Welcome to the Spring 2013 AWC Theatre Production Schedule. This semester we offer a wide variety of productions to suit most aesthetic tastes. We began in January with auditions and will finish in late April with The Vagina Monologues, and the period between those points promises to be intriguing, up-lifting and exhilarating. So come along for the ride.
Act I
The actual first production of our season was not an AWC Theatre exclusive production. We are an annual part of The Two Rivers Renaissance Faire, Pirate and Fairy Festival at the Yuma West Wetlands State Park, which ran Feb. 1, 2 and 3. AWC Theatre served the Faire as the Hawker’s Guild, Strolling Players, Jugglers and Minstrels and Fencing Academy. AWC professor Straley was the Fight Master, and theatre students provided the other services.
An Evening of Romance: Dinner with Romeo and Juliet also was not an AWC Theatre exclusive offering. AWC faculty (Chip Straley) and former students (Allison Dedecker, Shane McGraw, and Deb Winters) joined with the Gateway Players for the Bard’s greatest love story on Feb. 8 and 14 at St. Paul’s Cultural Center.
A Fine Art’s Showcase, the first actual AWC Theatre production of the semester, was a gathering of actors, singers, dancers, artists, musicians and other fine arts-ists from AWC and the greater Yuma Community, running Feb. 15 and 16 in the AWC Theater.
Three Student One-Acts, playing March 1, 2 & 3 as well as 8, 9 & 10, were directed by AWC Theatre students (Angel Calderon, Tiffany Mullinex, and Rachel Barker and Matthew Richards), and one play (Tiffany’s) was an original piece written by the director.
Act II
Sixty in Ninety compels its cast to write 60 two-minute plays and then perform them in 90 minutes. Directed by AWC Theatre stalwart Linda Torrez – in her final AWC Theatre directing gig – this production promises to be fast-paced, fabulous, and mostly funny. This production continues a process begun by Nikki Olsen at Yuma High School many years ago, and Linda proudly gets in touch with those theatre roots to present this show. This production runs Fri. and Sat., March 22 and 23 from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. in the AWC Theater.
The Merchant of Venice, a Shakespeare play co-directed by AWC Theatre graduate Deb Winters and Yuma’s Gateway Players director Jonathan Close, presents a period take on this often controversial production. Opening on Friday, April 12, Merchant runs for eight performances at the AWC Theater: Fri., Sat., & Sun., and Wed.–Sunday from April 12–21. Curtain opens at 7:30 p.m. – except on Sundays, when the show begins at 2:30 p.m..
The Vagina Monologues, our annual presentation of Eve Ensler’s globally relevant piece, is expected to stimulate minds, alter thought processes and awaken the Yuma audience to some positive and some negative realities concerning the world-wide treatment of women. So, men, if you have ever known or loved a woman, you need to see this play. Women, if you have ever known or loved yourself or another woman, then you too need to see this play. Directed this year by AWC Theatre student Amanda Carreno, VagMo runs for two performances Fri. and Sat., April 26 and 27, from 7:30–9:30 p.m. in the AWC Theater.
Donations, please
Instead of selling tickets, AWC Theatre asks for donations –$10, five articles of clean, wearable clothing or five items of non-perishable food. The money will be used to continue bringing the best possible theatre to the Yuma community, the clothing will be donated to the Crossroad’s Mission, and the food will go to the Yuma Community Food Bank. These are the only organizations that do what they do for our community; and AWC Theatre, believing that theatre and indeed all art ought to serve the community, gladly supports their efforts for all of us.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding any of the above productions, please contact AWCTheatre Professor Chip Straley at 928 344-7592 or via email at chip.straley@azwestern.edu. Please remember that we are not often in our office on Fridays. Thanks for your interest in and support of the Arts in Yuma in general and AWC Theatre specifically. Have a great 2013, and we hope to see you at the shows.
Chip Straley,
AWC Professor of Theatre
