Forced into a life of servitude by her cruel stepmother, a young woman dreams of a better life. With the help of her fairy godmother, Cinderella is transformed into an elegant young lady and is able to attend the ball to meet her Prince, but she must open the Prince’s eyes to the injustice in his kingdom. This 2013 adaptation of the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical features several new songs, characters and magic for all ages.
America’s ONLY Performing Arts Schoolwide Student Festival Returns to Shenandoah Conservatory! ShenCoLAB: Festival of Arts, Ideas and Exploration features 22 original student projects involving 200+ student collaborators at seven venues across campus in daylong festival
Shenandoah Conservatory’s unique commitment to cross-disciplinary collaboration and student-led innovation will be on full display when ShenCoLAB returns for a week of unbridled exploration and creation, culminating Saturday, Nov. 2, with a daylong Festival of Arts, Ideas and Exploration.
Now in its second year, ShenCoLAB stands apart as the only student-led festival in the nation to span either an entire conservatory or university performing arts unit. During the week of Tuesday, Oct. 29, through Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019, the conservatory cancels classes and rehearsals across all its music, dance and theatre programs, and turns over its facilities to students who work across disciplines on self-directed, time-limited projects fueled by their own passion, drive and curiosity. The week culminates Saturday, Nov. 2, with a Festival of Arts, Ideas and Exploration, featuring a wide variety of innovative and provocative performances and presentations.
This year’s festival includes 22 projects supported by 200+ student collaborators.
Projects are being presented in seven venues across Shenandoah University’s main campus from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Local food trucks are serving audiences and the festival concludes with a celebratory after party.
Learn More About ShenCoLAB Attend the Festival of Arts, Ideas & Exploration
“ShenCoLAB was started as a radical experiment to support great learning by giving our students the time and space to develop and lead collaborative and innovative projects,” said Dean of Shenandoah Conservatory Michael Stepniak, Ed.D. “Put simply, ShenCoLAB enables students to do work that deeply matters and to sharpen the very skills that employers demand: teamwork, perseverance, creative thinking, courageous risk-taking, comfort with innovation, and rapid problem solving.”
Originally referred to as Student Performance Week, the idea for ShenCoLAB began in 2017 when Dr. Stepniak visited The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. At the time, both schools were in the midst of initiatives which effectively turned college instruction on its head, freeing students to interact and create in ways both new and completely of their own design. Excited about the possibilities of such a program existing at Shenandoah Conservatory, Stepniak assembled a small student/faculty task force and, thanks to funding from the Dean’s Circle, supported an exploratory return trip the following year. After a four-day whirlwind tour in early 2018, the group returned to Shenandoah with a positive recommendation for creating a similar initiative at Shenandoah Conservatory; albeit with the important caveat that it must include students from across the entire conservatory — music, theatre and dance, as well as the academic and research-oriented departments. Since gaining approval, the taskforce has shifted to planning and promoting this massive project.
“Collaborating with other artists leads us to make creative decisions we wouldn’t make by ourselves,” said Andy Herring ’18, ’19 (Bachelor of Music in Composition, Master of Science in Performing Arts Leadership & Management). “[The week] allowed us five life-changing days to focus our time and energy on a project that has added immense value to our education.” Herring co-led “Explorations in Improvised Dance and Music,” a project that brought 11 collaborators together to draw from improvisational norms in music and dance to create a performance in which the two disciplines were treated as equal partners and the artists reacted spontaneously to both motion and sound, during last year’s festival.
The daylong festival offers audiences access to a wide variety of live performances and presentations. Wristbands are available for a suggested donation of $10 ($5 for students and youth). Proceeds support ongoing ShenCoLAB efforts. Festival wristbands and information are available at the Shenandoah Conservatory Box Office at (540) 665-4569, located in the lobby of Ohrstrom-Bryant Theatre and online at conservatoryperforms.org.
Festival Schedule ShenCoLAB Projects
Manual Cinema Hosts Hands-on Workshop with Students and Community
Chicago-based and internationally renowned multimedia art collective Manual Cinema conducted a hands-on, participatory workshop exploring the company’s approach to storytelling and live cinema techniques on Thursday, Oct. 10. The workshop included an overview of the company’s creative process; a staged sequence demonstrating the company’s AV/puppetry techniques and cinematic language; and an opportunity for participants to use the company’s equipment to devise short vignettes of their own. Participants included an array of Shenandoah Conservatory theatre students in acting, musical theatre and theatre design and production programs, as well as community members involved in sculpture, performance art, photography, filmmaking, animation and more.
