The 2012 TRANSMIGRATION: A Festival of Student-Created New Works Runs Feb. 16-18
CINCINNATI, OH — The College-Conservatory of Music (CCM)’s Drama students continue to learn what it takes to produce their own theatre pieces as they prepare for the 2012 TRANSMIGRATION: A Festival of Student-Created New Works taking place February 16-18 throughout CCM Village. The fourth-annual festival allows the audience to sample half-hour works produced by small groups of Drama majors, who create all aspects of their productions from start to finish. Admission to the festival is free, but reservations are required.
The festival is an exciting event for both guests and the presenters, as audiences get the opportunity to see up to four pieces of new theatre in a single night and the students premiere works that are entirely their own. “TRANSMIGRATION is student-driven and artist-driven,” says Richard Hess, chair of CCM’s Drama Department and director of TRANSMIGRATION. “Students get free reign to, as a group of people, create, cast themselves and produce a piece of work that is original and means something to them.”
TRANSMIGRATION came into being in response to the dynamic careers of today’s professional actors. Though auditioning and getting cast for roles is the conventional way for an actor to make a name for his or herself, “the second way to make work is to gather a group of like-minded people, get together and create something… students need to know how to go into a storefront theatre and say ‘we’re going to make something in this raw space,’” Hess asserts. TRANSMIGRATION gives students real-world creative experiences that will last and develop through the rest of their careers.
Some of the companies formed by current and former CCM Drama students include The Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati, Satori Theatre Group (Seattle), The Lost Theatre Company (New York), Cincinnati Outdoor Classics and Stokastik Theatre Ensemble (Los Angeles). Although several of these companies were formed prior to the inception of TRANSMIGRATION, the festival is added encouragement for students to venture out on their own.
“It teaches us that you are in control of your own art, no one gives you permission to make art and if you just find your people anything is possible,” says senior Cameron Davis, who is working on Knock Knock. “Ultimately there is a product that is TRANSMIGRATION, but it’s the journey that means so much to us.”
The lessons students learn from TRANSMIGRATION come from the process of collaborating in groups of 8-10 people to develop a concept, story, characters and script for their 30-minute shows. Beyond the plays, students must also construct a set, costumes, lighting design and marketing campaign for their productions, all on a budget of $60. Students do not choose their groups, but instead are assigned randomly, providing them with the opportunity to collaborate with new people with different ideas.
“The audience gets the product, but we get the process… sometimes butting heads, but in a way that sharpens the iron,” states sophomore Mia Vera, who will be presenting the historically-inspired Booth at this year’s festival. “We find our voices and we learn to harmonize; I’m learning what I love, but I’m also learning what people in my group love and how those things go together.”
This year’s TRANSMIGRATION festival will feature the works Booth, Eddie Shanahan, forget me not, Knock Knock, and Y2012K.
Audience members will have the opportunity to customize their theater-going experience by choosing to watch up to four different productions, which are performed simultaneously in non-traditional spaces throughout CCM’s Corbett Center for the Performing Arts.
CCM EVENT DETAILS
TRANSMIGRATION
Dates and Times:
- Thursday, Feb. 16 at 7 p.m.
- Friday, Feb. 17 at 7 p.m.
- Saturday, Feb. 18 at 2 & 7 p.m.
See descriptions below for specific times for each production.
Location: Various locations throughout the CCM Village, including:
- Cohen Family Studio Theater
- Room 3640 Corbett Center for the Performing Arts
- Room 3650 Corbett Center for the Performing Arts
See individual production descriptions for details.
Tickets & Information: Admission is free, but reservations are required and can be reserved by contacting the CCM Box Office at 513-556-4183. Tickets become available Monday, February 13 at noon. Limit two tickets per order. Parking is available in the CCM Garage (at the base of Corry Boulevard off of Jefferson Avenue) and additional garages throughout the UC campus. For complete reservation and parking information, visit ccm.uc.edu.
CCM Season Presenting Sponsor: The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation
Drama Studio Series Sponsor: Neil Artman & Margaret Straub
Show Descriptions
Booth
To Win, To Kill, To Live
Description: This historically based piece of theatre is themed on the Lincoln assassination. It takes the audience through the leading up to (to win), day of (to kill), and fallout (to live) from the perspective of the infamous John Wilkes Booth. The dramatic retelling of what happened in the presidential booth of Ford’s Theatre is interactive and immersive: the audience will experience the three parts separately, and not necessarily linearly, as they follow a prescribed object through scenes.
