KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Oct. 3, 2019 \u2013 While the 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Honors Colloquium examines the complexity of \u201cReligion in America\u201d in Edwards Hall, the Theatre Department is taking the discussion to a different public square\u2014the good, old elementary school cafetorium. Or as one character in 溏心vlog免费B站 Theatre\u2019s season-opener calls it: a functional, flexible, publicly funded space.<\/p>\n
In \u201cA Brief History of the Earth and Everything In It (as performed by Ms. LoPiccolo\u2019s Third-Grade Drama Group from the William Jennings Bryan Elementary School in Springfield, Missouri),\u201d the \u201ccafetorium\u201d is the perfect space for 8-year-olds to broach the debate.<\/p>\n
The setting will put the audience on familiar turf, says director Rachel Walshe, when the play opens Oct. 10 in the J Studio. Besides stage design, the Fine Arts Center lobby will be transformed to feel like the entrance of William Jennings Bryan Elementary.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of our audiences will have had that experience, so my hope is that when they come into this space they’re thinking, \u2018Oh God, this is totally how I remember elementary school,\u2019\u201d says Walshe, of Warwick, R.I.,<\/strong> a 溏心vlog免费B站 lecturer in acting and directing.<\/p>\n The play\u2019s themes also will ring familiar, offering a pointed and humorous look at a topic that is in the news nearly every day\u2014the influence of religion on politics and the rhetoric that results. The play follows third-graders as they battle their tyrannical principal, Dr. Anita Marsden, a fundamentalist Christian who has reshaped the school to match her creationist beliefs. The Ten Commandments are in every classroom, courses eschew science and fact for dogma, dodgeball is now \u201cStone the Infidel.\u201d The third-graders have had enough, and turn to drama teacher Ms. LoPiccolo to put on a musical to thwart the belief-based curriculum in favor of science and fact \u2013 because \u201cno one can resist a musical.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe play is about the dangers of politicizing religion,\u201d says Walshe. \u201cIt attacks extremism and dogma and stands up for independent thinking. It\u2019s about religion, but there are a lot of things you can swap in terms of politicizing something to gain favor with a political base or interfere with people’s capacity for independent thought.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA Brief History\u201d \u2013 book and lyrics by Cranston, R.I.,<\/strong> playwright Dave Rabinow, music by Rabinow and Vicki Dorazio, with additional music by Keith Munslow \u2013 was first staged in 2011 in Providence. Walshe saw the play in a shorter form in 2012 and compares it to such plays as \u201cBook of Mormon,\u201d \u201cThe 25th<\/sup> Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,\u201d and \u201cA Very Merry Unauthorized Children\u2019s Scientology Pageant\u201d \u2013 part of a genre of \u201cpolitical satire from the mouths of babes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe play is more than a religious bash or a conservative bash,\u201d says Conor Delaney \u201921, who plays Derek, the ringleader among the third-graders. \u201cIt\u2019s more about close-minded people. There are many people in our society\u2014on the left, on the right, in the center\u2014who believe that just because your idea isn\u2019t mine, you\u2019re wrong and you are my enemy. You can disagree and still find a middle ground or at least hear each other out.\u201d<\/p>\n Omar Laguerre-Lewis \u201922 hopes the play will present a chance to get people thinking and talking.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to get involved in this play because my first reaction when I read it was this play is funny, and at the same time, this play is smart,\u201d says Laguerre-Lewis, who plays third-grader Turner. \u201cBut one of the things I was a little cautious about is my character is very out and proud against religion. However, I think the main goal of the play is to get a dialogue started. It may get people angry, but I think it will get a conversation going that I think we need to have.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of people are going to come into the play expecting this super silly, funny show \u2013 which it is \u2013 but also, they\u2019re going to leave starting a conversation,\u201d adds Lauren Jannetti \u201921, who plays Maya.