Glacity Theatre Collective to present area premiere of ‘Circle Mirror Transformation’

January 16, 2013 | Arts, Events, UToday, — Visual and Performing Arts

By Staff

The cast of “Circle Mirror Transformation” — standing, Risa Beth Cohen and Juan Rodriguez, seated center, Megan Aherne, and Pamela Tomassetti and Dr. Ben Pryor — attempt to recreate a childhood bedroom.

Cast members — standing, Risa Beth Cohen and Juan Rodriguez, seated center, Megan Aherne, and Pamela Tomassetti and Dr. Ben Pryor — attempt to recreate a childhood bedroom in this scene from “Circle Mirror Transformation.”

For six weeks in a spare room at a Vermont community center, five very different people come together for an adult creative dramatics class: Marty, co-director of the community center and leader of the class; Theresa, an actress fleeing from heartbreak in the big city; James, an ex-hippie teaching economics at a community college; Schultz, a carpenter finally ready to get on with life after his divorce; and Lauren, a sulky teenager with dreams of stardom.

In the process of exploring theater games and improvisations together, they will find their lives transformed forever — and in the process will learn far more about themselves than they will about acting.

The Glacity Theatre Collective will present the area premiere of Annie Baker’s “Circle Mirror Transformation” Thursday, Jan. 17, at 8 p.m. in the sanctuary of St. Paul’s Methodist Church, 1201 Madison Ave., Toledo.

Performances will continue Friday and Saturday, Jan. 18 and 19, and Thursday through Saturday, Jan. 24-26, at 8 p.m. Doors open at 7:30 p.m.

The play premiered in New York at Playwrights Horizons, won the 2010 Obie Award for Best New American Play, and was voted one of the top 10 plays of 2009 by The New York Times, Time Out New York and The New Yorker. It was named one of the best plays of 2009-10 in the latest edition of The Best Plays Theater Yearbook.

Of the Big Apple premiere, The New York Times called it an “absorbing, unblinking and sharply funny play,” and wrote “Annie Baker’s play is an absolute feast. ‘Circle Mirror Transformation’ is the kind of unheralded gem that sends people into the streets babbling and bright-eyed with the desire to spread the word.”

Cast members are Megan Aherne as Lauren; Risa Beth Cohen as Theresa; Dr. Ben Pryor, UT vice provost for academic program development, as James; Juan Rodriguez as Schulz; and Pamela Tomassetti as Marty.

Holly Monsos, associate dean of the UT College of Visual and Performing Arts, is directing the play. Christy Prager is the stage manager, and James S. Hill, UT professor and chair of theatre and film, is the production coordinator and technical director.

Tickets are $20 and are available in advance at glacity.tix.org or at the door. For the “pay what you can” performance Thursday, Jan. 24, tickets will be available at the door only.

Parking is available for free on the street, in the lot directly across from the church, and, for those needing physical accessibility, in a small lot immediately adjacent to the church off 13th Street.

For more information, go to glacity.org.