The ����vlog���� Theatre will present six showings of the play, “Community Garden,” in late April and early May.

The performances will be held starting at 7:30 p.m. on April 23-25 and April 30-May 2 in the Black Box Theatre, located in the Walton Fine Arts Center. There will be a Talk Back event following the April 30 performance.

Tickets are $10 for the public and can be purchased at the box office on the evening of the play or online prior to the shows HERE. There is no cost for admission for U of O students, faculty and staff.

Written by Justin Borak, “Community Garden” is about a Chicago community garden seen through the eyes of a new volunteer. The play explores environmental stewardship and interpersonal connections:

“Newbie Ralph, who doesn’t quite know what to expect during his first volunteer shift at Chicago’s Uptown City Gardens. It’s certainly not the vibrant, bustling community that passes through the green space, checking on their plants, composting their food scraps, meeting up with friends and – surprisingly often – falling in love. After a few hours, Ralph begins to understand seasoned volunteer Donald’s claim that the garden is magic. In a series of heartfelt and humorous vignettes, ‘Community Garden’ digs into the ways taking care of the environment helps people take care of each other.”

The cast includes, Donald: Ka’ron Lewis; Bella: RyleeAnn Hill; Ralph: Kaden Thomas; Kelly: LaDelpha Rhiney; Casey: Catasia Ferguson; Andi: Alivia Booty; Trace: Kate Baptiste; Davey: Tessa Orender; Adam: Robert Chery; Ken: Dustin Madrigal; April: Irene Dames; Sadie: Cierra Turnquest; August: Colby Feezell; Daphne: Lila Bass; Kape: Vaughnique Francis; Taylor: Anthony Nuno; Jordan: Jose Salgado; and Mr. Putnam: Dr.David Strain.

The play is directed by Dr. Macy Jones, Walton Professor of Theatre.

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The ����vlog���� Theatre will present six showings of Elephant’s Graveyard by George Brant on Nov. 13-15 and Nov. 20-22.

The production will be shown each evening at 7:30 p.m. in the Seay Theatre, located in the Walton Fine Arts Center. Tickets are $10 for the general public and can be purchased at the door on the evening of the performance or online at /academics/university-theatre/. There is no cost for admission for U of O students, faculty and staff.

The play is for mature audiences and contains strong language, gun shots, and graphic descriptions of violence.

Elephant’s Graveyard tells the true tale of the tragic 1916 collision of a struggling circus and a tiny town in Tennessee. The play combines historical fact and legend, exploring the deep-seated American craving for spectacle, violence and revenge.

The student cast includes, Kaden Thomas as ringmaster; Lila Bass as trainer; RyleeAnn Hill as ballet girl; William Cartwright as strongman; Ragan Sisson as clown; Catasia Ferguson as hungry townsperson; Madilynne Wasson as marshal; Lily Carpenter as muddy townsperson; Anthony Nuno as preacher; Jose Salgado as steam shovel operator; Vaughnique Francis as young townsperson; Fernanda Martinez as guitarist; and Kayli Gentry as engineer.

Dr. Macy Jones, Walton Professor of Theatre, will direct the play.

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����vlog���� Theatre will present six performances of “John Proctor is the Villain,” a 2022 play written by Kimberly Belflower. 

The play will be shown April 24-26 and May 1-3 starting at 7 p.m. each evening in the Walton Fine Arts Center’s Black Box Theatre. Tickets are $10 for the general public. There is no cost for admission for U of O faculty, staff and students.

The play’s Broadway debut was earlier this year, directed by Tony award winner Danya Taymor and with “Stranger Things” star Sadie Sink as its lead.

The story takes place in a small high school during the 2018 #MeToo movement, where students reading The Crucible and discussing abuses of power must also navigate accusations of sexual assault and other misdeeds among their friends and family members.

U of O student cast members include Anthony Nuno, Catasia Ferguson, RyleeAnn Hill, Vaughnique Francis, Madilynne Wasson, Kate Baptiste, Robert Chery, Kaden Thomas, La’Delpha Rhiney, Lily Carpenter, and William Guillen.

Dr. Macy Jones is the director for the U of O production. Lucas Hoiland is the scenic and lighting design and technical director. The stage manager is Tessa Orender.

