During the summer months, Winship becomes quiet as faculty and students head out around the country and the world to create, participate in and attend performances. In a two-part series, we take a look at what everyone is up to this summer.
In May, Quetta Carpenter‘s (Lecturer, Acting) play We Should Kill Caesar was on stage at the Phoenix Theatre as part of the Caleb Reese New Works Festival. A leader has risen to power in a divided Rome. Fearful that he will use his popularity to create absolute power, conspirators join together in a tenuous alliance to accomplish a horrifically ho
norable goal: Kill Caesar to save the Republic.
Carpenter then heads to Arkansas Shakespeare Festival to portray “Cassius” (Julius Caesar) and “Princess of France” (Love’s Labour’s Lost) along with Head of Acting, Robert Ramirez who will be directing Julius Caesar, as well as students Tucker Martin who will play “Tommy” (The Music Man) and “Trebonius” (Julius Caesar); and Rama Tchuente who will portray “Metellus” (Julius Caesar) and “Maria” (Love’s Labour’s Lost).
Robert Ramirez also directed Comedy of Errors in Austin, which was staged at Austin Shakespeare’s Free Shakespeare in the Park in May. Produced in collaboration with City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department for the 34th year running.
Meanwhile, in the world of playwriting, renowned playwright, faculty member and Theatre for Youth Chair, Professor Steven Dietz started the summer at Ball State University (Indiana) with a master class for Discovery New Theatre alongside alumna and artistic director of Seattle Children’s 
Theatre, Courtney Sale (M.F.A. 2012). This master class series featured three staged readings of Honors Students by Mariah MacCarthy, The Veils by Hope Villanueva and Bunkerville, a post-apocalyptic musical comedy by Brendan Ternus and Mark Sonnenblick.
Dietz then heads to Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte and the Children’s Theatre of Charlotte for a series of workshops on his interconnected plays, The Great Beyond and The Ghost of Splinter Cove. Both plays take place at the same time, one told from a child’s perspective, one from an adult perspective. Both shows will run simultaneously at each theatre respectively as part of the 2018-2019 Season. [Read More…]
Photography Credits: Julius Caesar (Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre, Featured: Dan Matisa as “Julius Caesar,” Jess Prichard as “Brutus,” Rama Tchuente as “Metellus,” Paige Martin Reynolds as “Decius Brutus,” Robert Gerard Anderson as “Casca,” Quetta Carpenter as “Cassius,” Samuel Black as “Lepidus” Photo by Eric White); Steven Ditez by Adam Burke
