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YVC cast performing Mr. Burns show

Drama program takes center stage

YVC’s Drama program and Playmasters student club shined this year by producing award-winning plays and new work by students and community members. The program, which produces two or three full-length productions each year, has students involved in all aspects of the production process, from performing to directing to designing to stage managing.

On stage this winter was “Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play” written by Anne Washburn and directed by YVC Drama Instructor Ray Pritchard. The show provided a glimpse into a post-apocalyptic world said Pritchard.

“It’s a dark comedy with haunting similarities to what we have all just been through with the covid pandemic, and makes you question how close we really came to something like this play being more of a reality. It also makes you question, if the world were to end, what stories would you remember, and pass along until they eventually became more than just a story or memory,” said Pritchard.

Cast members included Aimee Hostetler, Matt Kincannon, Noah Price, Kaitlyn Rodriguez, Danica Jenck, Katie Guthrie, Greyson Malsam, Dalilah Nelson and Drew Lynch.

This spring the program will also feature an exciting showcase of original student and community written work during its annual Festival of New Works — held April 20-22.

The plays will be performed as staged readings with minimal lighting and sound, and no costume requirements.

“Promoting student work is at the heart of everything we do in our department, and we have discovered over time that one of the best ways to accomplish this goal is through the New Works series,” said Alicia Bickley, director of drama at YVC.

Bickley said the New Works experience gives YVC students and area community members an opportunity to initiate and go through their own processes as playwrights, directors, actors or even as a combination of those things.

“Through writing their own plays and collaborating with student directors and actors, or even community or faculty directors and actors to workshop these plays, students have the unique opportunity to craft a play from the page all the way to the stage,” Bickley said.

Learn more about YVC’s Drama program.