Cage Rhythm
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The Play“The play concentrates on their individual struggles to maintain their dignity and humanity, but also brings to life hard-hitting observations of race, gender and class inequities on issues such as drug laws and unfair sentencing. Corthron’s plays take socio-political issues head on.” --Nefertiti Burton |
UofL’s Theatre Arts African American Program opens the 2007-2008 Season with Kia Corthron’s “Cage Rhythm” on Oct. 17.
The play will run through Oct. 21 at the Thrust Theatre, 2314 S. Floyd Street ,
with performances at 8 p.m. each evening with an additional 3 p.m. matinee Sunday, Oct. 21.
Director Nefertiti Burton says “Playwright Kia Corthron is one of the most well-regarded young writers in contemporary theatre. In Cage Rhythm, she captures the daily ‘hell’ of incarcerated women.
“The play concentrates on their individual struggles to maintain their dignity and humanity, but also brings to life hard-hitting observations of race, gender and class inequities on issues such as drug laws and unfair sentencing,” Burton says. “Corthron’s plays take socio-political issues head on.”
Corthron’s work is well-known to Louisville theater goers. A prolific writer, she has written several works for the Humana Festival produced at Actors Theatre of Louisville, most recently in 2006.
Burton, associate professor and director of graduate studies with the UofL Department of Theatre Arts and director of International Programs for the College of Arts and Sciences, is an actor and playwright. Her latest children’s play, “Who Needs a Habitat Anyway?” will tour area k-12 classrooms this fall and spring. She has consulted for the National Endowment for the Arts, Association of Performing Arts Presenters, New England Foundation for the Arts and many other local, regional and national arts agencies. Her production, performance and consulting activities have taken her to Africa, Asia, Australia, South America and the Caribbean.
Ticket prices are $12 for the general public, $8 for UofL employees, senior citizens and students. Call the box office at (502) 852-6814 for reservations or group ticket prices.
For more information, call Debbie Hudson at 852-7682.
The Players
Sarah Carleton (Esperanza), Darlington, PA, is a second-year MFA student in Performance. Past credits at UofL include Seeker in Refractions and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet. Past productions elsewhere include Quilters and Everyman.
Lindsey Carter (Corrections Officer, Other Inmate), Shelbyville, KY, is a junior English major. Past productions at UofL include the Studio Theatre productions The Deal and The Mask.
Tiffany Gist (T.J.), St. Louis, MO, is a first-year MFA student in Performance. This is her debut performance at UofL. Past credits elsewhere include Aunt Theresa in Sins of the Mother, Ruth in Raisin in the Sun, Emilia in Othello, and Ma Rainey in Harlem: Our Broadway at Alabama State University.
Mary Audrey Holt (Avery), from Louisville, KY, is a third-year MFA student in Performance and a member of the UofL Repertory Company. She earned her BS in Theatre Arts from UofL. Past credits at UofL include Jo in My Secret Language of Wishes, Tonya in King Hedley II, Perdita in A Winter’s Tale,Night Sky, and Helen in TheTrojan Women. Productions outside the university include Romeo & Juliet: A RockOpera at the LaMama Theatre in New York and the original production of YouShouldn’t Have Told at the American Theatre of the Arts in New York. She directed the African American Celebration in Poem, Song, and Dance for the Ursiline Academy of Performing Arts and inaugurated an after school drama program at the Nativity School of St. Boniface. Mary is also the Studio Theatre graduate coordinator. This is her thesis performance.
Janelle Hunnicutt ( Montana), from Spartanburg, SC, is a second-year MFA student in Performance. Past credits at UofL include Cecilia in My Secret Language of Wishes, Lady Montague in Romeo and Juliet and Assistant Stage Manager for King Hedley II. She performed as Queen Esther in the African American Theatre Program production of Lift Every Voice and Sing for the Louisville NAACP Conference. She has also stage managed and directed at Berea College.
