A Newsletter for UMW Faculty and Staff
Director of Marketing and Audience Services, Jon Reynolds and Assistant to the Chair Theatre and Dance, Taryn Snyder
Taryn Snyder and Jon Reynolds talk about productions in the 2024-25 season and UMW Theatre Road Trips on the Town Talk radio show with Ted Schubel. Listen to the episode.
UMW Theatre and Studio 115 has teamed up with Fairfax County Public Schools to present Bedtime Stories (As Told By Our Dad) (Who Messed Them Up) by Ed Monk.
Dad is determined to make bedtime a smashing success. How hard could it be?! Just read a few books and then . . . REST AND RELAXATION! Little does he know that the kids have impossibly high standards and, as he begins to dive in, Dad quickly realizes he doesn’t remember the classics as well as he thought. As his retellings teeter off the rails, he weaves unforgettable stories from familiar, yet fractured, tales.
Please visit http://www.broadwayondemand.com/signup to register for an account prior to the performance. To attend the performance, visit: http://www.umwtheatre.org/bedtime.
If you would like to share information about the performance with parents of young children (aged 4-11) or any educators in your life you may share this linked PDF.
We are excited about this opportunity for our students to share this story with our community. We hope you will join us and spread the word. Should you have any questions, please email jreynol2@umw.edu.
UMW students Oscar León (left), Genesis Simmons (center) and Hannah Chester (right) were thrilled for the opportunity to perform together again – albeit remotely – alongside Broadway stars and theatre students from other universities.
When UMW Theatre performed Adam Gwon’s musical Ordinary Days in February, students couldn’t anticipate that just weeks later, they’d yearn for rehearsals with castmates and performances in front of live audiences.
They also couldn’t have guessed they’d get to sing one of Gwon’s songs alongside Broadway stars.
Seven UMW Theatre students were selected to appear in a YouTube video featuring aspiring young thespians from schools across the country. Dubbed a “quarantune,” their version of “Get Me Outta Here”from Gwon’s musical String has already been viewed by thousands. Virtual projects like this, as well as Mary Washington’s recent Much Ado About Nothing Zoom production and reimagining of Dear Evan Hansen’s “Anybody Have a Map?” give theatre students the chance to hone in on their craft for the digital age. And the experiences allow them to connect and collaborate with peers and industry professionals during the lockdown.
“Opportunities to perform, even from far away, have helped me channel my emotions and feel less isolated,” said Riley Salazar, a rising UMW junior who starred in Ordinary Days, which she said prepared her to tackle Gwon’s complex melodies. Read more.
UMW Theatre’s reimagining of the song ‘Anybody Have a Map?’ from the Tony Award-winning musical ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ was recently featured in an article in The Free Lance-Star. Jon Reynolds, director of marketing and audience services, updated the lyrics with the permission of the show’s creators to reflect the students’ common experiences in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
The students recorded themselves singing individually in their own homes and submitted their videos. Director and theater department chair Gregg Stull and production supervisor Brandon Prendergast—with help from James Gardiner, a deputy director at Washington, D.C.’s Signature Theater—edited the recordings together into a video that was posted to YouTube, where it has been shared several thousand times and was applauded by Broadway star Laura Benanti.
“When we left campus on March 12, we held an important goal of keeping our students active and engaged while they were distant from us,” Stull said.
UMW sponsored a trip to New York last year to see “Dear Evan Hansen,” and the musical was a Common Read across campus in the 2018–19 academic year, Stull said, so it is familiar to many students.
“We really wanted to create something with our students that gave them a chance to respond to their feelings and was hopeful in these uncertain times,” Stull said.
The changes to the song’s spoken-word lyrics, which were approved by creators Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, reflect a post-coronavirus world in which classes are held via Zoom meeting, friends socialize after class virtually through Google Hangouts, in-person commencement ceremonies are postponed and toilet paper is hard to find. Read more.
A message from UMW Theatre.
We’ve started our last week of classes. We have all stretched ourselves. We have stepped into uncharted waters as we gather new ways to teach and learn. We have pushed beyond the bounds of what we thought was possible.
The University of Mary Washington is a special place, distinguished by the strong connections our faculty build with our students as they grow and learn together. COVID-19 has not changed that. In many ways, it has strengthened our work with each other.
There have been real challenges. And there have also been moments of real joy. One thing is certain, today more than ever before, we relish the moments of success and connections we find even when apart from one another.
And to celebrate that joy, this is a gift from UMW Theatre to you—”Anybody Have a Map?” from the blockbuster musical Dear Evan Hansen by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, and Steven Levenson reimagined by our students for today. Stay safe and well.
Gregg Stull
Producing Director
In UMW Theatre’s production of Tony Award-winning musical ‘Fun Home,’ three actors – Madison Neilson, Olivia Whicheloe and Lydia Hundley – portray graphic novelist Alison Bechdel at various stages of her life. Photo by Geoff Greene.
A pivotal scene in UMW Theatre’s current musical features the protagonist recalling a drive she took with her late father. Struggling to find the words, they sing a heartbreaking duet about their failure to have an open and honest conversation.
“I’ve lived that exact moment, looking out the car window because I didn’t know what to say to my dad,” said senior Lydia Hundley, who plays the college-aged Alison Bechdel, who later became a successful graphic novelist, in Fun Home. Hundley credits Bechdel’s critically acclaimed memoir and the musical it inspired for teaching her how to communicate with her own parents.
She’s one of three actors who will portray Bechdel at various stages of her life. Junior Madison Neilson plays her at age 10, and senior Olivia Whicheloe portrays her as an adult. The show, which continues UMW’s 2019-20 theatre season, runs Nov. 14 to 16 and Nov. 21 to 23 at 7:30 p.m. and Nov. 17 and 24 at 2 p.m. in duPont Hall’s Klein Theatre. Tickets cost $25 for general admission, and $20 for students, senior citizens, alumni and military. Read more.
In UMW Theatre’s production of Tony Award-winning musical ‘Fun Home,’ three actors – Madison Neilson, Olivia Whicheloe and Lydia Hundley – portray graphic novelist Alison Bechdel at various stages of her life. Photo by Geoff Greene.
A pivotal scene in UMW Theatre’s upcoming musical features the protagonist recalling a drive she took with her late father. Struggling to find the words, they sing a heartbreaking duet about their failure to have an open and honest conversation.
“I’ve lived that exact moment, looking out the car window because I didn’t know what to say to my dad,” said senior Lydia Hundley, who plays the college-aged Alison Bechdel, who later became a successful graphic novelist, in Fun Home. Hundley credits Bechdel’s critically acclaimed memoir and the musical it inspired for teaching her how to communicate with her own parents.
She’s one of three actors who will portray Bechdel at various stages of her life. Junior Madison Neilson plays her at age 10, and senior Olivia Whicheloe portrays her as an adult. The show, which continues UMW’s 2019-20 theatre season, kicks off tonight with a Pay-What-You-Can Preview Performance in Klein Theatre at 7:30 p.m. The box office opens at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Read more.