Nov. 3, 2004 -- The University of Wyoming Department of Theatre and Dance continues
its 2004-2005 season with the premiere of a new one-act comedy, "The Little Train
That Could (But Chose Not To)," which runs Nov. 9 through 13 at 7:30 p.m. and Nov.
14 at 2 p.m. in the Fine Arts Center Studio Theatre. This play contains adult material,
which may not be suitable for all audiences.
Tickets cost $13 for adults, $11 for senior citizens, and $6 for students. For ticket
information or to purchase, call(307) 766-6666, stop by the Fine Arts box office (10
a.m.-4 p.m. weekdays), or go online at www.uwyo.edu/FINEARTS.
The play was written by UW professor William Missouri Downs and directed by Department
Chair and Professor Rebecca Hilliker. It features costume design by Lee Hodgson, scenic
design and book illustrations by Karl Brake and assistant designer Lisa Gruber, and
lighting design by Larry Hazlett.
This dark comedy for adults centers on the unexpected convergence of Emma (Heather
Welch) -- a dedicated, impassioned, but increasingly strident college professor --
with several of her current and former writing students.
Jill (Heather Kaloust), Emma's one-time star pupil, has settled into life as a New
York children's book editor. Suffering from writer's block and increasing malaise
with the workaday world, Jill returns to her alma mater to seek Emma's help after
a silence of nearly a decade.
Jill soon must contend with Daisy (Stephanie Lovell), Emma's perpetual graduate student
and co-commiserater in all things anti-establishment. Although now a paraplegic, Daisy
has changed little since Jill's college days, save that her struggle is now less against
the "system" than against her own body and others' perceptions of her disability.
Starr (double cast with Kelleen Shadow and Rachel Rosenfeld), a pert, impressionable,
but not particularly bright young undergrad, is Emma's newest teaching project and
one of her sole remaining supporters on a campus that no longer tolerates Emma's many
idiosyncrasies.
Providing a throughline for the play is Lillian (Emily Joffrey), Jill's former roommate
and the unpublished author of such children's books as "Why Mommy Is On Prozac." Lillian
is a vulnerable young writer and erstwhile substitute first-grade teacher who consistently
fails to establish her voice in the profit-driven and socially conservative publishing
world.
Posted on Wednesday, November 03, 2004