Frances Lewis (Micky), Louisville, KY,is a sophomore Theatre Arts major. Past credits at UofL include Rose in My Secret Language of Wishes, Edith in Blithe Spirit and Michael in Photograph: Lovers in Motion. Past productions at the Youth Performing Arts School include She Stoops to Conquer, Showboat, The Good Woman of Setzuan, and Curious Savage. She performed as the Stepmother in Cinderella at the Music Theatre of Louisville.
Jane Mattingly (Homeless Woman), Louisville, KY, is a sophomore English and Theatre Arts major. This is her debut performance at UofL. Past credits include Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Sentry in Antigone, Cindy Lou Who in Seussical, and Girl in Mother Hicks at Assumption High School.
Meredith McBride (CO and Woman), Louisville, KY, is a junior Theatre Arts major. This is her debut performance at UofL. Past credits elsewhere include Sister Mary Amnesia in Nunsense, Miss Wilcox in George Washington Slept Here, Tigger in Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh, and she performed in several productions with Whodunnit Inc. She has also worked in various films in Louisville and Cincinnati.
Cassie Perkins (Joy Ann), Campbellsville, KY, is a junior Theatre Arts major. Most recently she performed as the Maid in Refractions. Past Studio productions include The Most Massive Woman Wins, For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls and Bringing It all Back Home. She is a crew member in the scene and costume shops.
Kyra Riley (Leesy), Louisville, KY, is an 8 th grader at Noe Middle School. This is her debut performance at UofL. Past credits at Walden Theatre include Nissa in Sonny’s House of Spies, Violet in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Lady M. in Shakespeare Celebration Scenes.
Mesa Serikali (Little Girly by the Pond), Louisville, KY, is a 6 th grader at Meyzeek. This is her debut performance at UofL. Past credits elsewhere include Soujourner Truth in The Production and Jarnisha in Graduate to Great the Jesus Way.
Melony A. Tisdale (Corrections Officer), Kingstree, SC, is a first-year MFA student in Performance. This is her debut performance at UofL. Past credits include Gilmer in Godspell, Lutibelle Jenkins in Purlie Victorious at Fayettville State University, and Student in Fame at Cape Fear Regional Theatre.
Mariam Williams (Faye), Louisville, KY, is the Research Director and Copywriter at Main Line Broadcasting. This is her debut performance at UofL. She was a dancer/slave in The Dolly Ceed Story at Locust Grove. Her play, The Breakroom, won second-place in the 2003 UofL Juneteenth Festival of New Plays.
Megan Myers McKinney (Scenic Design) is a third-year MFA student in Design. She earned her BA in Theatre at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She also received training as a scenic artist at Cobalt Studios in White Lake, N.Y. Past scenic design credits include As Bees in Honey Drown and Romeo and Juliet. Most recently, she did the costume designs for Interrogating the Nude.
Zhanna Goldentul (Costume Design) is the resident Costume Designer for the Theatre Arts department at the University of Louisville, Kentucky. She teaches Costume History, Costume Design and Construction, and Stage Makeup. Her recent designs for the department include: Romeo and Juliet, Blithe Spirit , The Midsummer’s Nights Dream, In the Blood, The Seagull, and Musical Comedy Murders of 1940. She is a graduate of the Theatrical Art College in Moscow. Before coming to the U.S. in 1992, she worked in Russia at the Old Drama Theatre and the Moscow Contemporary Theatre. Goldentul has designed costumes at The Louisville Children’s Theatre Stage One for Sleeping Beauty, and Hanzel and Gretel in 2002. In 2005 she designed a miniature horse sculpture for Galopalooza at the Galas, Brightside of Louisville for Kentucky Derby. From 2000 – 2005 Goldentul worked as the Designer/Consultant, KY Opera, “Music, Words, Opera” Showcase. Zhanna Goldentul has been a member of the United Scenic Artists' Union since 1993. She is currently working on her Graduate Degree at the Fine Arts Department.
Michael F. Hottois (Lighting Design) has recently designed scenery for Interrogating the Nude, My Secret Language of Wishes, Refractions, Blithe Spirit, The Winter’s Tale, In the Blood, A Doll House, The Face of Emmett Till, Night Sky, Home, School Play, & The Threepenny Opera. Last summer he designed The King & I and The Music Man and this summer he did Ain’t Misbehavin’ and Always, Patsy Cline for the Merry-Go-Round Playhouse in New York. His credits as a scenic artist include the films Boris and Natasha and Closetland, as well as Soul of the Game for HBO. Michael is also a member of United Scenic Artists Union, Local 829.
