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Wright State Theatre

WSU Theatre Presents SWEET CHARITY

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Wright State Theatre presents the swingin’ 1966 dance musical, Sweet Charity, March 18-April 3rd in Wright State University’s Festival Playhouse. This reimagined production brings audiences into the last stages of rehearsal for a 1960s theatre company doing their final run-through of Sweet Charity. Directed by Associate Professor Marya Spring Cordes (Wright State’s The Wolves, Curious Incident…), Music Directed by Instructor F. Wade Russo, choreographed by guest artist Brandon Kelly, with Scenic/Costume design by Instructor Zoe Still, and Lighting Design by Professor Matthew Benjamin, Sweet Charity offers audiences a rare look at one of the great musicals of that era in a fresh new production.

 

Brandon Kelly

Guest Choreographer Brandon Kelly is an accomplished alumnus of Wright State’s BFA Dance program. Area audiences may remember him from numerous WSU Dance Concerts, Festival Playhouse productions of West Side Story and Raisin In The Sun, and for his choreography of our production of Rent. He is now Assistant Choreographer for Broadway’s Come From Away and has created works for numerous national dance companies, themed entertainment and regional theatre productions. Throughout this process, Kelly has travelled back and forth to Wright State University in between rehearsing actors to join the Broadway and touring productions of Come From Away during the recent surge in COVID illnesses all Broadway and touring shows have experienced. About working on this legendary dance musical, Kelly says, “It’s fantastic and terrifying at the same time, because it’s so iconic and so many of the numbers have a huge legacy. There’s a balance I want to find between being true to the characters and to the story and paying homage to the idea of the original production. I know audiences can’t help but want to see certain shapes, certain feelings, certain visuals. I want to do that while still maintaining my choreographic voice and our vision for the production.”

Instead of a traditional orchestra, Music Director F. Wade Russo has created special orchestral and vocal arrangements to help the show feel as if it’s played by a Jazz combo with four vocalists providing accompaniment in a style reminiscent of iconic artists like Lambert, Hendrix and Ross, The Manhattan Transfer or the Swingle Singers. Russo says, “SWEET CHARITY captures the sounds and rhythms of Greenwich Village jazz clubs of the early 1960s. I wanted to create a vocal quartet to enhance the jazz combo sound of the score using close harmony and back-up singing to give dramatic richness to this production.”

Director Marya Spring Cordes has reimagined Sweet Charity to encourage audiences to focus on the story, characters, music and dance in ways most other productions don’t. She says, “It surrounds a character who goes through life on gut instinct. Sometimes her choices pan out, a lot of times they don’t. But her name says it all – Charity Hope Valentine. The play is about how we transcend difficulty in our life, have resilience, persevere, and believe that some good will come of our lives if we keep putting energy in a positive direction.”

Senior Musical Theatre major, Tassy Kirbas, steps into the iconic dance shoes of protagonist, Charity Hope Valentine, an eternal optimist in a hard-luck world. Tassy says, “My favorite element of our production of Sweet Charity is the amount of collaboration, experimentation, gentleness and openness in the rehearsal space while we develop a new version of such an iconic musical that is completely unique to Wright State University. I am feeling warm, full and happy with our Sweet Charity and I can’t wait to share my passion with live audiences!” Audiences will remember Kirbas from her earlier productions at Wright State, including The Addams Family, Theory of Relativity, Mamma Mia! and many student productions.

For tickets, go to www.wright.edu/tdmp or call the Theatre Box Office at (937) 775-2500

 

Wright State Theatre presents Pulitzer Prize-winning drama SWEAT

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Wright State Theatre will present Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize winning drama, Sweat, as its first play of 2022, running February 3-13th. As if lifted from our own local headlines, this gripping drama takes us into the lives of middle-American industrial workers facing the end of their livelihoods as their factory jobs disappear and their families and friendships struggle to survive. Lynn Nottage has written an exquisite, devastating contemporary tragedy. Set, in one of the poorest cities in America (Reading, Pennsylvania), a group of down-and-out factory workers struggle to keep their present lives in balance, ignorant of the financial devastation looming in their near future. Based on Nottage’s extensive research and interviews with residents of Reading, Sweat is a bracing and topical reflection of the present and poignant outcome of America’s economic decline. 

L to R: Jacob Jones, Marcus Antonio, Tommy Cole, Madyson McCabe, Elaine Mueller, Zavi Odetta. Photo Credit: Wright State Theatre

Shaun Patrick Tubbs

 

 

Visiting Guest Director Shaun Patrick Tubbs says, “SWEAT talks about people who don’t often get a voice. Those are the ones who tend to be affected most by the world around them. Often the choices we make are for survival, not because we want them. But, it’s because we feel they are our only choice. The truth of the matter is, until you’ve had everything you know taken away, you don’t know what choice you would make. And that’s what they’re going through in this play.”

Tubbs is a New York City-based director whose work has been seen at the Juilliard School, New York Theatre Workshop, The Signature Theatre (Arlington, VA), and many other theatres and opera companies nationally. He is also a graduate of Wright State’s BFA Acting program and has been seen locally in productions at The Human Race Theatre Company, among others. When asked about what it’s like to be back at his alma mater, Mr. Tubbs says, “I thought it would feel that so much time had passed – given that it’s been just about twenty years since I graduated. But it doesn’t feel that way. Instead, I feel I’ve stepped into somewhere familiar that’s reminded me of why I do what I do, because it’s about learning how to learn. My hope is that I can help these students realize the gap between where they are now and where they want to be – their dream – is much smaller than I thought it was when I was a student at Wright State.”

Sweat features scenic design by guest artist Michael Brewer, costume design by student Taylor Dumas, and Lighting Design by Matthew Benjamin.

Playwright Lynn Nottage is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner for Drama, receiving the award in 2009 for Ruined and again in 2017 for Sweat. Her other major works include the play, Intimate Apparel, now being adapted as an opera, composed by Ricky Ian Gordon, having its premiere at the Lincoln Center Theatre. She is also the librettist for the new Broadway musical, MJ: The Musical, recounting the life of pop sensation, Michael Jackson.

Sweat runs from February 3rd through 13th in Wright State University’s Festival Playhouse (Creative Arts Center). Patrons, cast and crew are required to wear masks at all times.

Tickets can be purchased at:

www.wright.edu/theatre

(937) 775-2500 box office