WINSTON-SALEM – The Associates at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) will offer a free behind-the-scenes look at the upcoming production of August: Osage County at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 1, in the Thrust Theatre of Performance Place on the UNCSA campus, 1533 South Main St.

“This is a great chance to see what goes into a student performance at UNCSA,” said Mary Allen Martin, co-chair of “The Associates Present” Committee. Admission is free to the behind-the-scenes event, but patrons are asked to RSVP to uncsa.associates@gmail.com or call 336-631-1227 by Sept. 24. The event will last approximately one hour.

The “behind-the scenes” event will feature:

• New School of Drama Dean Carl Forsman, who will discuss choosing this demanding and exciting play for his inaugural season at UNCSA;
• Director Matt Bulluck, who will discuss the rehearsal process and working with the actors;
• Bulluck also will discuss the demands of the set with School of Design and Production scene design student Joe Rawda (a three-story house is being constructed on the Thrust stage);
• School of Drama seniors Rebecca Moyes (Barbara), Molly-Ann Nordin (Ivy) and Betsy Brown (Karen), who will perform a scene from the play; and
• A Question-and-Answer Session with Dean Forsman, Director Bulluck and a student actress.

The event will be followed by a reception for attendees in the Performance Place lobby.

August: Osage County by Tracy Letts will be presented at 8 p.m. Oct. 26 & 27 and Oct. 31-Nov. 3, and at 2 p.m. Oct. 28 and Nov. 3 & 4 in the Thrust Theatre of Performance Place. Directed by School of Drama faculty member Matt Bulluck and featuring members of Studio 4, this Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning epic account of a family whose patriarch goes missing creates an impromptu family reunion that brings out hidden loneliness and pain across three generations. Tickets are $15 for adults and $13 for students and seniors and are available through the UNCSA Box Office at 336-721-1945 or www.uncsa.edu/performances. The play is for mature audiences only.

Behind-the-scenes events are coordinated by The Associates, UNCSA’s volunteer organization. For more information about The Associates, visit www.uncsa.edu/development/volunteeropportunities.htm. Visitors are invited to join The Associates at the event. Annual dues are $25 per person and are used to help underwrite the cost of special programs and events. Dues are a tax-deductible contribution to the school.

As America’s first state-supported arts school, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts is a unique stand-alone public university of arts conservatories. With a high school component, UNCSA is a degree-granting institution that trains young people of talent in music, dance, drama, filmmaking, and design and production. Established by the N.C. General Assembly in 1963, the School of the Arts opened in Winston-Salem (“The City of Arts and Innovation”) in 1965 and became part of the University of North Carolina system in 1972. World-renowned conductor and educator John Mauceri became Chancellor of UNCSA in 2006. For more information, visit www.uncsa.edu.

                                                    

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MEDIA: You are cordially invited to attend! Please contact Marla Carpenter at 336-770-3337 if you are interested in attending.