<\/p>\n To prepare for their roles, the actors have seemingly gone through boot camp to understand all the concepts involved. Early in rehearsals, Walshe held extensive table readings of the script and brought in Cheryl Foster, 溏心vlog免费B站 professor of philosophy, to help students grapple with the play\u2019s vast religious and philosophical content.<\/p>\n \u201cRachel’s wonderful because she goes into the really nitty gritty parts of the script that you wouldn’t normally discover,\u201d says Mary Mullane \u201921, who plays Ms. LoPiccolo. \u201cShe really makes you think not just about your character but about the entire process. Not a lot of directors do that.\u201d<\/p>\n Also, Emma Becker \u201921, of Tiverton, R.I.,<\/strong> the play\u2019s dramaturge, has helped the actors by compiling pages of terms, everything from Marvel Comics references to intelligent design. \u201cBecause the play deals a little bit with the history of human thought\u2014in musical numbers\u2014Emma has had the monumental task of making those concepts as clear as she can for the folks who have to sing about them,\u201d Walshe says.<\/p>\n Lily Ferreira \u201920 has the difficult task of playing the despotic Dr. Marsden. It\u2019s especially challenging. \u201cI was raised religious but I\u2019m not anymore,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m revisiting beliefs and playing this character as if it\u2019s something I still believe in.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou will never find a solid line in which you merge perfectly with your character,\u201d offers Arturo Puentes \u201820, who plays Jesus (yes, that Jesus). \u201cInstead you have to find a correlation in which you can both work together as one. You may not agree with a certain statement your character says, but you have to understand why you\u2019re saying it.\u201d<\/p>\n The play has also presented the students with the rare opportunity to contribute to a relatively new play and to collaborate with the playwright. The play\u2019s author, Rabinow, who has taught playwriting at 溏心vlog免费B站, has been involved in the production from the start, updating the play\u2019s ending and helping students with any questions.<\/p>\n \u201cWhatever we\u2019ve been unsure of or whatever we\u2019ve felt needed to be updated, Dave\u2019s been there to work with us,\u201d says Meaghan O\u2019Donovan \u201920, who plays third-grader Presley. \u201cIt\u2019s an exciting process. We seldom get to do this because the playwrights aren’t local or they’re dead.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA Brief History of the Earth and Everything In It\u201d runs Oct. 10-12 and 17-19 with shows starting at 7:30 p.m. in the J Studio at the Fine Arts Center, 105 Upper College Road, Kingston Campus. On Oct. 13 and Oct. 20, shows begin at 2 p.m. Tickets are $20 for general admission, $15 for seniors, 溏心vlog免费B站 faculty, staff and students. To purchase tickets, go to play\u2019s web page<\/a> or call (401) 874-5843.<\/p>\n For 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s production, costume design is by David T. Howard, department chair; scenic design is by guest artist Renee Surprenant-Fitzgerald \u201910; lighting design by Lecturer Max Ponticelli \u201909, sound design by guest artist Michael Hyde; and choreography by Valerie Ferris \u201920.<\/p>\n Character: actor, hometown<\/em><\/p>\n Mr. Denton: <\/strong>Josh Raymo \u201920, Portsmouth, R.I.<\/p>\n Ms. Dorazio\/Ensemble:<\/strong> Valerie Ferris \u201920, Staten Island, N.Y.<\/p>\n Mitchell Maxwell Horowitz:<\/strong> Trey DeAngelo DiGioia \u201921, Bristol, R.I.<\/p>\n Jesus:<\/strong> Arturo Puentes \u201920, Pawtucket, R.I.<\/p>\n Mrs. LoPiccolo:<\/strong> Mary Mullane \u201921, Warwick, R.I.<\/p>\n Dr. Anita Marsden:<\/strong> Lily Ferreira \u201820, Middletown, R.I.<\/p>\n Turner McKenzie:<\/strong> Omar Laguerre-Lewis \u201922, Mamaroneck, N.Y.<\/p>\n Derek Palomino:<\/strong> Conor Delaney \u201921, South Kingstown, R.I.<\/p>\n Presley Turtledove:<\/strong> Meaghan O\u2019Donovan \u201920, West Warwick, R.I.<\/p>\n Maya Von Hoogen:<\/strong> Lauren Jannetti \u201921, Lincoln, R.I.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Oct. 3, 2019 \u2013 While the 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Honors Colloquium examines the complexity of \u201cReligion in America\u201d in Edwards Hall, the Theatre Department is taking the discussion to a different public square\u2014the good, old elementary school cafetorium. Or as one character in 溏心vlog免费B站 Theatre\u2019s season-opener calls it: a functional, flexible, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75090,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12],"class_list":["post-75089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","tag-college-of-arts-and-sciences"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}