“This was such a valuable learning experience,” said one participant. “I feel that we, as students, get so caught up in doing on-stage, ‘traditional’ theatre, that we forget that there are other forms of performance out there. Manuel Cinema showed us how they turned a very simple concept …into something that is complex and beautiful to watch.”
The workshop followed Manual Cinema’s performance of “Frankenstein,” a production which stitches together the classic tale of “Frankenstein” and Mary Shelley’s own life to create an unexpected story about the beauty — and horror — of creation. Combining live theatre and music with handmade shadow puppetry, cinematic techniques and original musical compositions, Manual Cinema creates immersive visual stories for stage and screen. Visit www.manualcinema.com to learn more.
Shenandoah Conservatory Announces U.S. University Premiere of “Something Rotten!”
Shenandoah University is pleased to announce the U.S. university premiere of the musical “Something Rotten!” The Tony Award-winning musical opened on Broadway in 2015 and has already completed two major tours.
“Something Rotten!” opens at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 3, in Ohrstrom-Bryant Theatre on the main campus of Shenandoah University. Additional performances are at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 4, and Saturday, Oct. 5, and at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 6.
The most recent tour, which concluded in Seoul, South Korea, featured two Shenandoah University alumni (Emma Benson and Zachary Bigelow, both B.F.A. in Musical Theatre, ’18). This marks the second major university premiere of a Broadway musical by Shenandoah Conservatory in recent years. In 2014, the university premiered Green Day’s “American Idiot.”
“Something Rotten!” is an original musical comedy with a book by John O’Farrell and Karey Kirkpatrick, and music and lyrics by Karey and Wayne Kirkpatrick. The musical is set in 1595 England and tells the story of the Bottom brothers, Nick and Nigel. The brothers are struggling to find success in the theatrical world dominated by the “rock star” William Shakespeare. When a fortune teller predicts that the future of theatre will include acting, dancing, and singing all at once, the brothers set out to write the world’s first musical.
Time Out New York called the production “Broadway’s funniest, splashiest, slap-happiest musical comedy in at least 400 years,” and the Associated Press called it “easily the funniest thing to arrive on Broadway since ‘The Book of Mormon.’”
The production at Shenandoah Conservatory is guided by a team of faculty who are also Broadway veterans, including Charles B. Levitin Chair in Musical Theater and Assistant Professor of Theatre Kevin Covert (“Memphis,” “Spamalot,” “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”) as director; Associate Professor of Theatre and Visiting Musical Director Patrick Brady (“Young Frankenstein,” “The Producers,” “Fosse”) as music director; and Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance Shylo Martinez, M.F.A.,(“Wicked,” “Movin’ Out”) as choreographer.
Also lending their talents are Associate Professor of Theatre – Scenic and Lighting Design William Pierson, M.F.A. (scenic designer); Associate Professor of Theatre – Costume Design Jennifer Flitton Adams, M.F.A. (costume designer); and Assistant Professor of Theatre – Lighting Design Andrew Carson, M.F.A., (lighting designer).
In addition, students will have the opportunity to work with Steve Bebout, associate director of the Broadway production and director of the most recent national tour, during his residency on Shenandoah’s campus.
“We are thrilled to be the first venue to present this show after its Broadway and National Tour runs,” said Covert, who directs the conservatory’s musical theatre program. “Premieres like this go hand-in-hand with the industry-focused, contemporary training our musical theatre students are receiving at Shenandoah. The opportunity for them to work with industry professionals like Steve is exactly the type of real-world experience they need to be successful in this career.”
For tickets, visit conservatoryperforms.org or call the Shenandoah University Box Office at (540) 665-4569. Ohrstrom-Bryant Theatre is the university’s 630-seat performing arts venue featuring a proscenium stage.
CANCELLED: Blithe Spirit
CANCELLED EVENT
This performance has been cancelled to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Current ticket holders will be contacted directly via email regarding refunds. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Thursday, March 26 at 7:30PM
Friday, March 27 at 7:30PM
Saturday, March 28 at 2:30PM
Saturday, March 28 at 7:30PM
Sunday, March 29 at 2:30PM
by Noël Coward
Applauded as “a perfect encapsulation of today’s trends in chamber music,” the award-winning PUBLIQuartet lends a fresh perspective to the music scene. Dedicated to presenting new works, PUBLIQuartet’s genre-bending programs not only expand the techniques and aesthetic of the traditional string quartet, but also present a wide variety of under-represented music and contemporary composers.