Jessica Potter (Stage Manager), Louisville, KY, is a junior Theatre Arts major. Most recently she was the Assistant Stage Manager for Urinetown. She was the assistant stage manager for Uncharted Realms at the Louisville Ballet and MacBeth for Specific Gravity Ensemble.
Kara McCoil (Assistant Stage Manager), Murray, KY, is a junior Humanities major. Most recently she was the Assistant Stage Manager for Urinetown. Past productions elsewhere as stage manager include Hank Williams: Lost Highway, The Jungle Book, Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Alice in Wonderland at the Playhouse in the Park, Murray, KY.
Matthew Robinson (Assistant Stage Manager), Cincinnati, OH, is a senior Theatre Arts major. He most recently performed in the Studio Theatre production of Photograph: Lovers in Motion. He is a crew member in the scene shop.
The Director
Nefertiti Burton is an Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies for UofL's Department of Theatre Arts. She holds an MFA in Directing from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and a Research Certificate in Media/Arts Program Development from the Community Fellows Program of The Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her teaching, directing, writing, and acting focus on the work of Black playwrights throughout the African Diaspora. Burton has performed and directed in local, national, and international venues including Boston, Massachusetts, New York City, Adelaide, Australia, Beijing China, and Grahamstown, South Africa. Her professional work has been acknowledged with an American Scene Award and an Audelco Award. Five of her plays focusing on Yoruba traditional beliefs have toured the Kentucky public
schools. Her latest children’s play, Who Needs a Habitat Anyway? Will begin touring schools in the Louisville-Metro area in October, 2007. For the past five years Burton has been organizing and implementing theatre exchanges between the University of Louisville and arts institutions in South Africa. In 2003 Burton organized the South Africa Theatre Exchange, taking ten UofL students to Africa for five weeks to perform with South African students at one of the largest arts festivals in the world. In 2004 she worked with the African American Theatre Program to bring South African artists to UofL to collaborate with UofL students and faculty on Middle Passage: A Healing Ritual. In 2005 Burton led a group of UofL’s graduate students to Cape Town, South Africa to work on a performance project with women in exile from Rwanda and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo. During her most recent trip to South Africa (July 2007) she led a workshop on Theatre for a Sustainable Planet: Lessons From Indigenous Stories at the United Nations 4th World Environmental Education Congress in Durban. Burton is the 2003 recipient of the UofL Presidential Exemplary Multicultural Teaching Award and was recently appointed Director of International Programs for the University of Louisville’s College of Arts and Sciences.
The Stage
Thrust Theatre
2314 S. Floyd Street
Louisville, KY 40292
This U of L Theatre Arts Productions will be performed on the intimate stage of the Thrust Theatre. Built in 1992 and seating 164 patrons, the Thrust offers a variety of staging opportunities and interaction with the audience.
The building housing the theatre is also the location of the Department's main office, faculty offices, classrooms and rehearsal rooms, and the costume shop.
The Thrust Theatre is located in the HPES/Studio Arts building on the corner of Warnock and Floyd, catty-corner from McDonald’s. Metered street parking is available on Floyd St. Free parking is available in university lots located along Floyd St. after 7:30 p.m. weekdays and all day on weekends.
Click here Map of Thrust Theatre
The Ticket
Box Office
HPES / Studio Arts Building
Corner of Floyd and Warnock Streets
Office Hours
Monday - Friday
10am - 3pm
(502) 852-6814
Ticket Price
General Public - $12
Students - $8
Senior Citizens - $8
U of L Faculty/Staff - $8
Season Tickets - $35.00-$50.00 (Order Form) [DOC]
Additional Information
To make ticket reservations, please contact the Box Office Manager, Debbie Hudson, at 852-6814. Accepted methods of payment include Visa & Mastercard.