Other student members of the production crew include, Tranique Francis, Felicite Bolden, Apryl Miller, Duffy Porter, Evanique Oralhomme, Hannah Laing, Tiana Cunningham, Jamara Adderley, Aminah Davis, Merecedes Hayes, Jonathan Henriquez, Kaci Henry, Mycola Hield, Branay Johnson, Omah Lewis, Keneisha Thompson, Caleb Wylila, Ragan Sisson, and Taniel Ferguson. 

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The ����vlog����’ music and theatre programs will join forces to present the musical “The Great Broadway Radio Hour, Live” at 7 p.m, Friday, March 14.

The event will be held in the Seay Theatre, located in the Walton Fine Arts Center. There is no cost for admission and the public is invited.

The show is based on the award-winning KUOZ radio show, The Great Broadway Musical Hour, which is presented by U of O theatre professor emeritus Dr. Pat Farmer.

The performance will include students from the University Choir and the Musical Theatre Ensemble. The play is being co-directed by Ozarks professors, Dr. Macy Jones, Dr. Jisook Park and Katrina Twitty.

Among the movies and shows that songs that will be performed from include, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Hamilton, The Greatest Showman, Anastasia, Big River, and The Color Purple.

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Dr. Macy Jones, Walton Professor of Theatre at ����vlog����, recently attended the 45th annual Mid-American Theatre Conference (MATC) in Atlanta where her original 10-minute play, “The Insignificant Moon,” received a workshop performance.

MATC is a national theatre conference that meets annually to host four symposia: theatre history, playwriting, pedagogy, and performance/practice.

Jones’ play was one of eight selected out of a pool of 60 to be presented as part of the playwriting symposium.

In addition, Jones was elected to serve as vice president of the organization for a two-year term. Following her two-year term as VP, she will move to the president’s position.

“I have attended MATC since 2012, and have served as a graduate student liaison, external communication director, and a member-at-large,” Jones said “I have presented my research at the theatre history symposium and the pedagogy symposium several times.”

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The ����vlog���� Theatre Department will present six performances of Sophocles’ Antigone on Nov. 7-9 and Nov. 14-16 in the Walton Fine Arts Center.

The performance begins at 7:30 p.m. each evening in the Seay Theatre. Tickets are $10 for the general public and can be purchased at the box office on the evening of the show or . There is no cost of admission for U of O students, faculty and staff.

Written by Sophocles in 441 BC, this translation of Antigone was completed by the late Don Taylor in 1986.

Antigone is a defiant story of bravery in the face of an unjust law. The ancient play that has survived through the centuries because is message of loyalty, honor, and resistance is timeless. How far will one young woman go to honor moral law? How can she possibly stand up to her uncle, Creon the Tyrant, and his all-powerful State? This story details the tragic repercussions of her act of civil disobedience and love for her family.

Walton Professor of Drama Dr. Macy Jones is the play’s director. The cast includes, RyleeAnn Hill, Roberca Chery, William Cartwright, Kaden Thomas, Anthony Nuno, Vee Brooks, Tanasia Rolle, Chloe Vieux, Mercedes Hayes, Lily Carpenter, David Lopez, Norman Santeli, Genesis Baltodano and Ragan Sisson.

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Dr. Macy Jones, assistant professor of theatre and communication at ����vlog����, spent part of her summer learning stage combat skills and safety training.

Jones participated in the two-week National Stage Combat Workshop (NSCW) in Ruston, La., July 21 through Aug 4. The NSCW is run by the Society of American Fight Directors (SAFD), an organization of dedicated artists whose purpose is to promote safety and foster excellence in the art of performing, teaching, and directing staged combat/theatrical violence.

The SAFD is the main certifying body for stage combat and grants certifications for actor combatants, combat teacher, fight directors, and fight masters. Each level of certification requires hours of rehearsal, exams, and demonstration of skill.

“The Society of American Fight Directors is the voice in safety advocacy in theatre and other performance realms,” Jones said. “Staged combat has the power to tell essential stories only if all the participants are free from real harm. By attending this workshop I hope to bring more awareness to our theatre students about safety. I also want to show them the path to combat certification as a possible career option.”

Jones took part in the Introduction to Stage Combat Workshop, which allowed her to develop fundamental skills in eight weapon systems adjudicated by the SAFD — unarmed, knife, two-handed sword, rapier and dagger, small sword, short sword, sword and shield and staff.