Coward’s beloved classic Blithe Spirit was a smash hit of the London and Broadway stages, and continues to be one of the playwright’s most beloved works. Haunted by a host of spectres and showmen, the outlandish comic fantasy finds the fussy, cantankerous novelist Charles Condomine in the throes of chaos when he invites an eccentric medium and clairvoyant to his house in hopes of gathering material for his next book. The scheme backfires when, after a séance, Charles is haunted by the ghost of his annoying and temperamental first wife, who is determined to disrupt his new marriage.
Duration: Approximately 175 minutes*
*Production duration is subject to change
SUGGESTED SHOW RATING: PG
Some productions contain mature content and/or content that may be offensive to some audiences. Contact the Box Office for more information.
Concessions will be available for cash purchase beginning one hour prior to this performance.
ACCESSIBILITY
Accommodations for disabilities may be arranged by contacting the Box Office at least three days prior to the performance.
1776
Thursday, February 20 at 7:30PM
Friday, February 21 at 7:30PM
Saturday, February 22 at 7:30PM
Sunday, February 23 at 2:30PM
Book by Peter Stone
Music and Lyrics by Sherman Edwards
The seminal event in American history blazes to vivid life in this most unconventional of Broadway hits. It is the summer of 1776 and the nation is ready to declare independence…if only our founding fathers could put aside their pride, fears, uncertainties and petty disagreements and do the right thing for a fledgling nation. Fresh insights, contemporary issues and non-traditional casting breathe new life into the story of how our forefathers freed the country from the shackles of the British monarchy by signing the Declaration of Independence.
Duration: Approximately 175 minutes*
*Production duration is subject to change
SUGGESTED SHOW RATING: PG
Some productions contain mature content and/or content that may be offensive to some audiences. Contact the Box Office for more information.
Concessions will be available for cash purchase beginning one hour prior to this performance.
ACCESSIBILITY
Infrared hearing system headsets are available in Ohrstrom-Bryant Theatre only. Accommodations for disabilities may be arranged by contacting the Box Office at least three days prior to the performance.
Something Rotten!
Thursday, October 3 at 7:30PM
Friday, October 4 at 7:30PM
Saturday, October 5 at 7:30PM
Sunday, October 6 at 2:30PM
Book by Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell
Music and Lyrics by Karey Kirkpatrick and Wayne Kirkpatrick
U.S. College and University Premiere!
Shenandoah Conservatory presents the U.S. college and university premiere of Something Rotten!, the hilarious Broadway hit musical comedy about the musical comedy that started it all. Set in the 1590s, brothers Nick and Nigel Bottom are desperate to write a hit play, but are stuck in the shadow of that Renaissance rock star known as “The Bard.” When a local soothsayer foretells the future of theatre involves singing, dancing and acting at the same time, Nick and Nigel set out to write the world’s first musical. Amidst the scandalous excitement of opening night, the brothers realize that reaching the top means being true to thine own self. With its heart on its ruffled sleeve and sequins in its soul, Something Rotten! is an uproarious dose of pure Broadway fun and an irresistible ode to musicals—those dazzling creations that entertain us, inspire us, and remind us that everything is better with an exclamation point!
Duration: Approximately 140 minutes*
*Production duration is subject to change
SUGGESTED SHOW RATING: PG-13
This production of Something Rotten! contains the use of theatrical haze, flashing lights, bawdy Shakespearean humor, and many, many egg-cellent musical theatre references. Contact the Box Office for more information.
Concessions will be available for cash purchase beginning one hour prior to this performance.
ACCESSIBILITY
Infrared hearing system headsets are available in Ohrstrom-Bryant Theatre only. Accommodations for disabilities may be arranged by contacting the Box Office at least three days prior to the performance.
