Acting takes center stage in ECC 's production
Elgin Community College Theatre goes to class — acting class — during “Circle Mirror Transformation,” the troupe's spring production that will be from Friday, April 20, to Sunday, May 6. Performances will be held in the ECC Arts Center, 1700 Spartan Drive, Elgin, at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 20 and 27 and May 4; Saturday, April 21 and 28, and May 5; and at 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 29 and May 6.
Winner of the 2010 Obie Award for Best New American Play, “Circle Mirror Transformation” centers on five diverse personalities that make up a community center drama class. As they begin to experiment with seemingly ridiculous acting exercises, the class members and their teacher begin to uncover enormous truths about themselves, each other and humanity. The New York Times called this play by up-and-comer Annie Baker, “absorbing, unblinking and sharply funny.”
“All of the characters in this play have something they're overcoming and they face these things over the course of an acting workshop. It's an unintended outcome — a cathartic experience for the characters,” said Robert Hines III, the play's director and theater adjunct faculty. “My hope is that audiences enjoy watching the characters on their journey of self-discovery and that they find something of themselves in these people.”
As adjunct theater faculty at Elgin Community College, Hines teaches Improv for Actors and the Improv Performance Ensemble courses. An experienced educator, teaching artist, arts administrator, actor and director, he is also an adjunct faculty member at the Second City Training Center and works as a senior teaching artist with Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago. Robert earned his master's degree in acting from the Theatre School at DePaul University and is a graduate of the Second City Training Center Conservatory.
Members of the cast includes ECC students Geysa Baltazar of Elgin, Paula Smiech of Streamwood, and Christopher Zeglin of Lake in the Hills, as well as community member Jonathan Witt of Naperville.
Tickets are $11 for adults and $9 for students and seniors. Tickets for all performances in the ECC Arts Center are available online at tickets.elgin.edu or at the ECC box office located in the arts center. Box office hours are noon to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and noon to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday. To purchase tickets by phone, call (847) 622-0300. All major credit cards are accepted.
Visit elgin.edu/arts for more information about the ECC Arts Center, including video clips of upcoming artists and events, the Standing Room Only blog, and links to the Arts Center's twitter and Facebook pages.
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