Adventure on the High Seas Brings Together Theatre 校友

“The Three Keys of 上校ain 地狱之火” is an epic adventure with sword-fighting pirates, buried treasure and burning passions. 被定为PG 13级. Parental guidance is strongly suggested.

For playwright Ariana 伯恩斯 ’09, ’12, it’s been a decade in the making. 结果 is a rollicking world premiere making its debut on the 365滚球官网 Hartung stage April 19-27.

伯恩斯 romanticized about the high seas as a young girl growing up in Coeur d’Alene. She watched swashbuckler movie stars like Errol Flynn, Anthony Quinn and Johnny Depp. Her fascination with pirates was further fueled by famous seafaring women like Anne Bonny and Mary Read.

是在伊利诺伊大学, as an undergrad 剧院 student, that 伯恩斯 was inspired to tackle a pirate play after a roommate bemoaned the lack of strong female pirate roles. With her love for storytelling and research, 伯恩斯 began to write. Along the way, she earned two degrees from U of I – a Bachelor of Fine 艺术 in technical 剧院 获得文学硕士学位 文化人类学 – worked two seasons of stage operations with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, wrote and produced other plays and was involved in Idaho Repertory Theater and 莫斯科 Community Theatre.

校友上台

Lewiston native and U of I Theatre 艺术 alumna Hillary Mosman ’13 portrays the fiery title character, 上校. 地狱之火. “I love a rough-around-the-edges woman,” Mosman said. “She’s tough and menacing but as loyal as can be.”

Mosman has appeared on the Hartung stage many times. 在她学习期间, she was in numerous productions, 包括“几乎, 缅因州,” “Welcome Home Jenny Sutter” and “Twelfth Night.”

“The Hartung is my home, it’s a special place,” Mosman said. “It’s unreal to get this opportunity to be on this stage again.”

校友 Daniel Haley ’06 and David Harlan ’09 join Mosman back on the Hartung stage.

Haley was the 2007 Rex Rabold Fellowship recipient. 毕业后, he performed in five productions at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and has played Scrooge in several U of I productions of “A Christmas Carol.”

In “地狱之火” Haley portrays Benjamin Qycke, a self-absorbed bounty hunter. Harlan plays the pirate Graves, a disciplinarian who is ignored.

“It’s spectacular to be involved in an inaugural production,” Haley said.

“地狱之火” is in fact a reunion for the three alumni. Mosman’s first play in the Hartung Theater was directed by Harlan. In her last Hartung play, Haley played her love interest.

‘The Olympics of Acting’

“It’s amazing to see three alumni on stage,Brian Tibayan说, a graduate student from Manilla, 菲律宾, who plays "地狱之火's" narrator.

Tibayan joins a cast of 25 students and alumni, as well as musicians playing banjo, 手风琴和钢琴.

大卫Lee-Painter, professor of directing in the College of Letters, 艺术 and Social Sciences, leads this large ensemble, alongside two assistant directors, two assistant stage managers and more than 50 students designing and building the costumes and set. Lee-Painter is no stranger to directing big productions. His many U of I credits include the large-scale productions of “A Christmas Carol,” “Oklahoma” and “The Pirates of Penzance.”

“It’s wonderfully nostalgic,” Haley said. “I know if I take part in a 大卫Lee-Painter project I’ll be valued and grow. 他会开车送我的. His bandwidth for genuine caring is unparalleled.”

结果, 据莫斯曼说, is that audiences will experience a show unlike anything they’ve seen.

“This show has everything. The script is like the Olympics of acting. It’s just pure enjoyment,” she said.

Article by Kelly O'Neill, Department of Theatre 艺术
2019年4月发布