Parade
Thursday, October 24 at 7:30PM
Friday, October 25 at 7:30PM
Saturday, October 26 at 2:30PM
Saturday, October 26 at 7:30PM
Sunday, October 27 at 2:30PM
Book by Alfred Uhry
Music and Lyrics by Jason Robert Brown
Amid religious intolerance, political injustice and racial tension, the stirring Tony Award-winning Parade explores the endurance of love and hope against all odds. Daring, innovative and bold, the musical recounts the true story of Leo Frank, a Brooklyn-raised Jew living in Georgia, who is put on trial for the 1913 rape and murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan, a factory worker under his employ. Already guilty in the eyes of everyone around him, a sensationalist publisher and a janitor’s false testimony seal Leo’s fate. His only defenders are a governor with a conscience and, eventually, his assimilated Southern wife who finds the strength and love to become his greatest champion.
Duration: Approximately 165 minutes*
*Production duration is subject to change
AMPLIFY YOUR EXPERIENCE
Tony Award-winning Parade composer and lyricist Jason Robert Brown performs a rare solo concert on Thursday, September 19 at 7:30PM in Ohrstrom-Bryant Theatre.
SUGGESTED SHOW RATING: R
Parade examines adult themes, depicts acts of violence, and is not recommended for children. Contact the Box Office for more information.
Concessions will be available for cash purchase beginning one hour prior to this performance.
ACCESSIBILITY
Accommodations for disabilities may be arranged by contacting the Box Office at least three days prior to the performance.
Macbeth
Thursday, November 14 at 7:30PM
Friday, November 15 at 7:30PM
Saturday, November 16 at 7:30PM
Sunday, November 17 at 2:30PM
by William Shakespeare
“Something wicked this way comes…”
One of Shakespeare’s most enduring tragedies, Macbeth follows the descent of a brave Scottish general who receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become king. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the Scottish throne for himself, but his path quickly descends to paranoia and misery.
Duration: Approximately 140 minutes*
*Production duration is subject to change
SUGGESTED SHOW RATING: PG-13
Macbeth contains mature content including violence and sexualized contact and may not be suitable for all audiences. This production also contains theatrical haze and flashing lighting effects. Contact the Box Office for more information.
Concessions will be available for cash purchase beginning one hour prior to this performance.
ACCESSIBILITY
Infrared hearing system headsets are available in Ohrstrom-Bryant Theatre only. Accommodations for disabilities may be arranged by contacting the Box Office at least three days prior to the performance.
Manual Cinema’s Frankenstein
PERFORMING ARTS LIVE
Love, loss and creation merge in unexpected ways in this thrilling gothic classic conceived by internationally renowned multimedia art collective Manual Cinema. Combining live theatre and music with handmade shadow puppetry, cinematic techniques and original musical compositions, Manual Cinema creates immersive visual stories for stage and screen. Its most recent work stitches together the classic tale of Frankenstein with Mary Shelley’s own life to create an unexpected story about the beauty—and horror—of creation.
Duration: Approximately 70 minutes
WATCH
This production contains the use of theatrical haze and strobe lights.
Manual Cinema Post-Performance On-Stage Tour and Q&A
Wednesday, October 9
Ohrstrom-Bryant Theatre
Experience the magic of Manual Cinema! Join the artists for an on-stage tour and interactive Q&A with the audience after the performance. Attendees are invited to come on stage for a closer look at the production elements and to learn more about the ensemble’s creative process and unique approach to collaboration.
Manual Cinema Workshop
Thursday, October 10 from 9:30AM to 11AM
Ohrstrom-Bryant Theatre
Manual Cinema conducts a hands-on, participatory workshop exploring the company’s approach to storytelling and live cinema techniques. The workshop includes an overview of the company’s creative process; a staged sequence demonstrating the company’s AV/puppetry techniques and cinematic language; and an opportunity for participants to use the company’s equipment to devise short vignettes of their own.
Registration is required for the hands-on participatory component. Additional opportunities for observation may be available. Space is extremely limited. Questions? Contact Courtney Reilly at creilly@su.edu.
Registration for this workshop has ended. Thank you for interest and stay tuned for more performance and events throughout the year!
Concessions will be available for cash purchase beginning one hour prior to this performance.
This engagement of Manual Cinema is made possible through the ArtsCONNECT program of Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.
COMMUNITY SUPPORT
Thank you to our community partner Skyline Indie Film Fest for their support. Visit www.skylineindiefilmfest.org to learn more.
ACCESSIBILITY
Infrared hearing system headsets are available in Ohrstrom-Bryant Theatre only. Accommodations for disabilities may be arranged by contacting the Box Office at least three days prior to the performance.
Photos by Michael Brosilow
