Dept. of Theatre & dance presents bright Star
Award-Winning Musical Runs October 15 - 18
West Chester University’s Department of Theatre & Dance will present Bright Star, a sweeping musical of love, redemption and the power of the stories we tell, October 15–18 in the Madeleine Wing Adler Theatre.
Directed by guest artist Amy Dugas Brown, performances of Bright Star are Thursday, October 15; Friday, October 16; and Saturday, October 17 at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, October 18 at 2 p.m. Tickets are available at www.wcupatix.com/theatreanddance
With music, book and story by Grammy Award-winning musician Steve Martin and Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Edie Brickell, Bright Star is inspired by true events and set against the backdrop of the American South in the 1920s and 1940s. The musical features an Americana-inspired score that blends bluegrass, folk and country influences with heartfelt storytelling.
Bright Star premiered on Broadway in 2016. It was nominated for six Tony Awards, won the Drama Desk award for Outstanding Music, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Score, and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theatre Album.
Literary editor Alice Murphy has a chance encounter with a young soldier returning from World War II that sets her on a journey into her past. Featuring a Grammy-nominated score, the musical explores how the choices we make and the stories we tell shape our lives. It is a theatrical experience as refreshingly genuine as it is daringly hopeful.
Bright Star features Kalley Yellak as Alice; Lucas Abraham as Jimmy Ray; Alex Letts as Billy Cane;
Lauren Cusick as Margo; Shannon McCarthy as Mama Murphy; Jonah Gibson as Daddy Murphy;
Kevin Young as Mayor Dobbs; Ty Thomas as Daryl; Brelynn Shefsky as Lucy; and Owen
Klaproth as Daddy Cane.
Ensemble members include Ren Bailey as Spirit/Government Clerk; Olivia Carter as Spirit/Florence; Riley Fidler as Spirit/u/s Alice; Greg Medina as u/s Jimmy Ray/Bartender; Derek Palmeri as Dr. Norquist; Julian Polanco as Stanford; Gus Tabor as Max, and Olivia Withers as Edna.
The Department of Theatre and Dance at West Chester University, an accredited institution of the National Association of Schools of Theatre, prepares students for the professional and academic worlds of Theatre and Dance, while raising student awareness of civility, diversity, creativity, problem-solving, and social responsibility. The department offers a BA Theatre degree program with elective concentrations in Musical Theatre, Performance, and Design and Production, in addition to a dance minor and theatre minor.