By Michelle Hines, University Relations
Contact: (336) 334-5371
Posted 3-18-09
Emma Reaves (left) and TJ Austin in 'Revenger's Tragedy.'
GREENSBORO, NC – Theatre is taking its edgy adaptation of “The Revenger’s Tragedy” on the road to Washington, D.C., at the request of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
“Tragedy,” co-written and directed by theatre professor Jim Wren, has been invited to play the Kennedy Center April 15 as part of the 2009 American College Theatre Festival. Only four productions from across the country were invited to the national festival this year.
Showtime is 7:30 p.m. in the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theatre. Tickets are $10 general admission, available after March 23 through the Kennedy Center Box Office at (800) 444-1324.
UNCG Theatre hasn’t taken a production to the Kennedy Center since 1974.
“The odds are better that you’ll make it to the finals in the NCAA basketball tournament than get invited to the Kennedy Center,” said theatre professor John Wolf, who coordinated the Region IV festival hosted by UNCG in February. “It’s such a validation of the hard work that’s gone on in this department for years now.”
That a national selection committee, headed by the festival’s artistic director Gregg Henry, chose “Tragedy” to represent Region IV was a pleasant surprise to those in the Department of Theatre.
They knew their production was top-notch – exciting, original, well-written and well-acted – but it was also somewhat unwieldy, involving complex sets and a cast and crew of 70 people.
Cast and crew, trimmed to 60, will load up the set and head for Washington on Tuesday, April 14. They will install the set, perform and tear down the set Wednesday, and head home Thursday. Which, said Department of Theatre head Jim Fisher, “proves theatre people are insane.”
Wren and his writing partner, Joe Sturgeon, re-imagined Thomas Middleton’s Jacobean tale as a bloody homage to female action thrillers like “Kill Bill” and “The Bride Wore Black.” Set in a modern underworld, it premiered in Taylor Theatre last November.
“There were such outstanding productions at the regional festival, and our students had a chance to see these productions,” Fisher said. “They had a chance to see that they stood a little taller. It’s a great confidence-builder and an incredible, incredible honor.”
A free public performance begins at 5 p.m. Sunday, April 12, in UNCG’s Taylor Theatre. This performance gives the actors a chance to warm up the show in front of an audience before heading to D.C. Seating is subject to availability and donations are accepted.
“We have a great reputation,” Wolf said. “Now we’re gonna have to prove it when we do this show.”
