Everything Nac

The student actors SFA Playwright-in-Residence Jack Heifner selected to portray the colorful cast in his production of Tennessee Williams’ “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” run the gamut in performance experience. Some have acted in many shows at Stephen F. Austin State University, while others are relative newcomers.

“They’ve worked hard to create an ensemble, and this is one of the best casts I’ve had here,” Heifner said. “They have created ‘a family.’ They act like a family on and off the stage.”

In addition to presenting a play that is engaging for the audience and fills W.M. Turner Auditorium, Heifner hopes “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” teaches his students a great appreciation for its author.

“I want them to appreciate how wonderful a writer Tennessee Williams is,” he said. “I discovered his plays when I was a teenager, and I felt like a window had been opened to the world for me. He truly creates characters that are struggling with trying to connect and find some meaning in their lives.”

“Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” is about a southern family in crisis. Set in the plantation home in the Mississippi Delta of Big Daddy Pollitt, a wealthy cotton tycoon, the play examines the relationships among members of Big Daddy’s family, primarily between his son Brick and “Maggie the Cat,” Brick’s wife. Huffman sophomore Mike Warren plays Big Daddy in the play. As a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, Warren brings a different perspective to the stage.

“Big Daddy is a 65-year-old Mississippi plantation owner who has spent the last five years thinking he was dying of cancer,” Warren explains. “After a positive report from the doctor, he is looking at the world in a new light. My approach to this role was to try and understand real pain – the pain of the body and pain of betrayal by those around you, and to experience letting that pain go.

“Aside from the obvious of playing a 65-year-old dying man, the big challenge for me was playing this larger than life, dominating character with the rest of the cast being more experienced than myself,” he said. “I’m very new to acting, and it’s intimidating to work with people who have experience. Playing this character in that circumstance was difficult.”

Maggie is portrayed by Frisco senior Aubrey Moore, and her challenge in portraying “this feisty woman” was to “create a line to her emotions.”

“Maggie is an incredibly smart woman,” she said. “She can read other people like the back of her hand, and she isn’t afraid to let them know how she feels about them. Maggie is a bit of a wild card as well. Her temper can get the best of her, and her emotions can switch back and forth at a moment’s notice.”

At her core, Maggie wants her husband, Brick, to love her and for their future to be financially secure, Moore explains.

“Throughout the play, the audience can see her trying to achieve these goals with varying degrees of success,” she said. “Maggie goes on a huge journey through the play, and tracking how she feels and reacts to certain characters helped me discover who she really is. We talk in rehearsals about how each character is playing a game of sorts. For Maggie, she has a particular hand of cards, and if she can just play them right then maybe, just maybe, she will get what she wants.”

Reflecting Williams’ poetic writing style, Heifner said he is directing the play in a style that is sometimes called “poetic realism,” and he’s using notes from the original Broadway production.

“Williams called this ‘plastic theatre,'” Heifner said. “It is a method he and his director Elia Kazan employed to heighten awareness of certain events or characterizations. Plastic theatre is the use of props or staging or sound or lights or all of it to impress upon the audience more abstract ideas. It is often very blatant and seems unrealistic, but it adds to the drama of the scene.”

On its deepest level, Williams’ play is about the human condition, Moore said, and about how each individual deals with loss, death and longing. “Williams’ play shows that people are stronger together than apart,” she added. “These characters struggle to connect with one another, but if they can, they will all be better off for it. I hope when the audience sees the show, they realize this and make a conscious effort to be closer with their loved ones.”

Just directing a Tennessee Williams play is enough of a pleasure for a seasoned director like Heifner, not to mention seeing how this cast of student actors has put Williams’ poetry into motion on the stage.

“They are truly dedicated and are giving their very best,” Heifner. “We all realize we are doing a play by one of the greatest American playwrights, and it’s an honor to be part of the process.”

“Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, April 30 through May 4, in Turner Auditorium in the Griffith Fine Arts Building, 2222 Alumni Drive, on the SFA campus.

Single tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors and $7.50 for youth. Tickets for SFA students are $5. For tickets or more information, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit www.theatre.sfasu.edu.

The Stephen F. Austin State University Charter School will celebrate its 10-year anniversary at 3 p.m. May 22 with a meet-and-greet outside the Janice A. Pattillo Early Childhood Research Center on Raguet Street.

Named the No. 1 charter elementary school in Texas by Niche in 2018, the SFA Charter School has set a standard of excellence for its students and educators throughout the decade.

The institution serves both the public and university by existing as a free public school and learning environment for SFA students studying elementary education.

“The SFA Charter School has been an important and successful endeavor these past 10 years. Not only has its teachers and administrators been successful in bringing high-quality education to children, but also the school has been recognized for its fiscal responsibility and its clear audit findings year after year,” said Dr. Judy Abbott, dean of the James I. Perkins College of Education.

During the school’s anniversary celebration, guests can visit with other SFA Charter School teachers, students, families and friends who have been part of the school’s community. Photos, yearbooks, memory book notes and questionnaires will be on display. Cake and punch will be provided. The event is free and open to the public.

“During this milestone, we pause to bring all of our SFA Charter School family back to campus for this celebration,” said Lysa Hagan, director of the SFA Charter School. “Our families know, once you are an SFA Charter kid, you are always an SFA Charter kid.”

It’s the school’s mission to create a responsive social learning community that inspires autonomy, integrity and deep critical thinking.

“Our school environment has been nurtured and supported throughout the years by the work of Dr. Janice Pattillo, a local early childhood educator,” Hagan said.

