Laughter, intrigue, and glorious music abound as the WKU Department of Theatre and Dance, in partnership with the WKU Department of Music, presents It’s Complicated: Love, Comedy, Opera!, an evening of two one-act operas featuring Haydn’s La Canterina and Gilbert and Sullivan’s Trial by Jury. In La Canterina, a would-be opera star and her stage mother conspire to get singing lessons and cold hard cash from two obsessed suitors, while in Trial by Jury, updated to the 1980s, a jilted bride sues her ex for damages in the world’s worst-run courtroom. Join us for hijinks and high notes in our final mainstage theatre production of the year. Performances will be at 8 p.m, Thursday, April 4, through Saturday, April 6, and at 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 7, in the Russell H. Miller Theatre in FAC. Tickets are $20 for adults and $16 for students and seniors (62+). To purchase tickets or for additional information, please contact our box office M-F between noon and 4 p.m. at 270-745-3121, or go online to wku.showare.com.
The Department of Theatre and Dance also presents its spring mainstage dance concert, Evening of Dance, April 26-29. The production marks WKU Dance Company’s 45th season and includes an array of work featuring choreography by WKU dance faculty and nationally acclaimed guest artists.
In conjunction with the University’s International Year of Cuba, the dance program will feature the work of two Cuban choreographers, Roberto Sifontes and Juan Enrique Jimenez Sanchez. Sifontes’ work explores the Malecón (the stretch of seawall that expands for five miles along the coast of Havana, Cuba) and its significance as a central gathering place for both native Cubans and visitors to the island. Sanchez, a longtime member of Bejart Ballet in Switzerland, is creating a piece that offers a unique blend of ballet and European contemporary dance.
Assistant Professor Anna Patsfall is using her experiences of visiting Cuba with the IYO program as inspiration for a solo piece. Patsfall is also presenting a contemporary ballet titled Divenire that deals with the concepts of fate/destiny and if it is those forces, or the decisions of ourselves and those around us, that shape our future. The concert also features two works by Assistant Professor Meghen McKinley. Everyone Knew Her, No One Knows Her is a contemporary modern piece inspired by the story of Audrey Munson, known as Miss Manhattan or America’s first super model. Movement interpretations bring her story and images to life. This piece explores a level of mystique and power, yet a distance and lost spirit in her story of betrayal, lost love, fall from fame, and forbidden beauty. ‘Ils Vont Libérer’ brings an intense and layered physicality to the stage. This new mixed media collaboration between choreographer Meghen McKinley and print maker Marilee Salvator allowed the creation of work in their medium inspired by the lyrics and musical storytelling of Bachar Mar-Khalifé. Their own language of movement and visual art and design are joined on stage through the use of video projection and live bodied movement.
The Heist, choreographed by Professor Amanda Clark, first premiered at WKU in 2008. This athletic jazz dance features high-powered, mission-driven movements complete with ski masks and a bag of jewels. Clark is also creating new tap dance choreography for performance in the concert. Her contemporary tap work focuses on use of spatial levels, and builds of rhythmical cannons.
Performance will be at 8 p.m. April 26, 27, and 29, and 3 p.m. Sunday, April 28, in the Russell H. Miller Theatre in FAC. Tickets are $16 for adults and $12 for students and seniors (62+). To purchase tickets or for additional information, please contact our box office M-F between noon and 4 p.m. at 270-745-3121, or go online to wku.showare.com.