“My favorite weapons are rapier and dagger and sword and shield,” she said. “These were the styles I felt most intimidated by prior to the workshop. My teachers helped me push past my uncertainty and really connect with the theory and history behind them.”

Throughout the two weeks, Jones received 80 hours of hands-on instruction in the combat styles. She was instructed by a cohort of people in their final steps to become certified teachers. The instructors were graded on how well they taught the basic skills, weapon safety, and choreography demonstration.

“Attending the National Stage Combat Works was out of my comfort zone,” Jones said. “I learned a great deal from my time there. Not only about staged combat, but also teaching acting and how to connect the mind and the body to tell a story.”

Jones received funding from the University’s Dr. Helen McElree Faculty Enrichment Endowment grant to attend the workshop. The McElree endowment was established in 2015 by the Ozarks alumna and long-time professor of biology at Emporia (Kan.) State. Dr. McElree created the fund to support faculty scholarly and creative activities at Ozarks.

Jones, who earned a Ph.D. in theatre history from Louisiana State University in 2017, has taught at Ozarks since 2021.

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����vlog���� Theatre will present the world debut of “Tingum in Da Bush Ean Get No Name,” for a six-performance, two-weekend run — April 11-13 and April 18-20.

The original play was written and will be directed by U of O alumnus and adjunct instructor Petron Brown ’21. It will be shown at 7 p.m. in the Walton Fine Arts Center. The play contains violent content and is not suitable for children under the age of 13.

Tickets are $10 for the general public and can be purchased . Tickets for U of O students, faculty and staff are free for those presenting a University ID.

Brown is a 2021 U of O theatre and environmental studies graduate from Nassau, The Bahamas. He is completing an MFA in theatre from the University of Southern Mississippi while serving as an adjunct at Ozarks in the theatre department this semester.

Brown called “Tingum in Da Bush Ean Get No Name” a play about “belief and what it means when the foundations of the things we hold onto start to shift beneath our feet.”

“To who or what do we turn?” Brown said. “I try to stray away from breaking down the plot because the mystery of the play is the impetus that drives the story and our experience of the story. Everyone should come see it at least twice. Trust me, you’ll have totally different experiences.”

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Petron Brown’s original stage play, “Tingum in Da Bush Ean Get No Name,” will make its world debut on the Ozarks campus in April and the ����vlog���� alumnus says there’s no other place he rather have it open.

Written and directed by Brown, the play will be presented by the University Theatre in the Walton Fine Arts Center for a six-performance, two-weekend run — April 11-13 and April 18-20.

Brown is a 2021 U of O theatre and environmental studies graduate from Nassau, The Bahamas. He is completing an MFA in theatre from the University of Southern Mississippi while serving as an adjunct at Ozarks in the theatre department this semester.

Having his play debut on the Ozarks stage where just a few years ago he performed numerous times as an undergraduate student is almost surreal, Brown said.

“It is very exciting because I somehow feel like I wrote the play for this University,” Brown said. “There is a certain international identity that I feel permeates my work and Ozarks is where I feel that energy pulling me. I’m really excited about this play. It’s complex but somehow accessible and I hope I get it right.”

Brown called “Tingum in Da Bush Ean Get No Name” a play about “belief and what it means when the foundations of the things we hold onto start to shift beneath our feet.”

“To who or what do we turn?” Brown said. “I try to stray away from breaking down the plot because the mystery of the play is the impetus that drives the story and our experience of the story. Everyone should come see it at least twice. Trust me, you’ll have totally different experiences.”

Brown said the play was conceived in his Dramatic Writing course under Dr. David Coley at the USM, and called it “my response to a number of things: both the existential reality of world crises and an amalgamation of playwrights that I had been studying.”

“If I hadn’t read Lucy Alibar, Philip Howze, Arlene Hutton, Aleshea Harris, etc., this play would not exist.” Brown said. “The play also has a strong Caribbean voice, but an incredible universality. That was something I wanted to hone. I wanted the story to apply across a variety of cultures and demographics.”

The play will be the University and Brown’s entry into the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival later this year. Brown said being both playwright and director has its challenges.

