{"id":1639,"date":"2015-01-23T13:59:02","date_gmt":"2015-01-23T18:59:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/?p=1639"},"modified":"2015-01-23T13:59:02","modified_gmt":"2015-01-23T18:59:02","slug":"theatre-collaboration-produces-in-the-event-of-my-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/2015\/01\/23\/theatre-collaboration-produces-in-the-event-of-my-death\/","title":{"rendered":"Theatre Collaboration Produces In the Event of My Death"},"content":{"rendered":"

By MORGAN KING – STAFF WRITER<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

This spring, DramaCentre will be producing one of the most unique theatre pieces it has ever realized. The play, In the Event of My Death<\/i>, brings together Centre\u2019s Dramatic Arts department with playwright Lindsay Joy, a New Jersey native, in a personal and intense collaboration.<\/p>\n

The show follows a group of people as they come together to mourn the loss of a friend who committed suicide. The aftermath of their reunion reveals dark secrets and hidden pasts, all while the friends are trying to understand the reasons behind their friend\u2019s sudden death.<\/p>\n

Joy drew some of the inspiration for the plot and powerful setting from her own life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a friend named Nicole Dufresne that was killed (gunned down) in my very first year in New York,\u201d Joy said. \u201cAll of her friends were forever changed after she died\u2014and the night we gathered to remember her was a starting point for that change.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a huge part of why I followed my gut to become a writer. I also wanted to think of a situation where many different types of acquaintances would be in one locale. A post-funeral gathering seems ripe with possibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Photograph<\/a>
Photograph by McKenzie Nalley<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The collaboration and writing of In the Event of My Death<\/i> is a result of Centre\u2019s connection with The Farm Theater in New York. The Farm Theater provides training for aspiring theatre artists and provides emerging playwrights with the opportunity to create and collaborate on new plays. During this process, Joy is walking step by step with the student actors by answering their questions about the script and their characters and even changing dialogue if necessary.<\/p>\n

As part of this collaboration, In the Event of My Death <\/i>will travel to three different colleges and universities. Throughout each production, technical elements and the script will change. The play has already seen one run at Ashland University in Ohio in November, and will be performed at Clark University in Mass. later this spring. For Joy, that first collaboration and the revised script she is currently working on has made the play more meaningful than the first draft.<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked all of the [collaborating] colleges (in survey form) how death has affected them. How we communicate? How we deal with mourning\u2014right now. All of the responses and stories has informed my play,\u201d Joy said.<\/p>\n

All of the actors, and some of the crew, are working on this play as part of the CentreTerm class, \u201cThe Company\u201d\u2014including senior actress Emily Nuthall, who plays Brianna.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, this opportunity is incredibly exciting given that this is typically what happens in the real world of theatre. You don\u2019t have long to learn a show and you are in rehearsal all day,\u201d Nuthall said. \u201cI love it because, for a drama major, this is what I want to do after graduation.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the actors are in rehearsal, Joy continues to work on the script. This creates opportunities for improvement on the play but also presents challenges for the actors to learn the material.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis play is very special because it is in the middle of being written,\u201d Nuthall said. \u201cLindsay is writing us a new draft that is a bit different than what they performed at Ashland. There is a great possibility that we will be getting new pages with additions right up until we go up on stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sophomore and Lighting Designer Jillian Riseman has a different challenge\u2014creating an entirely new light design for the play.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a little bit of pressure just because it has never been done before, but it is a really fun learning experience,\u201d Riseman said.<\/p>\n

There is also a quality of the play that students can identify with in their present and future lives. Joy feels that it is the impending momentum that will resonate with Centre students. \u201cCollege students are always on the precipice of big choices, changes, and life shifts,\u201d Joy said. \u201cAny death immediately places us in a place where we think about our own mortality\u2014our own life choices. I think a college audience is my perfect audience. I personally guarantee that you will laugh and cry. Hopefully, if we are doing it right, you will do both in rapid succession.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is a kind of art that students at Centre will appreciate,\u201d Nuthall said. \u201cI know that when we did our first read through, everyone thought \u2018I know these people. These are people that I can find here at Centre College.\u2019 These characters are very modern and relatable.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a>In the Event of My Death<\/i> certainly provides an incredible opportunity for the students at Centre College engage in, as their interpretations will serve as a reference for future interpretations by others.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I think about it, it is sort of a way to create history. If anyone ever puts this on in the future, they can use our lighting design, scenic design and so on as a reference. It\u2019s really cool to think that someone could be basing their ideas off of using your ideas,\u201d Riseman said.<\/p>\n

In the Event of My Death <\/i>will run Feb. 13 and 14 in Weisiger Theatre. All performances will begin at 8 p.m., and students will receive a convocation credit for attending.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By MORGAN KING – STAFF WRITER This spring, DramaCentre will be producing one of the most unique theatre pieces it has ever realized. The play, In the Event of My Death, brings together Centre\u2019s Dramatic Arts department with playwright Lindsay Joy, a New Jersey native, in a personal and intense collaboration. The show follows a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1640,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-leisure","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}