of SBU Theater students pooled their creativity to de-
velop a one-act play that dramatizes the return of over-
The Garret Theater on campus. Members of the company included
students Mary Best, Mike Dlugosz, Will Foust, Becky Hahn, Tori
Lanzillo, Makeda Loney, Brooke Perkins and Emily West. Monica
Edwards was the production stage manager.
viewed a number of veterans; some were
family members, others were St. Bonaven-
ture alumni and friends.
of what coming home is; not the experi-
ence of war, which many people ask sol-
diers about. People don't often ask what
it's like to come home," said Rebecca Mis-
enheimer, assistant professor of visual and performing arts.
tive proposed by The Kennedy Center American College Theater Fes-
tival last fall in advance of the organization's regional festivals. Other
than using the prompt Welcome Home, there were few parameters
for the sources of the script's text: the poetry of Walt Whitman, in-
terviews that the company themselves conducted, and original ma-
terial written by the company.
months -- amid two holiday breaks, finals and another SBU Theater
production -- to have their play written and ready for the stage.
the students. Many of the servicemen and women served in
Afghanistan or Iraq as members of the Army, Air Force and
Marines. A Korean War veteran also aided the students with their
research.
gram. Cadet Colin O'Donnell assisted his fellow students with a
mini boot camp, teaching them how to salute properly, fold a flag
and march.
story, often by people who felt their voice hasn't been heard. Every
one of these veterans expressed gratitude that someone asked them
the question," Misenheimer said.
riences. Misenheimer said they also hope to talk with people "who
were at home, waiting for their soldiers to come home. We're still
working with the piece. We're going to continue to adapt it."
Dream" and "Don't Dress for Dinner" and her work
is entered in the Kennedy Center/American College
Theater Festival Region II for 2012-13.
temporary lines in no particular period. West also
designed large rod puppets to serve as three of the
play's fairies, adding to the play's other-worldly at-
mosphere.
blacks and whites, with extensive use of light projec-
tions. The music for the play, devised especially for
this production, was performed by SBU music fac-
ulty and students.
Dream" in part because of the greatness of Shake-
speare.
natures. And that's great -- it keeps us fresh. But
there's only one playwright in English whose work is
450 years old and is still performed somewhere in
the world every day," Simone said. "He's the greatest
playwright in our language."
to Shakespeare's universal relevancy. "It's important
for student actors and student audiences to experi-
ence those wonderfully timeless themes, the timeless
romances, the timeless conflicts. They remind us of
who we are and where we're going, and that is the
beauty of theater," Simone said.
ductions, the theater program presented two senior
tions: "TXT ME" by
Karim Troncelliti and
"Cafe Abstraction" by
Ashley Waterman. Both
played to sold-out houses
in the fall. Waterman also
completed a 15-week in-
ternship at Houston's
Alley Theater, one of the
nation's oldest and most
respected regional the-
aters.
presentation, SBU Theater
productions were seen by
some 1,200 students, fac-
ulty, staff and members of
the Greater Olean com-
munity during 2011-
2012.
personal experiences to the stage