'Epic Theatre' - ACT student presentations today and tomorrow @ Citadel

By David Weber, ACT Youth Ensemble Director

LAKE FOREST - On May 14th and 15th the students of Citadel Theatre’s advanced “Youth Ensemble” will be performing scenes in the Epic Theatre style on the Citadel Theatre stage.  This performance will be the culmination of their work in a very intense, conservatory style program offered by the Academy @ Citadel Theatre that is undoubtedly unique to the North Shore, if not the Chicago area.  

Each semester the Academy education director, Christine Cummings, picks a theatrical style/genre for our Youth Ensemble to study.  Previous semesters they have worked on Commedia Del Arte The Snow Queen, Melodrama The Drunkard, and last semester they performed an original work of Farce written by Citadel’s own Andrew Pond.  This semester this young ensemble will train in the style of Epic Theater. 

The admittance to this rigorous ensemble is by audition only.  The selected students train for six weeks in preparation for a show that showcases that specific genre, and then rehearse the show for another six classes before performing on the Citadel stage for the community.  

Our 15 actors will work and rehearse scenes from such classic Bertolt Brecht plays as, The Caucasion Chalk Circle, Happy End, and Mother Courage and perform his classic lyrics to Alabama Song aka Next Whiskey Bar, Mack the Knife, and Kilkoa Shone.  The actors will train in how to present their characters, true to Epic Theater style, complete with commenting on their emotions by including stage directions in their performance.  The "Show" will be very Meta.  It will consist of a stew of Brechtian songs, scenes, and original storytelling based on the themes of WAR and Home.  

It almost goes without saying that this is a major leap forward for many of these young actors. Most theatre students are only exposed to the Epic Theater style in collegiate Master’s level courses - so the opportunity to dive in at such a young age, to train with professional and degreed actors, and to be able to publicly perform these Brechtian works is a challenge not afforded to most teenage acting students. 

Please come out and support the efforts of our young thespians as they tackle these epic works. You can catch the show on the Citadel Theatre stage at 300 S Waukegan Rd, located within the West Campus building. Performances are tonight (May 14) and tomorrow (May 15th), both at 7pm. A donation of $5 is requested at the door, supporting the ongoing efforts of the Adademy.