{"id":27446,"date":"2019-06-24T20:04:02","date_gmt":"2019-06-25T01:04:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/?p=27446"},"modified":"2019-06-24T20:04:02","modified_gmt":"2019-06-25T01:04:02","slug":"apsu-to-host-world-premiere-of-new-play-by-oscar-and-pulitzer-winning-writer-john-patrick-shanley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/2019\/06\/24\/apsu-to-host-world-premiere-of-new-play-by-oscar-and-pulitzer-winning-writer-john-patrick-shanley\/","title":{"rendered":"APSU to host world premiere of new play by Oscar- and Pulitzer-winning writer John Patrick Shanley"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AustinClarksville, TN<\/strong> – Austin Peay State University (APSU) assistant professor of acting and directing Talon Beeson doesn\u2019t like to brag, but he couldn\u2019t help himself during a recent recruiting event in Ohio.<\/p>\n

Along with promotional materials about the APSU Department of Theater and Dance, he brought along a simple flyer announcing the department\u2019s 2019-20 season.<\/p>\n

\"John<\/a>

John Patrick Shanley<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

As word got around, his table was quickly overrun by professors and students from other schools, reading the flyer in disbelief and proclaiming, \u201cThat\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018Yeah, you know. We\u2019re pretty amazing,\u2019\u201d Beeson said.<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s so amazing about the upcoming season? First, John Patrick Shanley, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of \u201cDoubt\u201d and the Oscar-winning screenwriter of \u201cMoonstruck,\u201d will visit Austin Peay State University this fall to present the world premiere of his one-act plays, collected as \u201cFive Savory Dishes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re great,\u201d Beeson said. \u201cThey\u2019re very clever, and they work very well together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt didn\u2019t take me long reading them to realize, \u2018yeah, that\u2019s a good writer,\u2019\u201d Noel Rennerfeldt, associate professor of scenic design, joked.<\/p>\n

In addition to his Oscar- and Pulitzer-winning works, Shanley wrote and directed the Tom Hanks film \u201cJoe Vs. the Volcano\u201d and the film version of his play \u201cDoubt,\u201d starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Viola Davis.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot many places can say they\u2019re premiering new work by John Patrick Shanley,\u201d Beeson said. Again, he doesn\u2019t like to brag.<\/p>\n

Shanley will visit campus throughout the fall for some rehearsals, the hosting of a community masterclass and the opening night performance on November 21st in APSU\u2019s Trahern Theatre. The famed playwright, however, is only one of several high-profile theatre and dance artists coming to the University this year as part of the Acuff Chair of Excellence program.<\/p>\n

Established in 1985 by the legendary \u201cKing of Country Music\u201d Roy Acuff, the chair is an endowed professorship designed to bring regionally and nationally acclaimed artists together with students, faculty and community members in a creative environment. The chair, administered through the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts, rotates each year between creative arts departments at APSU, with the Department of Theatre and Dance hosting it this year.<\/p>\n

[320left]\u201cWe have a unique challenge because we have so many areas we want to incorporate and focus on,\u201d Beeson said. \u201cWe got someone from playwrighting\/acting, we got directing, a choreographer, and flying, which covers tech. Everyone is covered, every concentration is covered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flying? We\u2019ll get to that.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you focus only on theater, the dance students don\u2019t get to take advantage of this opportunity,\u201d Rennerfeldt said.<\/p>\n

\"Freddie<\/a>

Freddie Ashley<\/p><\/div>\n

Freddie Ashley, famed Atlanta-based theatre director, is scheduled to direct \u201cFive Savory Dishes,\u201d and he will also teach an Acuff Seminar Class every Monday to APSU students this fall. Ashley is the artistic director of Actors Express, and he won Atlanta\u2019s top theatre award \u2013 a Suzi for Best Director of a Musical \u2013 for his production of \u201cGrey Gardens.\u201d<\/p>\n

He has also been nominated for his work directing \u201cRent,\u201d \u201cThe Rocky Horror Picture Show,\u201d \u201cEnd of the Rainbow,\u201d \u201cSpring Awakening,\u201d \u201cBecky Shaw,\u201d \u201cMauritius\u201d and \u201cDark Play or Stories for Boys.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the spring, director and choreographer Antoinette DiPietropolo will use her time as Acuff Chair to direct and choreograph \u201cThe Addams Family\u201d at Austin Peay April 23rd-26th. She recently helmed several major productions in New York City, including \u201cHairspray\u201d at the Argyle Theatre and \u201cMamma Mia\u201d at the John Engeman Theatre. Her direction on \u201cThe Ride\u201d led that play to receive a 2013 Drama Desk nomination for Unique Theatrical Experience.<\/p>\n

\"Antoinette<\/a>

Antoinette DiPietropolo<\/p><\/div>\n

The APSU production of \u201cThe Addams Family\u201d will also benefit from the expertise of two other Acuff Chairs. ZFX Flying Effects, the largest theatrical flying company in the world, will be on hand to create what is believed to be the first APSU performance with flying effects. During the show, Ronald Keaton, an equity actor and noted Chicago performer, will tackle the role of Uncle Fester.<\/p>\n

Keaton has acted in all of the city\u2019s major venues, including the Goodman Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare, Marriott Theatre, Drury Lane \u2013 Oakbrook, Theatre Wit, Oak Park Festival Theatre and the First Folio Theatre. His solo play, \u201cChurchill,\u201d had a successful six-month run off-Broadway in 2015 and is currently touring around the country.<\/p>\n

Additional information on this year\u2019s season will be released throughout the coming academic year at Austin Peay State University.<\/p>\n

To learn more about this year\u2019s Acuff Chairs, visit www.apsu.edu\/theatre-dance\/acuff<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University (APSU) assistant professor of acting and directing Talon Beeson doesn\u2019t like to brag, but he couldn\u2019t help himself during a recent recruiting event in Ohio. Along with promotional materials about the APSU Department of Theater and Dance, he brought along a simple flyer announcing the department\u2019s 2019-20 season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[6645,33776,23,21145,17587,7841,262,512,825,33775,33778,7012,16058,4376,29711,33777,33779],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4xGYI-78G","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27446"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27446"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27447,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27446\/revisions\/27447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}