When Michigan State University’s Department of Theatre was looking for someone to guest direct its production of Corktown, Or Through the Valley of Dry Bones, it looked no further than MSU’s Department of African American and African Studies (AAAS) and to Dr. Chamara Jewel Kwakye, Academic Specialist in AAAS, whose vision for the play was fueled by her own background and life experiences. Set in Detroit’s oldest…
Michigan State University’s Department of Theatre presents Corktown, Or Through the Valley of Dry Bones October 14-23 at the Pasant Theatre in the Wharton Center for Performing Arts. The play, written by Haitian American playwright Jeff Augustin and modeled after the Thornton Wilder classic, Our Town, centers on Jackee, a 14-year-old boy who takes us on a tour of one of Detroit’s oldest neighborhoods between 2007 and…
The Michigan State University community gathered at the Wharton Center for Performing Arts on Sept. 14 for the investiture of the 2022 class of endowed chairs, endowed professors, and MSU Foundation professors. The ceremony was a celebration of their accomplishments and a celebration of the philanthropic support that makes these esteemed positions possible. Dr. Kristen Renn, newly named Mildred B.…
Broadway talent will share the same stage with students from the Michigan State University Department of Theatre and local high schools for the ninth annual ĭmáGen production, a collaboration between Wharton Center Institute for Arts & Creativity, supported by MSU Federal Credit Union, and the MSU Department of Theatre. This year’s ĭmáGen production, In Emily’s Words, is a new musical written by New York City-based composer, lyricist, and…
Michigan State University’s Department of Theatre announces its 2022-2023 season, which focuses on the exploration and celebration of community. “These scripts are intended to provoke discussion and drive our students and audiences to challenge our intellectual and emotional responses to the social conditions in which we live and champion traditions that bind us as neighbors and make us stronger together,”…
Alexis Black is always up for a good fight. And since February 2022, the Assistant Professor of Acting and Movement at Michigan State University has been choreographing stage combat for the Tony Award-nominated production of Macbeth, currently on Broadway, starring Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga. Working alongside her long-time mentor David Leong, Black is the Assistant Fight Director for the production, which runs…
In this Faculty Voice, Brad Willcuts, Associate Professor of Musical Theatre and Choreography in the MSU Department of Theatre, shares how theatre pushes the limits of human emotion and why Pride Month in June is important to him and the greater theatre community. In the role of choreographer, Willcuts also discusses being a part of a new interpretation of one of the…
After a two-year hiatus, Summer Circle Theatre (SCT) at Michigan State University is back for its 60th anniversary celebration of FREE outdoor theatre for mid-Michigan audiences and a free week-long theatre camp for kids. This season will include four full productions and runs from June 9 through June 26. The season opens on June 9 with the classic musical, Pippin, by Stephen Schwartz…
A new and thought-provoking dance performance project, called BranchOut, which will engage audiences with the natural environment around them while experiencing and exploring the nature of tree communication and the interconnection between plants, will hold its first performance at Michigan State University’s Horticulture Gardens on Wednesday, May 4, at 5 p.m. BranchOut's interactive dance performance was born from a desire…
The Michigan State University Department of Theatre concludes its successful 2021-2022 season with Monsieur d’Éon is a Woman, a biting political comedy and sexy, swashbuckling romp that tells the true story of Charles d’Éon de Beaumont, an 18th-century soldier, spy, and diplomat for the French courts of Louis XV and XVI. The production runs April 21–24 in the Pasant Theatre…
