The Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, S.C., will feature two staged readings of adjunct professor Mark Scharf’s play “Fortune’s Child.” The festival runs from Friday, May 25 through Sunday, June 10 and readings of “Fortune’s Child” are scheduled for Thursday, May 31 and Friday, June 1. For more information about the festival, visit http://www.piccolospoleto.com/.
“Moon Over Buffalo” Continues Through Feb. 26
The University of Mary Washington Department of Theatre & Dance continues its 2011-12 season with a production of Ken Ludwig’s “Moon Over Buffalo.” Performances will be Feb. 16-18 and Feb. 23-25 at 8 p.m., and Feb. 19 and 26 at 2 p.m. in Klein Theatre, duPont Hall. Tickets are $10 for general admission, $8 for students and senior citizens and $4 for faculty, staff and students with a UMW ID.
“Moon Over Buffalo” takes place in Buffalo, N.Y. in 1953. Stage actors George and Charlotte Hay are performing “Cyrano de Bergerac” and “Private Lives” in repertory at Buffalo’s Erlanger Theatre when they receive word that Hollywood film director Frank Capra plans to attend a matinee performance. Chaos ensues as the Hays prepare for Capra’s arrival in hopes of starring in his new movie.
“Moon Over Buffalo” premiered on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on Oct. 1, 1995, and ran for 309 performances. Philip Bosco and Carol Burnett were nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play and Best Actress in a Play in 1996 for their roles as George and Charlotte Hay. Ken Ludwig’s work has been performed on Broadway and in London’s West End. He is a recipient of the Laurence Olivier Award and has been nominated for three Tony Awards and two Helen Hayes Awards.
“Moon Over Buffalo” is directed by Gregg Stull, professor and chair of the Department of Theatre & Dance. Scenic design is by David Hunt, professor of theatre, costume design is by Kevin McCluskey, associate professor of theatre and lighting design is by Julie Hodge, associate professor of theatre. Wig design and fight choreography are by guest artists Kelly Calloway and Casey Kaleba. For more information or to purchase tickets, call the Klein Theatre Box Office at (540) 654-1111.
Mark Scharf Appears in Baltimore Theatre Production
Mark Scharf, adjunct instructor of theatre and dance, is appearing in Fells Point Corner Theatre’s production of The Ice Man Cometh. In the Eugene O’Neill play, Scharf plays the role of Larry Slade. The production opened on Friday, January 13 in Baltimore, Md., and runs through Sunday, February 12. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit http://www.fpct.org/.
Scharf is a semi-finalist for the 2012 Eugene O’Neill National Theater Conference.
“Rent” Opens to Rave Reviews
“Rent,” the latest production of UMW’s Department of Theatre & Dance, has started a buzz on campus and in the community since its opening last Thursday, Nov. 10. The Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning musical by Jonathan Larson was one of the longest-running Broadway musicals in history. Now, the emotional story has a home at Mary Washington, through Sunday, Nov. 20.
A review in The Free Lance-Star delves into the intensive research and preparation that went into the production, from reading accounts from the late 1980s to meeting with an original cast member of “Rent.”
“The voices were exceptional. Emotions ran high as the cast brought the audience into the streets of New York City,” according to a review in The Bullet.
For ticket information, call the Klein Theatre Box Office at (540) 654-1111 or visit http://umw.tix.com/Schedule.asp?OrganizationNumber=2399.
UMW’s Production of RENT Opens Thursday Night
The UMW Department of Theatre & Dance will continue its 2011-12 season with a production of Jonathan Larson’s “Rent.” Performances will be Nov. 3-5, Nov. 10-12 and Nov. 17-19 at 8 p.m., and Nov. 6, 13 and 20 at 2 p.m. in Klein Theatre, duPont Hall. Tickets are $20 for general admission, $16 for students and senior citizens and $8 for faculty, staff and students with UMW IDs.
“Rent” is the story of Mark and Roger, two struggling artists with dreams of making lives for themselves on the Lower East Side of New York City in the mid-1990s. Relationships are challenged as the AIDS epidemic threatens to tear their close-knit community apart. Mark, Roger and friends grapple with the meanings of life, love and loss, and find hope in friendship as they struggle to make ends meet.
“Rent,” with book, music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson, is based upon Giocomo Puccini’s “La Bohème.” “Rent” first premiered at New York Theatre Workshop in 1994, opened off-Broadway in 1996 and moved to Broadway later that year. In 1996, “Rent” won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score and Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical. It closed in 2008 after running for 5,124 performances, making it one of the longest-running Broadway musicals in history. The rock musical has seen numerous productions across the United States and abroad and was adapted into a major motion picture in 2005.
“Rent” is directed by Gregg Stull, professor and chair of the Department of Theatre & Dance, with musical direction by Christopher Wingert and choreography by Samantha Packard. Scenic design is by Julie Hodge, associate professor of theatre, and costume design is by Kevin McCluskey, associate professor of theatre. Lighting and sound designs are by guest artists Jason Arnold and Tony Angelini. For more information, call the Klein Theatre Box Office at (540) 654-1111.
Mark Scharf
Mark Scharf, adjunct instructor, had his full-length play Keeping Faith produced by the Twin Beach Players of Chesapeake Beach, Md. in November. His one-act play Empires Fall was presented as a staged reading by the Run of the Mill Theatre in Baltimore in December, and his full-length Fortune’s Child will be presented in a staged reading by the Baltimore Playwrights Festival in January. In addition, his play for young audiences, The Machine, was accepted by Pioneer Drama Services for May 2011 publication.