New Year and an update from Last Year along with Many Pieces of Information

Hi All,

It is Steven here again. I know it has been  a long time since I have put up a blog post, however I am back in the swing of things. It has been a crazy couple of months. We first had the Zombie Experience Haunted House on Halloween. Then it was Julius Caesar which was a hit for us from the 18-22nd of November. Of which we had two of our cast from Julius Caesar nominated for KCACTF Jessica Schiermeister as Cassius and Manny Elliot as Brutus. We then finished up on year on a good note with a Christmas Carol and had our next show the Importance of Being Earnest casted before we went home for break. Over break we found out that Tag Team, although it had not been taken as a  full production would be part of the scene showcase for KCACTF or The Kennedy Center’s American College Theater Festival happening in Lawrence Kansas at the University of Kansas or KU as it is known from January 18-23rd 2009. So that was what happened in the closing months of 2008 for us here at the Waldorf Theater Department.

Coming back in the New Year we have been doing a crazy rehearsal schedule since January 4th when we would do two rehearsal a day for a week straight. Classes then started on the 12 of January and we had a week of straight rehearsals. The entire department then went to KCACTF and although none of the nominees got past to the semifinal round. We ended up having a lot of fun. As of right now we officially have casted our last four final shows. Three of which are student productions of Five Women Wearing the Same Dress, which will be directed by Alex Collins, No Exit which will be directed by Immanuel Elliot as a capstone project, and Doubt, the play which as a movie was recently nominated for many Oscars and other awards, which will be direct by Katy Snow, also as a senior capstone project. We will have more information about these plays as it gets closer to opening night for them. We also have casted South Pacific which start rehearsal as soon as The Importance of Being  Earnest is over.

We are currently starting Techical Rehearsals for The Importance of Being Earnest. The show will open next week on Tuesday February 10 and run through Saturday February 14th or Valtines Day. Tickets are $8 for Adults $6 for Students and Seniors and $2 for Waldorf Students. To reserve Tickets please call our box office at 585-8585 or you can email us at Theater@Waldorf .edu.

I hope you all had a safe and wonderful Christmas and New Years. It has been busy busy busy around and will continue to be so for the next couple months.

Until next post,
Steven Van Overbeke

Theater Operations Associate

3 students to recieve Irene Ryan Nominations and one student to recieve Barbizon nomination and Tag Team update

Hi all,

It is once again Steven here to deliver you all some very exciting pieces of news and they are as follows

First as you know we recently did our first show of our season which was an original work by our own Dr. AuFrance. What you probably didn’t know was that this show was put up to be adjudicated to see if was good enough to be performed at the Kennedy Center’s American College Theatre Festival that will be held in Lawerence Kansas this year. We’ll the news we have so far is that Tag Team is being held over for consideration meaning we may get to perform at the American College Theatre Festival. So that is exciting piece of news number one.

The second exciting piece of news is that we had three students from the  Tag Team cast be nominated for an Irene Ryan nomination who will be going to Lawerence Kansas in January to perform for a chance at a scholarship prize. They are Christopher Parcher, Elizabeth Breen, and Andrew Harrison. So that is exciting piece of news number two.

Finally, the last piece of news I have for everyone is that we also had an costume designer, immanuel Elliott get nominated into the Barbizon Design Competion for the American College Theatre Festival. for his work on Tag Team’s costumes. So we offer congratulations to him Andrew Elizabeth and Chris for this great achievement. Well that is all for now.

Until next post,

Steven Van Overbeke

Assistant Theatre Manager for Waldorf College Theater

KCACTF Again

I’m really looking forward to being able to showcase my talents at the Kennedy Center’s American College Theatre Festival in Omaha, Nebraska in a few weeks. I’m very excited to spend the week with my friends from Waldorf and see friends from other colleges, as well as make new ones. I was always heavily involved in Speech competitions in high school and have attended the Iowa Thespian Festival; they were all so much fun! One of my cousins has been to ACTF in the past and auditioned for the Irene Ryan scholarship. He said it was a lot of fun and just to make the best out of everything that happens, which I’m going to do. I’m really excited about meeting new people. It’s not just about me going to audition for a scholarship; it’s about making new friends and hopefully seeing some great shows and learning more about theatre in general. It’s getting to the point where I’m starting to actually get nervous, which doesn’t happen very often when dealing with theatre, because the festival is getting so close. I want to send out a quick thank you to Dr. Bob AuFrance and Professor Jeremy Fiebig for believing in me, being fantastic directors/teachers and helping me to choose my scenes. I couldn’t have possibly done this on my own and they’ve both been so helpful.

I’m very blessed to have such an amazing acting partner, too. I feel privileged to have Chris Parcher to share this wonderful experience with. Chris has been a great friend of mine since the beginning of the school year and it’s very easy for us to act together; it helps when you’ve already got that special bond with someone. I’m looking forward to acting alongside Chris for many years to come. I think it really helps to have somebody you can trust and share things with for this festival to go along smoothly. I’m excited for people to see my talents, but also Chris’s and Manny Elliott’s and Katy Snow’s talents, as well. I was so happy for Manny with he got nominated for the Irene Ryan scholarship; he really deserved to. I know that we’re sort of “competing” against each other for it, but, honestly, if Manny got it over me, it wouldn’t bother me one bit. Manny deserves it just as much, if not more, as I do. Katy’s also a very talented performer and deserved the spot as a partner. This next week will be hectic while getting things finalized and ready for ACTF, but I’m so incredibly excited for it all! I mean, a week off from classes, being around amazing friends, acting alongside some of the best, and meeting a ton of new people. What better experience is there? I can’t wait for this festival to begin!

Jessica Schiermeister

KCACTF

Hey all again,

I am just here posting a note about the post I am putting up in a few minutes. This next post is by Jessica Schiermeister, one of our nominees for the Kenndy Center’s American College Theatre Festival about her feelings on the festival and what it is like to be nominated. I hope you enjoy it.

Steven Van Overbeke

Head of Communications for Waldorf Theatre Department