Wednesday, January 10, 2007

NYC theater troupe Nerve Ensemble to produce original drama with students at Centenary College; show runs Feb 8 - 11


Nerve Ensemble, NYC: Lance Horne
Originally uploaded by trudeau.
Steve Vanderkuy, of Centenary College's art department says, "Don Hooper, head of the Theater Department said, 'Look at the material on the Nerve Ensemble, a drama troupe in NYC; sure would be great to bring them here for a residency.' And I said, ' Maybe I can help you raise the money to bring them in.'"

Along the way to bringing the Nerve Ensemble to Shreveport, VanderKuy and Hooper added film maven Marion Marks and the decision was made to make a documentary film of the premiere production of the work, tentatively entitled The $trip.

This week the Nerve nucleus went to work at auditioning students and filling out their project. The play in development is billed thusly: "We're exploring the American Dream in a perfect marriage of form and content: a Vegas specracular. Alice in Wonderland meets MTV. Desire in a fragile house of cards."

The Nerve Ensemble:
Lance Horne, composer/lyricist
Tiger Martina, choreographer
Sarah Bishop-Stone, dramaturg/producer
alyse Rothman, director

"The show will open on the 8th of Feb at 8 pm and play the 9th and 10th at the same time. A matinee will be presented at 2 pm on the 11th," says Hooper.


Having briefly met the young but well-traveled troupe I must say my expectations are high. And I salute Hooper, Vanderkuy and Marks for their ambitious and stimulating plan. It is this sort of moxie that provides a launch pad for students and energizes a community.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This does look very exciting and promising.