The Northern Kentucky Tribune has published a great article about the upcoming Y.E.S. Festival at Northern Kentucky University. The article was written by Rick Pender.
You can read a full text of the article !
Some sample snippets are below.
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“Something theatrical has happened at Northern Kentucky University every two years since 1981, and it’s unique to the Highland Heights campus. It’s the biennial Year End Series (Y.E.S.) Festival, back for its 17th iteration between April 16 and 26. Sandra Forman, the NKU theater professor, who has overseen at least 10 festivals, says she knows of no other university that regularly undertakes a festival on this scale.”
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“For the 2015 festival Forman and her colleagues read 431 plays. Each theater professor reads and evaluates scripts, a process that narrows the number to approximately 40. Then they’re passed around and rated; a high score evoking another high score moves that script up the list. By the fall prior to the festival, the number has been reduced to a dozen or so plays. That’s when the three directors who have been engaged to stage the shows are asked to read them and indicate their interest.”
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“For 2015, Forman says the three shows are “fun plays, not so much serious drama.” Terry Powell’s It’s a Grand Night for Murder, a spoof of murder mysteries, kicks off the festival on Thursday evening, April 16. On Friday night, April 17, David L. Williams’ The Divine Visitor, a Restoration comedy with a sci-fi overlay will debut. The third show, Colin Speers Crowley’s Encore, Encore, a play about legendary wit and caustic critic Dorothy Parker, premieres on Saturday evening, April. 18.”
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“Ed Cohen, a veteran community theater director who regularly stages shows for NKU, is handling Encore.
“I thought this was the best play that I read, so I was glad to get the assignment,” he says. “The students didn’t really know much about Dorothy Parker, but she is an interesting person they can relate to — the first important female theater critic. It’s a story about her failed marriage to a man who went off to World War I and came back a different person.”
“The show is highly theatrical,” Cohen adds, “a memory play that jumps around in time to portray this woman who is witty and smart, but not really a nice person at all.”
Victoria Hawley, a senior theater major from Cloverport in Western Kentucky, is playing Parker. “She’s chock full of quips,” Hawley says, “but I’m trying to discover more of her heart.” She said she’s excited by the opportunity to create a role in a new play. “Not many people my age get to do this. I’m a fan of new works — you have to start from scratch and work your way up.”
