PLYMOUTH, N.H. — PSU Theatre presents Stephen Sondheim’s Tony Award-winning musical, Into the Woods, March 6–9 at the Silver Center for the Arts.
Based on characters from the Brothers Grimm fairy tales, the story follows the interacting lives of such characters as Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack(and the Beanstalk) and Rapunzel, along with two princes, a baker and his wife, and a witch; woven together by a narrator—all as expressions of living in modern society and the difficult choices we encounter in our lives.
“Careful what you wish for—you might just get it, is one of the lessons we take from Sondheim’s cautionary tale,” says Guest Director Clayton Phillips.“But as always with Mr. Sondheim, it is not that simple. While going ‘into the woods’ is clearly a metaphor for finding what we want, on a deeper level it is about gaining knowledge and affecting change in the universe,” he says.
Phillips is the artistic director of the commercial division of the Midtown International Theatre Festival in New York City. He has worked nationally and internationally as a director, and most recently he served as the producing artistic director of The Barnstormers Theatre in Tamworth. Phillips directed the fall PSU Theatre production of Edward Albee’s classic drama, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
“We are excited to once again have Clayton Phillips as our guest director,” said Beth Cox, director of Theatre at PSU. He returns this semester to hone our student actors’ musical theatre skills in Into the Woods.”
Cox said the music is vocally challenging for students and rich with nuance, rhythms and lyrics. The cast includes more than 20 students, from graduating seniors to first-years. Premiering on Broadway in 1987, Into the Woods has become a classic Sondheim musical.
Performance times are March 6–8 at 8 p.m., March 8 at 2 p.m. and March 9 at 3 p.m.
Tickets are $18 for adults, $16 for seniors, $8 for youth and $5 for PSU students with ID, at the Silver Center box office, (603) 535-ARTS.
In addition to guest director Phillips, the production team includes Professor Kathleen Arecchi as music director; Associate Professor Matt Kizer as scenic designer, and Danee Grillo as costume designer.
The student production team includes Brian Quiricone, a senior theatre-design major from Stratford, Conn. as lighting designer; Andrew Morrissey, a junior music education major from Merrimack as assistant musical director and conductor; Erik Barry, a junior acting and design major from Plymouth as stage manager and Nick Riendeau, a junior business and acting major from Nashua as assistant stage manager.
For performance information contact Beth Cox at (603) 535-2499 or via e-mail to ecox@plymouth.edu.
For general information about events at PSU, logon to ThisWeek@PSU at http://thisweek.blogs.plymouth.edu/.
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