“It is a very specific experience,” Brown said. “There are moments when the playwright needs to tame the director or vice versa—the latter has been more common—or moments where the director has to really negotiate with the playwright. We are now in production, so truly, the director has ultimate say and advocates for the actors. I sound like a crazy person, but that’s okay. It is all bursting with opportunity and color. There was a moment after rehearsal where I went home and changed the opening into a Shakespearean sonnet and then I turned it into something else on top of that. That has been a highlight. The actors are really receptive, which I’m so grateful for.”

The experience of working with undergraduate actors has also been fulfilling for Brown.

“What I enjoy most is that the undergraduate students are so eager and open to learning,” he said. “They also have so many different energies that you constantly find yourself shifting between, which is so important to understand. I also admire how brave they all are. Their job on that stage is really hard and a couple have never been on stage before, especially at this level.”

Brown, who won the U of O Hurie Award in 2021 as the top graduating senior, will be inducted into the USM Graduate Student Hall of Fame later this year. He said he is still growing as an artist.

“So much of my foundation was laid here at Ozarks,” Brown said. “I would certainly agree that there is more definition in my artistic voice, but also I’ve become freer and more expressive. And, it has nothing to do with leaving the school but everything to do with time and the building upon that which was initially laid. Overall, I’m still growing, as I was at Ozarks.”

Brown is teaching a Movement class at Ozarks this semester.

“It makes me more connected to the students’ experience of the class material,” he said. “I never stopped being a student. Even when I was teaching classes at USM, I was still going to take my classes. Even now, I am enrolled in some virtual playwriting workshops. Teaching in the same department is a culture shock of how much things have changed in just under three years. This does not feel much like the same department. Which is a good thing as it allows me to fully immerse as an adjunct in a seemingly new world. None of the students in the department were here when I was here.”

Earlier this semester, Brown was informed that he was one of 11 playwrights and artists nationwide to receive the prestigious 2024-25 Dramatists Guild Foundation National Fellow.

“I am humbled beyond belief,” he said. “This is such a prestigious award and it still hasn’t fully set in. There were nearly 700 applications and they picked six playwrights. What’s also amazing is that until this year, the fellowship was only available to New York based artists. This is the first year they have opened it up to fellows all over the U.S. I am so grateful. The fellowship is really free-form and will include whatever the playwright needs. I will develop one full-length play with the DGF. I will also gain mentorship from professional playwrights. There is also rehearsal space for me in New York City, whenever I need it. There are other opportunities that get defined later in the year as the play develops.”

When it comes to writing, directing or performing, Brown said it’s difficult to pick what he prefers.

“I’ll choose to pit the three against each other: performing and writing are fighting for top stop. Nothing beats the euphoria of being onstage. So, performing probably wins. But writing is also quite euphoric—lots of labor too. Directing is most foreign to me, but I have a number of tools that really work for me.”

Brown said he’s not sure about his long-term goals, but they are certain to include theatre and education.

“I have so many goals and ideas,” he said. “Simply though, writing and acting professionally across a variety of mediums is at the top of the list. Education will never leave me, so continuing teaching is also a long-term goal. And, ya know, who knows what else?”

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����vlog���� Theatre will present six performances of the comedic play, “The Revolutionists,” in the month of November.

The production will be presented at 7 p.m. on Nov. 9-11 and Nov. 16-18 in the Walton Fine Arts Center’s Seay Theatre.  The play contains adult language.

Tickets are $10 for the general public and can be purchased at . Admission is free for Ozarks students, faculty and staff.

“The Revolutionists” was written by Lauren Gunderson and published in 2018.

The play’s description from the publisher reads:  “Four women lose their heads in this irreverent, girl-powered comedy set during the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror. Playwright Olympe de Gouges, assassin Charlotte Corday, former queen (and fan of ribbons) Marie Antoinette, and Haitian rebel Marianne Angelle hang out, murder Marat, and try to beat back the extremist insanity in 1793 Paris. This grand and dream-tweaked comedy is about violence and legacy, art and activism, feminism and terrorism, compatriots and chosen sisters, and how we actually go about changing the world. It’s a true story. Or total fiction. Or a play about a play. Or a raucous resurrection…that ends in a song and a scaffold.”

The cast includes, La’Delpha Rhiney as Olympe De Gouge; Naila Pierre as Marianne Angelle; Kate Baptist as Charlotte Corday; and Maarz Chase as Marie Antionette.

Dr. Macy Jones, assistant professor of theatre and communication, is directing the play.

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