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The UTC Theatre Company will open the 2019/2020 season with Pulitzer Prize Finalist, “The Wolves” that features an American girls’ soccer team with speed, ferocity and humor.
“The Wolves” was written by Sarah DeLappe and is directed by Gaye Jeffers, Associate Professor in the Theatre Department. The play will feature creative work from faculty members Adam Miecielica in set design, Andrew Haueter in costume design, and Jeff Davis in the Lighting and Technical Department. It stars Sarah Bidini, Ashlyn Buckner, and Autumn Hemmelgarn as well as many other UTC students.
The production will open on October 1 at the Chattanooga School for the Arts & Sciences (CSAS) Elementary Gymnasium. It will have a total of six performances from Tuesday, October 1 through Sunday, October 6. The program will start at 7:30 p.m. every night.
In addition to preparing for the beginning of the season, the Theatre Department is also embracing their temporary change in location. Up until this season, theatre productions took place in the Fine Arts Center on campus. Starting in February, the Fine Arts Center began renovations. During this time, the department has decided to take their performances out into the public.
Steve Ray, Theatre Chair for the Department of Performing Arts said the temporary changes should be beneficial to the department and the students involved.
“We’ve decided that instead of looking at this as a difficulty, which it is going to be a challenge, but to kind of find out what the benefits are of this?” he said. “And particularly, as far as how we teach our students. We’re gonna be in other people’s spaces, nontraditional spaces, so not just another theatre. Were gonna teach our students how to rehearse and build sets and costumes in one location and load in somewhere else. The rest of their lives this will be a skill that they’ll find useful.”
The department hopes to use this opportunity to expand its audience beyond campus and into the community as well as provide its students with real world experience. UTC Theatre Company plans to return to the Fine Arts Center by Summer 2020 and resume performances in the normal location the following fall semester.
Ticket prices are $12 for adults and 10 for students, faculty, and seniors with an ID. Tickets for “The Wolves” are available now and can be purchased through the box office by calling (423) 425-4269, or by going online to www.utc.edu/theatre.
Audiences should be advised that “The Wolves” contains mature subject matter.
