July 13, 2010

This past winter quarter ten theater students worked with Parkway High School students to help them with their production of August Wilson’s Pulitzer prize winning play Fences. Under the direction of Theater Program Director Nick Anselmo and with the help of Parkway English teacher Joshua Rothstein, theater students worked with 27 Parkway students on all aspects of the production.

Charlie Gregory, Mechanical Engineering, and Vanessa Reddin, Entertainment & Arts Management, helped with the design and construction of the sets. Janelle Kauffman, Film & Video, served as the videographer and documented the entire process. To view Janelle’s documentary about the project please click here.

Chris Deter, Information Technologies, and Mike Long, Film & Video, co-directed the showing. Each handled one half of the play, casting different actors in each of the two acts. Laurel Hostak, Film & Video, coached the students in acting, prepared them for their auditions and cast the show. Toby Pettit, English, worked as the light and sound designer with the additional challenge of turning an empty space into a theater. Mike Ambler, Film & Video, also assisted in the production of the play.

The theater students and Parkway High students worked enthusiastically through workshops and practices, and the play was a huge success with the audience. The high school students that participated in Fences were so excited about their production that they then wrote and performed their own play as a follow-up project.