Kent, OH – After an 18-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, live performances will return to Kent State’s School of Theatre and Dance when the 2021-2022 mainstage season commences in October 2021.
As part of the season, the School of Theatre and Dance will welcome professional theatre artist JaMeeka Holloway as the 2021-2022 Roe Green Visiting Director. Holloway will direct the season’s closing production, William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing.
“The School is honored to offer a season of new works, reimagined classics and diverse stories from artists and collaborators representing a wide spectrum of lived experiences,” said Eric van Baars, director of the School of Theatre and Dance. “These tiles represent a paradigm shift in our selection process, and were driven by input from student voices and needs.”
The 2021-2022 season will open with Suzan-Lori Parks’ 365 Days/365 Plays, running Oct. 7 - 13, 2021 in Wright-Curtis Theatre. Directed by associate professor Courtney Brown, the production will feature a selection of entries from Parks’ acclaimed anthology of 365 separate plays which she wrote over the course of one calendar year.
The season will continue with the new musical Chaining Zero, running Nov. 5 - 14, 2021. With music and lyrics by Jeffrey James and Justin Halpin, book by Kent State alumni John Moauro (BFA, Musical Theatre ‘07) and Griffin Parsons (BFA, Musical Theatre ‘06), and additional book by Alana Rader (BFA, Musical Theatre '05). Chaining Zero is directed by professor Terri Kent, music directed by associate professor Jennifer Korecki, and choreographed by Martín Céspedes. The new musical, which has received several workshops and readings and whose “Chaining Zero Sessions” have been highlighted by BroadwayWorld.com, is a story of struggle, hope, desire and pain intersecting with joy, terror and discovery to demonstrate that our paths don’t always take the most direct route.
Associate professor Jeffrey Marc Rockland will artistic direct the annual faculty dance concert, Dance ‘21: Love Stories, Dec. 3-5, 2021. This concert features original choreography by members of Kent State University’s dance faculty and Israeli Guest Artist Rina Badash, and performances by dance majors and minors.
School of Theatre and Dance Director Eric van Baars will direct Disney’s Freaky Friday, Feb. 25 - March 6, 2022. With book by Bridget Carpenter, music by Tom Kitt, and lyrics by Brian Yorkey, Freaky Friday is based on the novel of the same name by Mary Rodgers and the 1976, 1995, and 2003 Disney films and explores what happens when an overworked mother and her teenage daughter magically swap bodies and have just one day to put things right again. Freaky Friday will be music directed by associate professor Jonathan Swoboda and choreographed by assistant professor Jennifer Black.
The annual combined B.F.A. Senior Dance Concert and Student Dance Festival, artistic directed by associate professor Barbara Allegra Verlezza, will run March 18 - 20, 2022. The concert will feature original choreography and performance by Kent State dance majors and minors, highlighting a variety of dance styles.
Under the artistic direction of associate professor Gregory King, the Kent Dance Ensemble, Kent State University’s pre-professional dance company, will present its annual concert No Permission Needed April 8 - 10, 2022. The concert will feature choreography by a variety of sought-after guest artists who will spend time in residency with the Kent Dance Ensemble during the 2021-2022 academic year and set pieces on the Ensemble.
The season will conclude April 22 - May 1, 2022 with the Roe Green Visiting Director Series presentation of William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, directed by 2021-2022 Roe Green Visiting Director JaMeeka Holloway. Holloway will present a new treatment of the classic Shakespearean comedy about love and misunderstanding.
Tickets for the 2021-2022 season will go on sale Sept. 13, 2021 at 12:00 p.m. For tickets call 330-672-ARTS (2787), purchase online at www.kent.edu/theatredance or in person at the Performing Arts Box Office located in the Roe Green Center lobby of the Center for the Performing Arts at 1325 Theatre Drive. The box office is open Mon. – Fri., Noon to 5 pm. Tickets are $18 for adults, $16 for Kent State University alumni, $14 for faculty and staff, $14 for seniors (60+) and non-Kent State students age 18 and under are $10. Tickets for full-time, Kent campus undergraduates are free of charge. Groups of 10 or more can purchase tickets for $12 per person. Flex pass subscriptions are also available. The box office accepts Visa, MasterCard, Discover, checks, and cash.
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Media Contact:
Joni Koneval, 330-672-0116, jkoneval@kent.edu