With a new school year under way at ETSU, many people are looking for things to do when they’re not in class. One thing you can do is go and see the many performances that the newest independently formed Department of Theatre and Dance will put on for its 2017-18 season.
The ETSU Department of Theatre and Dance will perform a variety of plays during the school year, ranging from serious accounts of historical events to funny scenarios in a post-apocalyptic world.
One of the first plays of the season is “Playhouse Creatures.” This play is about five women in the 1660s who are among some of the first women to perform on the English Stage. “Playhouse Creatures,” written by April De Angelis and directed by Bobby Funk, will be performed from Oct. 8 – Oct. 12.
Another interesting play to be performed is “Dead Man’s Cellphone.” In the play, a woman named Jean finds a dead man’s cellphone, and when the phone rings she answers out of panic. By answering the cellphone, Jean is swept up in a peculiar string of events caused by the dead man’s past. This play is written by Sarah Ruhl and will be performed from Feb. 16 – Feb 19.
Perhaps the most interesting play to be put on by the department is “The Diary of Anne Frank.” Wendy Kesselman’s adaptation of this well-known play tells the story of Anne Frank, a young girl who hid from the Nazis during World War II and recorded her time in hiding in her diary. Since its debut in 1997, the play has been performed by many acting companies. The play will be performed by ETSU’s own students from Nov. 16 – Nov. 19 and will be directed by Herb Parker.
With a new stance at ETSU for the theatre department and the promise of a new theater coming soon, the plays this year are sure to be full of life with old and new actors coming together. All plays this season are to be held in the Bud Frank Theatre on campus in Gilbreath Hall.