The SFA Charter School has garnered recognition from several agencies and organizations, including the Texas Comptroller’s Award, which recognizes districts and campuses that achieve academic success through cost effective operations and an “A superior” from the Charter Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas. Also, it met the Texas Education Agency Accountability Rating for the STAAR performance with distinction in English and language arts/reading, mathematics, science, comparative closing the gaps, comparative academic growth, and postsecondary readiness.

By Kasi Dickerson, senior marketing communications specialist at Stephen F. Austin State University.

The Children’s Performing Arts Series at Stephen F. Austin State University will present two performances of “The Jungle Book” on Thursday, May 16, in W.M. Turner Auditorium on the SFA campus.

Virginia Repertory Theatre’s production of “The Jungle Book” is based on the classic tales by Rudyard Kipling. The book and lyrics are by Scott Wichmann, and music is by Julie Fulcher-Davis. Kipling wrote The Jungle Books collection of stories more than 100 years ago, but his classic tales are still being reproduced on the stage and in the cinema.

The story is set in the jungles of southern India, where a baby is discovered and raised by a pack of wolves. Mowgli, the boy, has a life full of adventure and conflict. Mowgli’s best friends are a bear named Baloo and a black panther named Bagheera. The notorious tiger, Shere Khan, is a force to be reckoned with in the jungle.

“Kipling’s story of Mowgli’s childhood adventures in the jungle reinforce respect for life, both animal and human, and the idea of harmony among all living things,” said Diane Peterson, manager of the SFA Fine Arts Box Office and director of the children’s series.

The show targets children in kindergarten through fifth grade. Study guides provide suggestions for pre- and post­ performance activities and discussions for teachers to use in the classroom. A comprehensive study guide for “The Jungle Book” may be accessed at cpas.sfasu.edu.

Performances are at 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. in Turner Auditorium, which is located in the Griffith Fine Arts Building. Tickets are $7.50 for individuals and $6 per person for groups of 20 or more.

To order tickets, call (936) 468-6407 or (888) 240-ARTS. Visit the CPAS website at cpas.sfasu.edu for additional information.

The Wind Symphony at Stephen F. Austin State University will present a concert that recognizes dances from around the world when the student ensemble performs at 7:30 p.m. Monday, May 6, in W.M. Turner Auditorium on the SFA campus.

“Solitary Dances” will feature works by Warren Benson, John Barnes Chance, Percy Grainger, Alfred Reed, Henry Fillmore and other composers, according to Dr. Tamey Anglley, associate director of bands at SFA and director of the Wind Symphony.

The concert will open with Chance’s iconic wind band piece “Incantation and Dance.” Originally premiered as “Nocturne and Dance” in 1960, Chance omitted 31 measures and changed the title to depict a ritual of magic or conjuring of spirits, according to Anglley.

The ensemble will perform Part I of Reed’s “Armenian Dances.” Parts I and II constitute a four-movement suite for band based on authentic Armenian folk songs from the collected works of Gomidas Vartabed, who is considered the founder of Armenian classical music.

Grainger’s lesser-known band arrangement of “Rustic Dance” is the second of a five-movement suite for orchestra called “Youthful Suite.” The band setting was arranged by Mark Rogers in 2008 for Poteet High School in Texas to perform at the TMEA state convention as honor band, Anglley said.

Also on the program is Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Norman Dello Joio’s “Satiric Dances.” Written in 1975, the piece was commissioned to commemorate the Bicentennial of April 19, 1775, the day that launched the American War for Independence, or the Revolutionary War. Dello Joio, then dean of Boston University’s School for the Arts, agreed to do the commission.

“But he stipulated it would be based on a piece he had used as background music for a comedy by Aristophanes,” Anglley explained. “The most famous comic dramatist of ancient Greece, Aristophanes was born an Athenian citizen about 445 B.C. His plays commented on the political and social issues of 5th century Athens and frequently employed satire.”

Other works include Warren Benson’s “The Solitary Dancer” and Dmitri Shostakovich’s famous “Folk Dances,” which includes several Russian folk melodies strung together one after the other as it accelerates to a big finish, Anglley said

The final piece will be Fillmore’s “The Footlifter March.” During the Depression of 1929, the Fillmore Band was very popular and gave huge boosts of morale to their radio show audience.

“Fillmore wrote this march at the request of one of the sponsors of the radio program to tie into their advertising slogan, and, after hearing the new piece, called it a ‘footlifter,'” Anglley said.

The concert is a presentation of the College of Fine Arts and School of Music. Tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and $3 for students and youth. For tickets or more information, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu.

The bands at Stephen F. Austin State University will present the annual Concert in the Park Sunday, May 5, in the wooded area along Vista Drive and in front of the Wright Music Building on the SFA campus. The concert begins at 2 p.m. and is free to the public.

All four SFA concert bands will perform, including the Wind Ensemble, directed by Dr. David Campo, director of bands at SFA; the Wind Symphony, directed by Dr. Tamey Anglley, associate director of bands; Symphonic Band, directed by Chris Kaatz, assistant director of bands; and University Band, directed by graduate student conductor Gary Jones.

A meeting of the Lumberjack Band Alumni Association will be held in the Band Hall following the concert.

Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma, honorary band service fraternity and sorority, will sell hamburger plates beginning at 1 p.m. Plates are $5 each and will include a burger, chips and beverage.

For more information, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or (888) 240-ARTS or visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu.