UNL’s University Theatre Continues 2013-2014 Season With Will Eno’s MIDDLETOWN

Cast of MIDDLETOWN
Cast of MIDDLETOWN

UNL’s University Theatre Continues 2013-2014 Season With Will Eno’s MIDDLETOWN

calendar icon14 Nov 2013    

MIDDLETOWN, presented by UNL's Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film
MIDDLETOWN, presented by UNL's Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film

UNL University Theatre, Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film’s academic year main stage production program, continues its 2013-2014 season with MIDDLETOWN by Will Eno. Graduate student Joshua Waterstone directs this production in partial fulfillment for a Master of Fine Arts degree in Directing for Stage and Screen.  Performances are November 14, 15 and 20, 21, 22, 23 at 7:30 p.m. and November 17 and 24 at 2:00 p.m. in Howell Theatre, first floor of the Temple Building at 12th & R Streets. No performance on November 16 due to a home football game. Tickets are $16, $14 faculty/staff and senior citizens, and $10 for students. Tickets are available at the Lied Center Ticket Office, 301 North 12thStreet Monday through Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. or at 402-472-4747 or 800-432-3231. Tickets are also available on line at carsonschool.unl.edu and one hour prior to performances in the Temple Lobby.

 

Waterstone describes the production as a “poetic and humorous play that explores the deceptively compact universe of a small American town.” He explained “as a friendship develops between longtime resident John Dodge and new arrival Mary Swanson, the lives of the inhabitants of Middletown intersect in strange and poignant ways in a journey that takes them from the local library to outer space and points between.”

 

Of MIDDLETOWN, playwright Will Eno has said, “I wanted to write something that was a statement about what life feels, to me, on earth.” “MIDDLETOWN offers us a journey to somewhere in between the great mysteries of our existence-a journey in the middle of the miracles and mysteries of birth and death, that middle we call life,” said Waterstone. He continued, ”It’s a contemporary play, but it also explores deep questions, and the characters don’t lie. They very much get to the core of issues with each other.”

 

Twelve cast members play twenty-two characters.  They are Lauren Huston as Mary Swanson and Jeffrey Paskach as John Dodge, as well asEmma Gruhl (Librarian), Spenser Stokes (Cop), and Will J. Voelker IV (Mechanic). The following actors play multiple characters: Grant W. Alsup, Desiree Bartels, Lupe Chairez, Tatiana Gant, Bryan Howard, Trey Martinez, and Meghan Modrovsky.

 

The production is designed by Victoria Halverson (scenic), Morgan Robertson (props), Joseph Burbach (lighting), Associate Professor Janice Stauffer (costumes), Joe Shea (sound), and Drake Tucker and Ethan Seagren (projections.) Savannah Kurtz stage manages.