USI Theatre continues its 2003-04 season with A…My Name Is Alice, a rollicking musical revue celebrating women and the roles they play throughout their lives.
Conceived by Joan Micklin Silver and Julianne Boyd, the award-winning revue features sketches – monologues, songs, dance numbers, and poems – by a wide variety of composers, lyricists, and comedy writers, including Marta Kauffman and David Crane, who created the popular TV show, Friends. John Berst, USI instructor in theatre, will direct.
“I am excited to be directing such a beloved show,” Berst said. “It received rave reviews when it premiered in New York in 1984, and it continues to delight women and the men who love them in productions all over the world.”
The USI production originally was planned for the USI Theatre on Igleheart Avenue, but Berst decided to stage the production in USI’s black box theatre, the Helen Mallette Studio Theatre, which is located in the Liberal Arts Center on campus.
“While the USI Theatre is a wonderful space, the Mallette is smaller and provides an intimacy that allows performers to really connect with the audience,” he said. “This is perfect for Alice, because so many of the scenes address the audience directly.”
Some challenges resulted from the decision to move the revue to the Mallette. Originally conceived for just five actors, the USI production will feature 17 performers.
“It’s a challenge to work with so many performers in a smaller theatre,” Berst said. “But the larger cast size will offer our audience a more traditional musical theatre experience, and it also provides our students with a wider range of performance opportunities and challenges.”
In addition to Berst, who also is serving as musical director, the artistic team includes Kyle Andres, senior theatre major, set designer; Richard Kuykendall, assistant professor of theatre, lighting designer; and Shan Jensen, associate professor of theatre, costume designer.
The cast includes USI students Kensington Blaylock, Amy Breeze, Angie Carter, Joe Ciresi, Drew Cloutier, Jeannine Gamble, Melissa Hardin, Tara Kannall, Leo Kempf, Erin Monahan, Mario Reid, Kimberly Robbins, Camille Ruckriegel, Greg Schafer, Natalie Singer, Lauren Tait, Angela Tinner, and Sarah Ziegler.
Sue Schriber also will be joining the production as a visiting guest artist. Schriber serves on the Board of Directors of The USI Society for Arts & Humanities, an organization that helps support the University’s three theatres. She appeared at USI in The Diary of Anne Frank in 1994 and is the 2002 recipient of the Evansville Mayor’s Arts Award.
A…My Name Is Alice will run November 12-15 and 19-23. Curtain times are Wednesday and Thursday at 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., and one Sunday matinee at 2 p.m.
Individual tickets are $9 for adults; $7 for seniors/children under 18; and $3 for USI students with a valid Eagle Access Card. Reservations may be made by calling the box office, 812/422-3970. For more information, call 812/422-3970.
