Amidst the senior graphic design thesis displays in the center of the Fogelson Library, the performing arts students in the musical theater workshop class will be presenting pieces from the “classics” in Lost and Found: The Journey We All Take. Hosting a variety of workshop veterans/seniors including Stefanee Chevalier, Liz Anderson, Bekah Vega, Shenyse Harris and Danielle Reddick, this year’s performance spans from Lost in the Stars to Sound of Music. Interwoven with the selected songs are separate story lines discussing sexual assault, homesickness and various other meaningful dialogues. As always, an integral part of the workshop are the transitions, which give context to each song despite having been taken from different musicals. Utilizing the spiral staircase, pastel beams and the graphic design seniors’ work as a backdrop, Fogelson provides an adequate space for these pieces, though the talent would work seamlessly on a main stage. Featured pieces include “Rain on my Parade” performed by junior Andi Starr, “Lonely House” performed by freshman Lebraska Washington and “Some Other Time” by senior Stefanee Chevalier to name a few. Chevalier and Washington are no strangers to musicals, either. Chevalier performed an outstanding rendition of “I’m the Greatest Star” from Funny Girl at last spring’s workshop in addition to working on this year’s I love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change on the Garson’s main stage along with Washington. After proving himself in last semester’s run of Hotline, Washington displayed his acting, singing and dancing prowess in this year’s main stage musical and executed the workshop in the same manner. Just a freshman, he’s certainly bound for more roles to come. Reddick performed “Good Morning Star Shine” from Oliver after a mesmerizing story about meeting indigenous elderly women at Four Corners. Reddick manages to not only captivate with her presentation, but mystify with tone and movement. This year’s workshop runs around 45 minutes and will be shown at the Fogelson Library at 7 p.m., Friday, May 8 and 2 p.m., Saturday, May 9. An additonal 7 p.m. show May 9 will take place at Pranzo’s...
String of Pearls Preview
posted by Andrew Koss
Alyssa Vogel says String of Pearls is a “woman-empowering show. You will know a woman in the play, whether it’s your mother, your grandmother or someone else.” String of Pearls premieres April 10 and 11 at 7 p.m. and concludes on April 12 at 2 p.m.
Let’s Hear it For Some Girls
posted by Nick Martinez
Neil Labute’s Some Girl(s), opened Oct. 17, presents a marked script improvement over PAD’s previous show The Cave Dwellers, and boasts strong performances from its four female leads. Senior Jade Scott Lewis does an affable job as Guy, a struggling writer on an apology tour to four former ex-girlfriends, before his upcoming nuptials. Lewis is perfectly cast as the bumbling heartbreaker, equally selling the charm to win women over, as well as the selfish streak to ruin them. Again, Lewis does a great job as the scoundrel Guy, but the real stars of the show are his former lovers, all vulnerable in their own ways, and with enough hurt that reveals more about Guy than Guy ever could. The story is told in four scenes, each with Guy and one of his ex-girlfriends as the onlycharacters in the scene. Two emotionally wrought scenes bookend the show, but the middle two play as a bizarre psycho-sexual power struggle. Senior Shenyse Harris plays Tyler, an art school free spirit who is the only girl Guy didn’t leave with a permanent scar. Harris imbues what could have been yet another slut caricature with confidence and hints at a deeper motive that she and Guy may share. Each girl is given roughly sketched lives outside the scenes, but emotional scars run deep, perhaps none more so than suburban housewife Sam, played by junior Tristine Henderson. Sam and Guy’s relationship was high school puppy love, a concept likely still fresh in the mind of many of the SFUAD audience members. Henderson ably portrays the stretched-thin mom, and her increasing desperation and past digging leads to great tragicomedy. The show itself ends on a grand joke, one I won’t spoil, but the final scene is heartbreaking in its escalation. Bobbi, played by senior Shelby Gray, has the best chemistry for Guy, and the reunion produces unfortunate revelations. Each character, at one point or another, gets to play the victim, but Grey’s Bobbi refuses to play Guy’s role. Her Bobbi is smart, and the most put-together of the other women, but her confrontation with her past produces emptying tear ducts, and not just for the character. Not me, of course, I just had something in my eye. PAD has been killing it this semester, and Some Girl(s) is a major reason...
Les Liaisons Dangereuses
posted by Luke Montavon
This weekend, SFUAD Performing Arts Department presents Dangerous Liaisons, directed by Jon Jory.
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