Tiffany Thompson to Perform in Theatre Production at West Virginia Wesleyan

2011 Nov 14

West Virginia Wesleyan's Department of Theatre and Dance is creating their own version of Romeo and Juliet, titled R&J. Directed by Thomas Schoffler, assistant professor of musical theatre, R&J will take stage on December 1, 2, and 3, at 8 p.m. in the Culpepper Auditorium in the Virginia Thomas Law Center for the Performing Arts.

Tiffany Thompson from Brooklyn, NY, a junior musical theatre major, will perform in the production.

R&J takes the classic Romeo and Juliet a different direction. Rather than a traditional script, the lines of all of the characters have been broken up among the ensemble cast. The characters live in props or costumes rather than one actor. Scenes have been created with Anne Bogart's theatrical technique, Viewpointing.

"Our department likes to present a Shakespearean production at least once every four years, as it gives our students experience with the most-produced playwright in the English-speaking world," said Schoffler. "This semester we are exploring an ensemble-based version of Romeo & Juliet, which I like to think of as a "distillation." Most people are familiar with this story, so we are taking it apart and reconstructing it using Shakespeare's words and movement languages. Hopefully the relationships between text, actors and design will illuminate themes in the classic play in a fresh, different way."

Tickets for R&J will be available at the box office of the Performing Arts Center one hour before show time. Ticket prices are as follows: $3 for Wesleyan students/faculty with ID, $5 for students and senior citizens, and $7 for adults. For more information, contact Schoffler at Schoffler_t@wvwc.edu or 304-473-8810.