CCM Alumnus Ty Olwin stars with Kristen Stewart in International film ‘Personal Shopper’

Ty Olwin in CCM’s production of ‘Coram Boy.’

Ty Olwin has had a busy and successful career since he graduated from CCM with a BFA in Drama in 2013. He has appeared in plays, television shows, and will soon co-star with actress Kristen Stewart in Personal Shopper, an international film about a ghost story that takes place in the fashion underworld of Paris.

Personal Shopper is set to appear in the Cannes Film Festival in France May 11-22. Olwin, 25, was cast to play Stewart’s boyfriend, Gary, in the film. The film reunites Stewart with French Director, Oliver Assayas — the two worked together in Assayas’ Clouds of Sils Maria (2014). Stewart became the first American actress to win a Cesar award for her role in Clouds of Sils Maria, which went on to receive five additional Ceasar nominations.

Olwin is a Chicago-based actor who has made his mark in the Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s productions of Lord of the Flies, East of Eden and Russian Transport. He has also appeared in Brilliant Adventures at Steep Theatre Company, Season on the Line at The House Theatre of Chicago, and the Raven Theatre’s production of Tennessee Williams’ Vieux Carre. In addition, Ty has landed guest starring roles on Crisis and Chicago Fire on NBC.

While enrolled at CCM, Olwin was recognized by the League of Cincinnati Theatres with an award for Leading Actor in a Play for his role in the conservatory’s production of Coram Boy. As a sophomore, he earned an Acclaim Award nomination for his role in CCM’s production of Red Light Winter. Olwin’s other CCM credits include The Three Sisters, Picnic, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and The Time of Your Life.

Most recently, he has worked with playwright Rebecca Gilman and Director Robert Falls in a new play Soups, Stews and Casseroles: 1976, which will run from May 21- June 19 at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. The play examines workers’ rights and the effects of big business on small town lives.

LCT Awards ‘S.L.U.T.’ Top Prize in CCM’s TRANSMIGRATION Series

Panelists for the League of Cincinnati Theatres (LCT) have recognized S.L.U.T. as the best production at CCM’s 2013 TRANSMIGRATION Festival, the Drama department’s annual presentation of student written and produced work. Panelists awarded second place to Sentenced, and honorable mentions to 2122 Michigan Avenue and The Sherwin Williams Effect. Congratulations to all involved!

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. 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. This year, six shows were presented. “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.”

The 2013 TRANSMIGRATION Festival’s New Works

Running March 7 – 9, this year’s TRANSMIGRATION festival will feature student-created new works 2122 MICHIGAN AVENUE, The Opening, Sentenced, The Sherwin Williams Effect, S.L.U.T. and Void.

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 and in non-traditional spaces throughout CCM’s Corbett Center for the Performing Arts. Learn more about each of these new, student-created works after the jump!

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.

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.

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

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!

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.

This week, CCM presents what the New York Herald Tribune dubbed “One of the most enchanting theatrical works imaginable.”

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.

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.

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 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.

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.