Theatre

The Fairmont State University School of Fine Arts and the Masquers theatre group will present the first theatre performance of the academic year in September. “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” a new musical comedy, opens Friday, Sept. 21, on the Wallman Hall Stage.                                                                                     

Jingles, jangles, rhymes, The Hunkitchy Man, The Greedy Old Fat Man, Marigold and more -- you’ll find them all in “Mountain Mother Goose,” an operetta for young audiences.

The production, presented by the Fairmont State University School of Fine Arts, the Town and Gown Youth Company and the Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center, will be on stage in the Wallman Hall Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, June 8 and 9, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, June 10. Following each performance will be a reception to meet the composer and the cast at the Folklife Center. Tickets are $12 and are available by calling (304) 367-4240.

If you are brave enough to walk down a darkened path to the Prickett Cemetery during Memorial Day weekend, you will hear “Whispers in the Wind.”

The original play, written by Fairmont State University students in Dr. Francene Kirk’s children’s theatre class during the spring 2012 semester, provides the unique opportunity to hear the voices of those who lived and died on the frontier. Participating student writers were Morgan Davis, Suzanne Hall, Kate Thompson, Kelly Blake, Kaici Lore, Jennifer Scholtz, Jessica Snyder, Shana Suesli and Lakyn Arrick.

Strong singers and good spellers are sought for roles in the upcoming Fairmont State University School of Fine Arts production of “The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”

If you have ever attended a play in Wallman Hall Theatre, you know that Fairmont State University has an active and dedicated Theatre program. During spring break 2012, all that enthusiasm and talent went on tour as part of an outreach program that the Theatre Department participates in every four years, bringing “Hush: An Interview with America” to audiences at Spencer Middle School, Blennerhassett Middle School in Parkersburg and Lewis County High School.

The Fairmont State University School of Fine Arts and the Masquers theatre group present “Hush: An Interview with America,” a humorous and heartfelt play for young audiences. Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 2 and 3, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 4, in Wallman Hall Theatre on the main Fairmont campus. For tickets or additional information, contact the box office at (304) 367-4240 or visit www.fairmontstate.edu/tickets.

The Department of Theatre at Fairmont State University has a long history of producing outstanding performances, and that excellence is being recognized this month. For the first time, an FSU production has reached the finals in the Region 2 competition of the Kennedy Center/ American College Theatre Festival. The FSU production to be featured is Bernard Pomerance’s “The Elephant Man,” directed by Jeffrey Ingman, Assistant Professor of Theatre.

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “A Grand Night for Singing” is the second production of the 2011 Town & Gown summer season. Created 30 years after Rodgers and Hammerstein’s last hit show, “A Grand Night for Singing” is a musical revue featuring the collaborators’ best known songs and was an instant hit on Broadway in 1994.

Thirty-two area young people take the stage as Fairmont State University’s Town & Gown Players kick off the summer theatre season with two short family-friendly musicals performed on June 3 and 4 at 7:30 p.m. and June 5 at 2 p.m. in Wallman Hall Theatre.