Lions Roar writer will keep blog while in Costa Rica with NCC study-abroad groupLR writer will keep blog while in Costa Rica with study-abroad group

Web Site for the Official Student Newspaper of Normandale Community College in Bloomington, Minnesota

September 22, 2007 1:14 PM

Construction on the Fine Arts Building will continue through Fall Semester, forcing the Theater Department to find a temporary home to stage this fall's production of "Our Town."

Theater Department discovers opportunity with off-campus venue

By Melanie Martin

Due to the renovation of the Fine Arts building, NCC is staging its fall production of “Our Town” in downtown St. Paul at the Lowry Lab Theater. The Lowry building is located on the corner of 5th Street and St. Peter Ave.
Sean Byrd, theater instructor at NCC, explained that “Our Town” was chosen as this year’s fall production because it is an easy play to transport off campus and it is also a timeless classic of American theater.
Set in small town U.S.A., Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize winning immortal tale is a universal journey into the sweet and simple moments of life.
Auditions for “Our Town” are open to the NCC community and will be held the week of Sept. 10. Signs will be posted in the Fine Arts hallway or interested students can also check out the NCC website for details under the Theater Department page.
Rehearsals are set to begin the week of Oct. 1, however the NCC Theater Department is still in search of a location.
Despite the adversity that comes with the temporary loss of space, the department is optimistically making the best of a difficult situation.
“One of the advantages of this situation is allowing students the opportunity to understand the artistic and technical demands of taking a production ‘on the road’,” Byrd said.
Along with the excitement of performing in a new venue off campus exists the anticipation of the newly completed Fine Arts Building, which set to be completed in Jan. 2008.
NCC will reopen the theater in February with the classic musical, “Man of La Mancha.” This production will feature a special guest artist from Chicago, Dan Rodden, as Don Quixote.
Rounding out this season will be NCC’s final show of the year, “Dancing at Lughnasa” by renowned Irish playwright Brian Friel.
“Our Town” will run Nov. 28-Dec.1.