News

Emporia State University Theatre has postponed its spring 2020 production of Euripides classic Greek tragedy “Medea.” Originally to be presented as the final show of the 2019-2020 season, the production will now be presented in the fall of 2020.

The 2020 Friends of the Plains dinner scheduled for April 24 at the Copper Top in Emporia has been canceled to help limit public events during the COVID-19 pandemic. The dinner will not be rescheduled for 2020, according to Friends spokesperson, Susan Brinkman.

The 2020 Tallgrass Writing Workshop scheduled for April 17-18 at Pioneer Bluffs in Matfield Green has been canceled to help limit public events during the COVID-19 pandemic. The workshop may be rescheduled for the fall, according to the workshop sponsor, the Center for Great Plains Studies at Emporia State University.

For the fourth time in eight years, ESU theatre students have been selected for the prestigious Open Jar Institute. Only 60 theatre students are selected from across the nation for participation in the program.

Emporia State University Theatre will present a new comedy, “Death by Design,” as the opening production of its spring season. Playwright Rob Urbinati is a New York playwright with close ties to the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival and his alma mater, University of Oregon.

The Emporia State University Theatre program was well-represented at Festival 52 of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, Region V. The gathering was held in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the week of Jan. 19 through 25.

Emporia State University Theatre’s fourth annual radio performance of “A Christmas Carol,” the timeless classic by Charles Dickens, will be at 7 p.m. Dec. 7 in the Karl C. Bruder Theatre. The performance will be streamed online, but it can also be watched live in the theatre. A suggested donation of $5 or a contribution of stable food items can be made at the door for the live performance. Donations and food items will be contributed to Corky’s Cupboard.

The 2019-2020 George R.R. Pflaum Memorial Lecture at Emporia State University will be presented by Alum Drew Shirley (BFA, 2007), an actor and director who lives in Chicago with his wife, Erika. He will present the Pflaum memorial lecture at 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 23 in the R.Q. Frederickson Theatre in Roosevelt Hall. After his remarks, Shirley will take questions from those in attendance.

The final fall presentation by Emporia State University Theatre opens Wednesday and runs through Saturday. “The House of Blue Leaves” tells the tale of Artie Shaughnessy, a songwriter who toils by day as a zookeeper. At night, he plays at piano bars in Queens where he lives with his wife, Bananas. His mistress, Bunny Flingus lives downstairs. On the day the Pope is making his first visit to the city, Artie’s son Ronny goes AWOL from Fort Dix, stowing a homemade bomb. Also arriving are Artie’s old school chum Billy, now a successful Hollywood producer, and his starlet girlfriend.

A former FBI investigator now teaching forensics will talk about the Oklahoma City bombing on Monday at Emporia State University.