Reposted from UNCG News and Features
UNCG Theatre and Triad Stage joined forces in 2005 to launch Theatre 232, a month-long summer theater festival that offers invaluable experience for theater students and engaging shows for audiences.
Theatre 232, which takes its name from the street address of Triad Stage at 232 S. Elm downtown, heads into its eighth year this summer. On tap are three eclectic student productions and a mainstage production at Triad Stage.
Theatre 232 runs from June 13 through June 29. UNCG Theatre productions are “God of Carnage,” a comedy by Yasmina Reza; “Judith of Bethulia,” Charles Busch’s campy celebration of the Hollywood Biblical epic; and “Noodle Doodle Box,” a children’s show about sharing.
For Thomas Barker, the intense summer program is a chance for him to stretch his limits and test the waters. Barker, a graduate student, is primarily a set designer, but for his work on “Judith,” he is also designing costumes and lights.
“Theatre 232 is proving to be the biggest design challenge I’ve ever had,” he says. “Each of us designers has a focus — either sets, costumes, or lights — and for these three shows they’ve given us assignments outside of our focus … It’s really exciting, though. Everybody – -the other designers, technicians, directors and actors — is doing great work and I can’t wait to see the final product.”
Undergraduate Terry Baker, in charge of props for all three UNCG Theatre shows, was a little worried about the frenetic pace Theatre 232 requires. But Baker says the challenge has its rewards, exposing him to aspects of theater he might not otherwise encounter.
“I had a little pressure on me to succeed because I am the first ‘first-year’ undergrad to be accepted into the summer program,” he says. “I have learned a lot about props and the things that I have learned will help me with future shows that I do in the school’s program and outside of it. Not only have I learned many things about props, I have also learned a lot about set design and scenery. This has also been useful because my main focus in our program is scene design and my minor concentration is props.”
“God of Carnage” and “Noodle Doodle Box” perform on campus in the Brown Building Theater at 402 Tate Street. “Noodle Doodle Box” is an hour-long show written for kids ages 4-8.
“Judith of Bethulia” performs in the UpStage Cabaret at Triad Stage. This is a late-night show for adults.
UNCG theater students will also perform in the Triad Stage mainstage production, “Tennessee Playboy: A Redneck Romance.” “Playboy” is a liberal adaptation of J.M. Synge’s “Playboy of the Western World” by Preston Lane, artistic director of Triad Stage.
For tickets, showtimes and production details, call Triad Stage at 336-272-0160 or visit www.triadstage.org.
UNCG Now story posted by Michelle Hines ( mkhines@uncg.edu )
Photo: Jami Witt (left) and Amy Hamel, graduate students in UNCG’s theater program, in Triad Stage’s “The Tennessee Playboy.” Photo by Fred Kinney