead, a first-year student from Sarasota, Fla.

Sean Solomon, a first-year student from Harleysville, Pa.

Isaac Tice, a junior from Salisbury, Pa.

Rebekah York, a first-year student from Bucharest, Romania

are 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 12, and Saturday, Oct. 13, and 3 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 14. In addition, the performance will run at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 25, Friday, Oct. 26, and Saturday, Oct. 27.

The play follows the four women as they push the limits of their physical and emotional endurance and establish profound yet fragile connections with each other through the magical storytelling of the youngest of them, an indigenous woman from Chiapas.

“This play is about the people behind the headlines and statistics,” said , chair of , who is the director.

Written by Kara Hartzler, a 1994 91¶ĚĘÓƵ alumnus, “No Roosters in the Desert” is based on actual interviews by Anna Ochoa O’Leary, assistant professor of practice in Mexican-American studies at the University of Arizona.

Hartzler describes her work as ” …trying to portray them [the play’s characters] as multi-faceted human beings who find themselves in a critical situation and respond by being courageous, flawed, noble, selfish, endearing, and maddening—as emotionally rich as any Shakespearean character.”

Reserved tickets are $10 for adults ($12 at the door), and $8 for seniors & non-91¶ĚĘÓƵ students ($10 at the door). Tickets are available through the at 540-432-4582 or emu.edu/boxoffice. Group rates are available.

Cast:

Makayla Baker, a first-year student from Augusta, WVa.

Amanda Chandler, a junior from Harrisonburg, Va.

Meggan E. Garcia Sheridan, a first-year student from Wheaton, Ill.

Rose Jantzi, a junior from Harrisonburg, Va.

Joo-Ah Lee, a sophomore from Fairfax, Va.

Chris Parks, a first-year student from Philadelphia, Pa.

Morgan E. Porter, a senior from Richmond, Va.