“First Date” to feature contemporary love
Sydney Stocksdale, Staff Writer
April 9, 2019
The Shield interviewed Jacelyn Stewart, a junior theater arts major, who will be performing in the upcoming production “First Date,” which will take place at 7:00 p.m Thursday-Friday and 2 p.m. Sunday in the Performance Center. The event is free to USI students one hour before show based on availa...
Please mind the people behind the curtain
Emma Corry, Staff Writer
February 19, 2019
Rafael Gonzalez just happened to fall into theatre. The junior theatre major was the lighting designer for the USI Theatre Department’s production of “Pygmalion.” This was his first time designing the lighting for a show in the performance center after he was the lighting designer for the...
Theatre season opens with strong performance
Jeana Everhart, Staff Writer
October 15, 2018
The university’s theatre held its first production of the season this weekend with the play “The Dog in the Manger.” The romantic comedy was set in royal 17th century Spain, and was filled with many fun characters that had me laughing at the ridiculous schemes and jokes. The play quickly ca...
Old theatre properties to be rezoned
Noah Alatza, News Editor
September 18, 2018
The old university theatre properties have been sold to a developer following a seal bid auction. Following Board of Trustee approval for the sale of the former USI Theatre scene shop and costume shop in late April, a new owner is now set to rezone the properties. According to documents filed wit...
The beauty of relationships
Jasmine Myers, Staff Writer
April 10, 2018
Bev Jones Hadin Hart said that many of the motivations in fairy tales can be black and white. “This play it is gray,” the freshman theatre major said “Everything is not what we are used to. It relates more to everyday life and to college students.” USI Theatre will be ending th...
Actresses find themselves in Little Women
Gabi Wy, Features Editor
April 19, 2017
Through the struggle of her own boyfriend being deployed, Morgan Book channels her emotion in “Little Women” as the romantic Meg, engaged to a man who goes off to war. “When we did the duet between Meg and Mr. Brook that first night of rehearsals, I cried through the whole thing,” the sophomo...
University play tells ‘important story’
Gabi Wy, Features Editor
February 24, 2017
Through a coming-of-age narrative and passionate performances, “Crumbs from the Table of Joy” felt genuine. The story of “Crumbs” follows teenager Ernestine Crump (Jesmelia Williams) and her family as they navigate Brooklyn as an African-American family in the 1950s. As Ernestine grows, Will...
Coming of age story to illustrate resilience
Gabi Wy, Features Editor
February 15, 2017
As the production nears, The Shield spoke with guest director Ron Himes about working on USI Theatre’s “Crumbs from the Table of Joy” and the meaning of the play in today’s America. Himes is the founder and producing director of The Black Rep, a theatre company in St. Louis, as well as a mem...
‘Mr. Burns’ lacking crucial spark
Gavin Gaddis, Staff writer
November 19, 2016
Mr. Burns: a post-electric play is, in a word, problematic. Set mere weeks after a virus wipes away most of humanity, “Mr. Burns” opens with several survivors sitting around a campfire reminiscing about an episode of “The Simpsons,” distracting themselves from fears of nuclear fallout....
‘Putnam’: playful, perfect pick-me-up
Bobby Shipman, Editor-in-Chief
April 20, 2016
Regardless of my politics, I typically hang my head in disappointment when a play or musical digresses from its plot to unabashedly insert the director’s personal agenda. But when said play or musical megaphones its message through the conduit of a lispy 9-year-old with two gay dads and a seething hatred for Donald Trump, I can’t help but crack a grin.
Musical to highlight ‘the oddity of childhood,’ involve audience
Abigail Suddarth, Staff Writer
April 7, 2016
Alec Willis will play Jesus for the second time in his life in “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.” His first time playing Jesus was in his high school’s production of “Godspell.”
‘Peanuts’ perfection
Abigail, Suddarth
March 23, 2016
After laughing until their sides hurt, audiences left “Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead” grief-stricken and in tears.