CCM Drama Students Present Edgy, Original Works During TRANSMIGRATION Festival

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CCM Drama students continue to learn what it takes to produce their own art as they prepare for the 2013 TRANSMIGRATION Festival of Student-Created New Works taking place March 7-9 throughout CCM Village.

The fifth-annual festival allows the audience to experience half-hour works produced by small groups of Drama majors, who create and design all aspects of their productions from start to finish. Admission to the festival is free, but reservations are required.

A.B., Dolly, Ralph and Julia Cohen Chair in Drama Richard Hess.

A.B., Dolly, Ralph and Julia Cohen Chair in Drama Richard Hess.

The festival is an exciting event for both guests and the presenters, as audiences get the opportunity to see up to four very different pieces of new theatre in a single night and the students premiere works that are entirely their own. “TRANSMIGRATION teaches our actors to be entrepreneurs,” says Richard Hess, chair of CCM’s Drama Department and director of the TRANSMIGRATION Festival. “There are absolutely no holds barred, with the exception of the thirty-minute time limit, allowing our students to learn to express from within.”

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.

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CCM’s ‘The Time of Your Life’ Earns Two LCT Nominations

CCM presents 'The Time of Your Life.' Photography by Mark Lyons.

CCM presents ‘The Time of Your Life.’ Photography by Mark Lyons.

Panelists for the League of Cincinnati Theatres (LCT) have recognized CCM’s Mainstage Series production of The Time of Your Life with two LCT nominations, for Ensemble in a Play and for scenic design (Mark Halpin). Congratulations to everyone involved with this production!

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CCM Slideshows: The Time of Your Life

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CCM proudly presents William Saroyan’s Pulitzer Prize and Drama Critics’ Circle Award-winning drama The Time of Your Life, running tonight through Sunday in UC’s Patricia Corbett Theater. Tickets are on sale now.

You can read the Cincinnati Enquirer‘s preview of the show here and learn more about the production here.

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CCM’s Mainstage Series Offers ‘The Time of Your Life’ This February

An early look at the set for 'The Time of Your Life' by Scenic Designer Mark Halpin.

An early look at the set for ‘The Time of Your Life’ by Scenic Designer Mark Halpin.

CCM proudly presents a sprawling, elegant production of American playwright William Saroyan’s award-winning five-act play The Time of Your Life, running Feb. 6 (preview) – 10 in UC’s Patricia Corbett Theater.

Set in a run-down waterfront dive bar on the docks of San Francisco (“Nick’s Pacific Street Saloon, Restaurant and Entertainment Palace”) in October of 1939, The Time of Your Life is filled with colorful characters, love and the follies of humanity. CCM Associate Professor of Drama Diane Kvapil directs.

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CCM Presents ‘The Time of Your Life’ Feb. 6-10

Ellie Jameson as Kitty, Cliff Nunley as Nick and Will Kiley as Joe in CCM's 'The Time of Your Life.' Photography by Brian J. Ruggaber. Shot on location at Uncle Woody's Pub in Clifton.

Ellie Jameson as Kitty, Cliff Nunley as Nick and Will Kiley as Joe in CCM’s ‘The Time of Your Life.’ Photography by Brian J. Ruggaber. Shot at Uncle Woody’s Pub in Clifton.

“In the time of your life, live – so that in that good time there shall be no ugliness or death for yourself or for any life your life touches.” – William Saroyan

This February, CCM proudly presents William Saroyan‘s sprawling and elegant The Time of Your Life. Directed by Diane Kvapil, this bittersweet drama runs Feb. 6 (preview) – 10 in CCM’s Patricia Corbett Theater.

Saroyan’s second play, The Time of Your Life was written in just six days and went on to become the only play to win both the Pulitzer Prize and the Drama Critic’s Circle Award. Written in the summer of 1939, Saroyan said of the work, “The shadow of impending war is all over my second play.”

“People everywhere needed respite from fear,” Kvapil explains. “Hope was hard to find… the whole world was at war or in fear of invasion.” In this climate, the run-down waterfront saloon of Saroyan’s play serves as a refuge, a place of peace and camaraderie.

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A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Scenic Design of ‘The Time of Your Life’

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CCM’s 2012-13 Mainstage Series resumes next month with William Saroyan’s sprawling, elegant and bittersweet The Time of Your Life.

Running Feb. 6 (preview) – 10 in CCM’s Patricia Corbett Theater on the campus of the University of Cincinnati, The Time of Your Life was the first drama to win both the Pulitzer Prize and the Drama Critics’ Circle Award!

Today, we present our first behind-the-scenes look at the set’s progress. Theatre design and production students are busy bringing scenic designers Mark Halpin and Cai Zeng‘s vision to life! Check back for another early look at The Time of Your Life later on this week.

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Enquirer Previews CCM’s ‘Mad Men’ Inspired Take on ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’

Photography by Mark Lyons.

Photography by Mark Lyons.

Jackie Demaline takes a closer look at CCM’s unique spin on William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in today’s edition of the Cincinnati Enquirer. A Midsummer Night’s Dream runs through this Sunday, Oct. 7, in Patricia Corbett Theater.

Learn more about director Michael Burnham‘s unique approach to the play and scenic designer Ryan Howell‘s collaboration with Toronto-based artist Amy Shackleton and CCM’s Division of Electronic Media here.

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CCM Slideshows: A Midsummer Night’s Dream

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CCM proudly presents a colorful new twist on William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, running through Oct. 7 in UC’s Patricia Corbett Theater.

Are you coming to campus for UC Homecoming this weekend? Come to CCM Village after the Homecoming Kickoff Party at the Myers Alumni Center on Friday for an 8 p.m. performance or come early on Saturday and catch a matinee of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at 2 p.m. (kick-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.).

This is a perfect weekend to experience EVERYTHING going on at the University of Cincinnati! Don’t miss the opening of CCM’s must-see 2012-13 Mainstage Series.

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CCM Theatre Design & Production and E-Media Students Team with Artist Amy Shackleton to Give ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ a Colorful Twist

Scenic designer and third-year graduate student Ryan Howell (left) and Canadian artist Amy Shackleton give a design presentation to CCM Theatre Design and Production students.

Scenic designer and third-year graduate student Ryan Howell (left) and Canadian artist Amy Shackleton give a design presentation to CCM Theatre Design and Production students.

William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream receives a colorful and refreshing update in the upcoming production at UC’s College-Conservatory of Music. Beginning with a preview performance on Oct. 3, audiences will be transported to the 1960s and will follow four lovers and some unfortunate “mechanicals” as their lives become the playthings of a band of fairies.

Director Michael Burnham wanted to take a new approach to a traditional piece and encouraged set designer and third year graduate student Ryan Howell to contact Canadian artist Amy Shackleton to collaborate on an original art piece for the show. With the help of CCM’s Division of Electronic Media, Amy Shackleton was filmed while painting the piece and the resulting footage will be used to create a backdrop that will paint itself as the story develops.

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