There will be a lot of drama on the Vanderbilt University campus each day at high noon during the week of Jan. 22.
Through Sunday, Jan. 28, The Vanderbilt University Department of Theatre will stage short plays written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks at various sites on campus.
The performances are free and the public is invited. A marathon of all 10 plays will cap festivities on Jan. 28 in Neely Auditorium.
The productions are part of the ambitious 365 National Festival. The festival, billed as the largest collaboration in American theatre history, is an attempt to perform all 365 plays written by Parks – one a day – in a year-long stretch starting in November 2002.
More than 600 regional, community and college and university theatres around the country are participating in the 365 National Festival. All the plays performed at Vanderbilt – ranging from 2 to 5 minutes long – will be directed by Vanderbilt undergraduates and feature actors from the Vanderbilt community.
“It‘s a really big event and it‘s an honor for us to participate in it,” said Brielle Bryan, a student coordinator of the festival for Vanderbilt and a senior major in theatre, communications studies and sociology.
“It‘s kind of crazy logistically because there are so many people involved,” she said. “We‘ve got more than 40 actors and 10 different directors we‘re working with, at eight different locations.”
One or two plays will be performed each day. Performances will be on the Benson Science Hall steps on Jan. 22; the terrace of Wilson Hall on Jan. 23; the lawn next to Rand Wallon Jan. 24; Fleming Yard on Jan. 25; the Library Lawn on Jan. 26; Rand Terrace on Jan. 27; and in front of Neely Auditorium on Jan. 28.
After the final play is performed in front of Neely Auditorium on Jan. 28, the audience will be invited inside the auditorium to see all the week‘s plays performed to close Vanderbilt‘s portion of the festival.
For more news about Vanderbilt University, go to VUCast, the website at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/news/. For more information on the 365 National Festival, go to http://365days365plays.com/.
Media contact: Jim Patterson, (615) 322-NEWS
jim.patterson@vanderbilt.edu