Featuring: Clare Ward, Kirstopher Dean, Ellie Jameson, Ty Olwin, Madeline Smith, John Patrick Maddock, Mia Vera*, Caitlin Penson, Fabiola Rodriguez
Performance information: Cohen Family Studio Theatre
- Thursday, Feb. 16 at 7:45 & 8:30 p.m.
- Friday, Feb. 17 at 7:45 & 8:30 p.m.
- Saturday, Feb. 18 at 2:45 & 3:30 p.m., 7:45 & 8:30 p.m.
forget me not
Can my cape fit into my brief case?
Description: forget me not examines how to reconcile the seriousness of adulthood with the desire for childlike curiosity and imagination. A 20-year-old is dissatisfied with the state of her imagination and in order to figure out what went wrong, she must start at its formation. Her imaginary friends guide her from childhood to adulthood in order to figure out her present state.
Featuring: Zachary Crowley, Arielle Geller, Spencer House, William Kiley, Connor Lawrence, Clifford Nunley, Caroline Shannon, Sarah Vargo, Ian Webber, Jaclyn Williams*
Performance information: 3640 Corbett Center
- Thursday, Feb. 16 at 7 & 7:45 p.m.
- Friday, Feb. 17 at 7 & 7:45 p.m.
- Saturday, Feb. 18 at 2 & 2:45 p.m., 7 & 7:45 p.m.
The Eddie Shanahan Show
“Who’s in charge around here?”
Description: Replicating a TV show, Eddie Shanahan is experienced as if being taped in front of a live studio audience. On the eve of the most important late-night awards show, the Emmy’s, the bitter and miserly Eddie Shanahan is met by three spirits who take him in search of the joy that used to radiate into the homes of his once-fans. Based on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
Featuring: Bailie Breault, William Brown, Kate Daugherty, Mack Harden, Claron Hayden*, Colleen Ladrick, Brynn Langford, Carli Rhoades, Shaun Sutton
Performance information: Cohen Family Studio Theatre
- Thursday, Feb. 16 at 7 & 9:15 p.m.
- Friday, Feb. 17 at 7 & 9:15 p.m.
- Saturday, Feb. 18 at 2 & 4:15 p.m., 7 & 9:15 p.m.
Anaconda Montana
Knock Knock
Every story has two rooms
Description: There are two sides to every story, and audiences can experience each one individually in Knock Knock, occurring in two places at once: Corbett Center 3640 and 3650. Two groups of strangers come together in this Clue-esque family mystery, realizing in the process that they have much more in common than they previously realized.
Featuring: Alyssa Caputo, Jack Conroy, Cameron Davis*, Alex Escher, Hannah Halvorson, Anna Horton, Mary Malloy, Megan Marshall, Callie Schuttera, Parker Searfoss, Hope Shangle, Alec Silberblatt, Nathan Wallace, Garrett Walters, Trey Wright, Gregory Wyatt
Performance information: 3640 and 3650 Corbett Center
- Thursday, Feb. 16 at 8:30 & 9:15 p.m.
- Friday, Feb. 17 at 8:30 & 9:15 p.m.
- Saturday, Feb. 18 at 3:30 & 4:15 p.m., 8:30 & 9:15 p.m.
Y2012K
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Just Let It All End
Description: Good morning, America. It’s 2012 and this is the 9:00 news. The financial meltdown has come to a head, there’s riots, Boston is a quarantine zone, animals have escaped the zoo, devastating natural disasters are occurring, zombies, dinosaurs… Don’t worry: stay indoors, don’t drink the water and we’ll be here bringing you live coverage.
Featuring: Bennett Bradley, Christian Carey, Sarah Davenport, Joe Markesbery, Molly Massa, Anna Stapleton, Mariel Tompkins, Jared Wilson*
Performance information: 3650 Corbett Center
- Thursday, Feb. 16 at 7 & 7:45 p.m.
- Friday, Feb. 17 at 7 & 7:45 p.m.
- Saturday, Feb. 18 at 2 & 2:45 p.m., 7 & 7:45 p.m.
*Director
MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
Behind the Curtain Cincinnati 