“Timing” is Everything for Academy Players at the Quick, Sept 28-Oct 1
The Academy Players of Ƭapp return to the stage to present four performances of All in the Timing: Five Short Comedies by David Ives at the Wien Experimental Theater at the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts from Wednesday, Sept. 28 through Saturday, Oct. 1 at 8 p.m.
The amateur production, which is performed and directed by Ƭapp faculty and staff, is free for students and $20 for the public. Seating is limited and students and faculty are encouraged to book their tickets in advance.
Tickets can be purchased by phone at 203-254-4010, 1-877-ARTS-396 (toll free) or online at .
Featuring five diverse but equally hysterical one-act comedies, All in the Timing offers audiences a witty, romantic and existentially minded evening of theater packed with satire, wordplay and most of all, fun. University students attending the production will have the chance to see their professors in a brand new light as they tackle a series of comedic roles, including two mayflies on date with only 24-hours to live ( Time Flies ) and a man who decides one day that he would rather live his life as French artist Edgar Degas ( Degas C’est Moi ). Other works by American playwright David Ives that are featured in the production include Sure Thing , Foreplay, or the Art of the Fugue and The Goodness of Your Heart .
“When I attended a production of David Ives’ The Goodness of Your Heart on Broadway a couple of years ago, I immediately noticed themes that overlapped with a class I team-teach with Dave Crawford on philosophy and economic anthropology,” explained Dennis Keenan, PhD, philosophy professor and member of The Academy Players. “That academic tie-in was the impetus to look for other plays by Ives that would help bring the theater into the classroom."
As with the amateur faculty troupe’s four previous productions, Fairfield students will attend the public performances as part of their studies and will analyze the plays’ themes in their economics, English, modern languages and literatures, natural sciences, philosophy, religious studies, studio art and art history courses. In effect, the production is an exercise in integrative pedagogy that brings together faculty and students from a number of disciplines to examine a dimension of their studies through the experiential medium of theater. Each performance is followed by a different faculty-led discussion that addresses one or more of these themes with the audience at large.
“We are always on the look out for plays that address important issues, have a unique ability to bring various disciplines together, and are, of course, exciting to watch,” said Jerelyn Johnson, PhD, associate professor of Spanish and chair of modern languages and literatures. “From art history to biology to economics, students will be examining some of the many themes represented in these plays, attending performances and the post-performance discussions, then continuing the discussions in class. This way, students in disciplines that normally do not study theater, can make these academic connections together while experiencing the magic of live theater."
In addition to Dr. Johnson and Dr. Keenan, this year’s cast includes Donald Gibson, PhD, dean of the Dolan School of Business; Paul Lakeland, PhD, Aloysius P. Kelley, S.J. chair in Catholic Studies and professor of Religious Studies; Shawn Rafalski, PhD, associate professor of Mathematics; and Steve Sawin, PhD, professor of Mathematics. The cast also features retired staff member Charlene Wallace and Yale University associates Andrea MacAdam and Lisa Sawin. Alistair Highet, senior director of External Communications and Public Relations, will direct the production, and alumnus Michael Wray ’12 will serve as sound engineer.
The production is sponsored by the Humanities Institute, the Dolan School of Business, the Office of the Provost and the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, as well as several other University departments, including the departments of Communication, Economics, English, Mathematics, Modern Languages and Literatures, Philosophy, Sociology and Anthropology, and the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program, the Center for Catholic Studies, the Honors Program and the Ignatian Residential College.
