The University of Toledo

Department of Theatre & Film Faculty, Alum Head to Carnegie Hall, NY

Theatre professor and Associate Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts, Holly Monsos; Assistant Theatre Professor, Cornel Gabara; Theatre Instructor, Dave DeChristopher; (founding member of Toledo's Glacity Theatre Collective) and Theatre & Film Department alumus, Pete Cross, will be heading to New York's Carnegie Hall to take part in the theatre portion of the Toledo Symphony's performance during the Spring for Music. Lighting design by UT visiting theatre professor, Donald Robert Fox.

When the Toledo Symphony Orchestra performs at Carnegie Hall in New York on May 7 (and prior to that, in the Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle on April 29 and 30), University of Toledo faculty, students and alum will contribute to the production in some predictable and not-so-predictable ways. In this particular program, the performance is part orchestra, and part theatre.

In the mid 70's, composer André Previn and playwright Tom Stoppard created a kind of "play with orchestra," Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, in which the orchestra serves as one of several characters. Toledo Symphony conductor Stefan Sanderling chose the piece, paired with Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 6, as the program for the TSO's application for Carnegie Hall's Spring for Music festival, and as a result, the Symphony was rewarded with the prestigious Saturday night slot of the opening weekend.
 
This will be the premiere of the full-orchestration version of this piece at Carnegie, and even, surprisingly, in New York, so the theatre and music worlds are already abuzz. UT will be represented in both the theatrical piece and in the orchestra. A number of UT Music Department faculty members will perform with the Symphony and through the Glacity Theatre Collective, several faculty members from the Department of Theatre & Film will be part of the theatrical production.

Pete Cross, an alumnus of the Department of Theatre and Film, will play Alexander, whose imprisonment and potential release drives the plot.  Directed by UT Assistant Professor of Theatre and GTC Artistic Director, Cornel Gabara, with costumes and props by Holly Monsos, Associate Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts and GTC Executive Director, and lighting design by Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre, Donald Robert Fox, the piece will also include video elements developed by UT Film major Brendan Boettler.

Other members of the Glacity Theatre Collective, founded four years ago by area theatre professionals and faculty members of UT’s Theatre & Film Department, will also perform—Pamela Tomassetti as the Teacher and GTC Managing Director Kevin Hayes as the Colonel. Yazan "Zack" Safadi will make his second appearance with GTC as Sasha.

“Excellence is alive and well in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. The human condition is the very essence of Stoppard’s Every Good Boy Deserves Favour. We are very proud of the creative contributions of our faculty, students, and alums to the Carnegie Hall production and performance. This is an outstanding effort on the part of these individuals, we wish them the best on their debut, break a leg,” says Debra Davis, Founding Dean of the college.

Information on tickets for all performances is available on the TSO website: http://www.toledosymphony.com.
 
Theatrical Production of Every Good Boy Deserves Favour:
Director: Cornel Gabara (UT-Assistant Professor of Theatre and GTC Artistic Director)
Cast:

• “Alexander” - Pete Cross (UT Dept. of Theatre & Film alumnus)
• “Ivanov” - David DeChristopher (UT Theatre Instructor)
• “Sasha” - Yazan “Zack” Safadi (GTC and Maumee Valley Country Day School)
• “Colonel” - Kevin J. Hayes (GTC Managing Director and Director of Theatre at Maumee Valley Country Day School)
• “Doctor” - Benjamin Pryor (UT Dean of the College of Innovative Learning and Assistant Vice Provost)
• “Teacher” - Pamela Tomassetti (GTC and Maumee Valley Country Day School)

Production:

• Costumes and Props - Holly Monsos (UT Associate Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts and GTC Executive Director)
• Lighting Design – Donald Robert Fox (UT Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre)
• Video Elements – Brendan Boettler (UT Film major)

UT Department of Music faculty who will play with the Symphony:
Thaddeus Archer (trumpet)
Amy Chang (cello)
Daniel Harris (trombone)
Nancy Lendrim (harp)
Kim Loch (oboe)
Alice Petersen (viola)
Al Taplin (horn)
Joel Tse (flute)
Joan Weiler (bassoon)
Tim Zeithamel (viola)