SUU Theatre Presents Time Piece New Works Production

Published: January 21, 2021 | Author: Ashley H Pollock | Read Time: 4 minutes

SUU’s Department of Theatre, Dance, and Arts Administration (TDAA) defied geography this year as students from SUU worked with a director located in California and composers and playwrights located across the country. This feat of cross-country collaboration was inaugurated by Catalyst: A Theatre Think Tank, which brought the students at SUU the opportunity to workshop the new movie musical titled Time Piece. This exciting new show will be performed on January 29 and 30, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. at https://sites.google.com/suu.edu/tdaavirtualtheater.

Lisa Quoresimo, Assistant Professor of Musical Theatre and Director of Time Piece, raved about the process of workshopping a brand new show with the writers. “Time Piece originally came to my new works festival, Catalyst: A Think Tank Theatre (C3T) to be workshopped. C3T has been able to involve students and artists from all over the country, including SUU, on all of our projects this year. Since this show is a work in progress, Keaton and Grayson have been writing the script while we have been rehearsing. We would get ten pages at a time with a song, then there would be rewrites and we would get the revised version. The students, through this collaboration, are able to develop their characters, ask questions of the writers, and see their work reflected in the rewrites. They are completely invested in this project.”

In addition to bringing a new script to life, the technical department of TDAA is using new technology every step of the way. Green screen technology allows each performer to act in a separate room in the Randall L. Jones Theatre basement, keeping cast and crew safely socially distanced. While this is happening, Kolby Clarke, Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts in Lighting Design, is dropping the video feed in to make it look like the actors are moving and dancing on the virtual stage that Brian J. Beacom, Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts in Scenic Design, designed for the show. It is an incredible technical accomplishment. 

Keaton Wooden, co-composer of Time Piece, shared that the original idea came from a close friend, Shaun Renfro. “He had this idea of a scientist building a time machine to save his girlfriend from the apocalypse, but the machine keeps accidentally making copies of him instead.” Wooden noted, “The idea kept coming back to me as something that connected to things I love: science, morality, bizarre visuals, and storytelling.”

Grayson Coleman-Selby, co-composer of Time Piece, said, “Time Piece was created to be kind of a descent into examining balance, justifications, and how we view ourselves. What does it mean to chase your dreams, when do you know you’re doing the right thing? These are all aspects of a greater conversation that we want to contribute to through our work. And if we get to have cool special effects, dancing and singing while we grapple with our psychological demons, all the better right?”

The entire team working on the show hopes that the themes resonate with its virtual audience. The songs are hummable, the choreography by SUU student Caden Thomas is stellar, and the visual storytelling is outstanding. Time Piece is a funny, uniquely zany project that involves clones, tap dancing, time travel, and an apocalypse.

Don’t miss this exciting new work being performed by the students in SUU’s TDAA on January 29 and 30, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. at https://sites.google.com/suu.edu/tdaavirtualtheater. For more information about the College of Performing and Visual Arts at SUU, please visit www.suu.edu/pva.

About the College of Performing and Visual Arts

The College of Performing and Visual Arts (CPVA) at Southern Utah University comprises 26 academic programs including liberal arts (BA/BS) and professional (BFA, BM, BMEd) degrees in art, design, dance, music and theatre. It includes graduate programs in the fields of arts administration (MFA, MA), music education (MME), and music technology (MM). More than 60 full-time faculty and staff are engaged in teaching and mentoring nearly 800 majors in the College. CPVA presents over 100 performances, lectures, presentations, and exhibitions each year and is affiliated with the Southern Utah Museum of Art (SUMA), Utah Shakespeare Festival, and the Center for Shakespeare Studies. Southern Utah University is an accredited member of the National Association of Schools of Art & Design (NASAD), National Association of Schools of Dance (NASD), and the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM). For more information about the College of Performing and Visual Arts, visit www.suu.edu/pva.

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