The Suffrage team has been working hard to bring you a stellar audio-drama performance this week. Below, you can meet our crew!
Emily Trejo, Director
Emily is a Senior studying Theatre Education with minors in TESOL and Family Life. She has had the opportunity to work on a handful of shows here at BYU that has helped further her interests in Directing and Dramaturgy. Aside from a life in theatre, Emily has also founded a mariachi band, Mariachi Montes Azules, that has also experienced lots of growth in the last few months. She is grateful to her husband, Dravyn, who has helped keep her sane during the semester.Tiffany Gibbons, Sound Designer and Foley Artist
Tiffany is a Senior in the Theatre Education program from Cedar Hills, UT. Passionate about music and movement, Tiffany hopes to teach in elementary schools and advocate for the use of the arts in general classrooms. This is such a beautiful and impactful show, and she is so grateful to have had the chance to help tell this story! Sending blessings to artists, teachers, storytellers, and Mothers everywhere during this trying time!Becca Christiansen, Hair and Makeup Designer
Becca has always had a love for hair and makeup and has been a cosmetologist for 7 years. She graduates this semester and can't wait to be able to spend more time with her husband and baby once she does. She stays busy with taking care of her family, cutting hair, and running her own boutique. Claire Eyestone, Costume Designer and "Frances"
Claire Eyestone is a senior studying theatre education and English teaching. Recent credits include Amy in Charley's Aunt at the HCTO, Adriana in Comedy of Errors, and assistant directing Little Shop of Horrors at BYU. She's loved getting to both design and act in this production.
Juniper Taylor, "Ruth"
Juniper Taylor is a junior in the BFA Acting program. She has played many roles from Lucifer in Dr. Faustus to Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof. She would like to thank Emily and the production team for working so hard on a story she’s grown to love. And she would like to thank Ruth for teaching her that strong, independent women can change the world. Samantha Daynes, Dramaturg
Samantha is a senior from Singapore studying theatre education. She is the great-great-great granddaughter of Wilford Woodruff, and has loved the opportunity to understand more about the lives of the early Saints. Acting credits include BYU's Hamlet and Comedy of Errors, and she read stage directions for Suffrage when it premiered at BYU's Contemporary Voices Festival. She has also worked as a set and costume designer, as well as a full-time position on the run crew at Moonlight Amphitheatre in Vista, CA, and hopes to continue her education in many aspects of theatre.Lisa Eardley, Assistant Dramaturg
Lisa is a Senior from Elko, NV. She will graduate this semester with her degree in Theatre Arts with an emphasis on costume design. She has been the costume designer for the Silver Stage Players and the Overland Stage Theatre Company in Elko for several productions including Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, White Christmas, and Cinderella.
by Holly Mancuso, dramaturg After a successful run, Microburst Theatre Festival has wrapped up for this year. If you missed it, make sure you join us next year for a fresh round of new plays written by students. As part of the show we created boards for the lobby highlighting each of the shows. Different drafts showed how much these plays have changed since the first drafts, which was fun for audiences to see. [caption id="attachment_3667" align="aligncenter" width="3264"] The Microburst lobby display[/caption] As part of this process, the production team has grappled with the question: "Why new plays?" This is a fair concern, since many people don't feel comfortable seeing something with which they aren't familiar. It's also easier to be drawn in by a known name
by Jessa Cunningham, dramaturg "You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous thing." This is one of the most famous lines from the show, and for good reason. This is how Charlotte expresses her gratitude for Wilbur letting her into his life, and now I would like to use it to thank all of you for letting us involved with the show into your life. Thank you for coming to see us, for interacting with us. All of the Lunch and Learns, the post show discussions, and the interactions with the cast after each performance were all for you. These opportunities brought us closer to you, the audience. We have become friends because of this, and hopefully you all have felt that too. I speak for all of us with the show when I say that we have loved getting to know all of you. The relationships that have been formed because of this show alone would make E.B. White smile. Friendships have been forged within the cast, the design team, the crew, and with you. That truly is an amazing thing, and hopefully that helped you to understand the themes of the play a little better.
Playwright Philip King knew how to get the laughs. Much of the humor in See How They Run is the contrast of American and English cultures. America's entrance into WWII and subsequent support of the United Kingdom led to many American troops stationed in England. Those troops brought their American culture and customs. Consequently, 1940s Britain was suddenly learning a lot about our culture; some of it they liked and some of it they didn't but Philip King's ability to find the humor in American/England cultural differences contributed to See How They Run's success. BBC America: 10 American Habits Brits Will Never Understand See How They Run's current version was purposefully revised for an American audience. In fact, the play has gone through more than one big change. The original script was a one act farce titled Moon Madness produced at Peterborough Reperatory in 1942. A few years later it went to Comedy Theatre on London's West End and it was there that King added a second act and renamed it See How They Run. [caption id="" align="alignright" width="343"] See How They Run first appeared in London during Hitler's second Blitz of Southern England news1.ghananation.com/international[/caption] Opening night on the West End was an exciting event. Rumor has it that during the show, three bombs dropped on London but even Hitler's Blitz could not stop the laughs. The show continued without a pause but George Gee, the actor playing Clive, later complained that all three bombs dropped during his funniest lines. See How They Run was so successful it continued for 600 more performances. In 1949, the show was once again revised and re-staged, this time in America. King changed Clive and Penelope to American characters to appeal to the local audience. Also, with the end of the Second World War and the rise of the Cold War, the original Nazi intruder was changed to a Russian spy. This is the version we present to you this year.
