Under the direction of Theatre Professor Deborah Jordan, Jacksonville University is proud to present the original production of Isaac, I am, beginning Oct. 19. The play was created by noted L.A. actor and award-winning playwright Mary Steelsmith. It will run Oct. 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27 and 28 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 22 at 3:00 p.m. in the Studio Theatre located in the Phillips Fine Arts Building on campus.
Isaac, I am was selected as the winner from more than 300 original plays submitted to the Helford Prize national playwriting contest officiated by JU. It was chosen by Bruce Helford, the creative force behind The Drew Carey Show, Roseanne and other successful sitcoms. Helford said, “I chose Issac, I am because it is sharp, relevant and disturbing.”
Helford, a JU alum, offered the $10,000 award to spark new creative talent in playwriting, and to provide JU students the experience of producing an original play, and working with the playwright. As a result, Steelsmith recently spent a week at JU, collaborating with theatre students and faculty. Jordan said Steelsmith brought a lot of “heart” to the entire Fine Arts department, and that her interaction with theatre students was “encouraging, enlightening and inspiring.”
From her home in L.A., Steelsmith said, “The brilliant Professor Jordan, her cast and crew are doing a splendid job of bringing my play to life. I can hardly wait to return to beautiful Jacksonville for the opening weekend and see the show on its feet.” Steelsmith will attend the shows on Oct. 19, 20, 21 and 22 in Jacksonville.
Isaac, I am is set in a world of seductive cyber chat rooms and instant messaging. One of the main characters, Angela, finds herself torn between a budding “real-life” romance and a darker online relationship with a family seemingly bent on its own destruction. As Angela struggles to come to terms with her own feelings of insecurity and loneliness, she is simultaneously pulled deeper into a bizarre cyberspace by the perplexing and emotionally elusive family of Josh, his younger sister Katie and their obsessive father, Isaac. Eventually, Angela’s dual worlds of reality and “virtu-ality” begin to blur together, until life on the computer threatens to devour her whole.
The principal cast includes music theatre major Renee V. Freeman as Angela; business major Tony Shaw as Isaac; theatre major Josh Cohen as Ben; and theatre major Renee LaCroix as Katie. Tony Steve, assistant professor of Contemporary and World Music at JU, will perform an original score he composed, and Cari Coble, assistant professor of Dance, has choreographed a waltz for the show.
The cyberspace setting provided a new challenge in staging and direction to portray a story that takes place primarily online. “It is a different type of staging,” said Jordan. “The kids have taught me more about the process, because they live it!” Jordan explained the problem of getting to the essence of the characters in a story where the communication is basically without facial involvement.
The entire production, from rehearsal to showings, is being filmed and made into a documentary by JU students taught by Devlin Mann, visiting assistant professor of theatre.
For admission and more information, call the College of Fine Arts at 256-7374. To interview students or the theatre director, please contact Deborah Jordan at djordan@ju.edu. If you’d like to contact Mary Steelsmith, email her at marysteelsmith@aol.com.
|
