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The Eastern Echo Wednesday, June 24, 2026 | Print Archive
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Theater

The Eastern Echo

‘Much Ado’ At EMU

By Arica Frisbey · Tuesday, April 9, 2019

When friends, family and other playgoers gathered in Quirk Theatre this past Friday night, there was only the anticipation of a great opening night in the air, a held breath and hope for an entertaining rendition of one of Shakespeare’s works. By the time the curtain fell on the first evening show of the run, they were left with more than that: a discussion on gender relations, double standards and comedy in the #MeToo era. Just as Director Lee Stille, professor of theatre arts here at Eastern Michigan University, intended.

The Eastern Echo

‘Much Ado About Nothing’ To Premiere in Quirk Theatre

By Arica Frisbey · Wednesday, April 3, 2019

 Another talented cast takes the Quirk mainstage this coming weekend for EMU Theatre’s production of Shakespeare’s classic, “Much Ado About Nothing.” The production, directed by Dr. Lee Stille, is set to run for two weekends, April 5 through April 7 and April 11 through April 14. 

EMU Theatre hosts One-Act Festival

By Kelsey Hawkins-Johnson · Wednesday, March 23, 2016

The creative thoughts of Eastern Michigan University students formed in the Theatre Department’s student written and student directed One-Act Festival in the Frank Ross Laboratory Theatre this week. From the early 1990’s to present day, the One Act Festival has served the talents of EMU students in the art of playwriting, directing and performing.

EMU students Adam Kennedy as Ms. Beatrice, Kiana Gandol as Lily, and Savannah Damoth as Rosey.

Lily Plants a Garden to be performed at Sponberg Theater

By Kelsey Hawkins-Johnson · Sunday, March 6, 2016

As a part of Eastern Michigan University’s Theatre Second Stage series, planting its seeds in the Sponberg Theater this weekend is the production of Jose Cruz Gobzalez’s magical allegory Lily Plants a Garden. Inspired in part by 9/11, the play takes place in a rubble house where the protagonist, Young Girl, finds a doll and creates a magical tale about a “Zobeing” named Lily who, like herself, exist in a war-torn world.

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'Chesapeake' one-man show comes to The Yellow Barn

By Emily Slomovits · Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016

One-person plays are rare and not many have received wide circulation or much acclaim. This may be due to one thing: no matter how good a play is, it will succeed or fail depending on the actors in it, and obviously, with a one-person show, all the responsibility falls on a single actor. This can be a tremendous amount of pressure; learning an unusually large number of lines, being onstage non-stop for sometimes two hours or more and perhaps most importantly, having no other actor to interact with and be supported by.

The Eastern Echo

Encore Theatre presents 'Sondheim on Sondheim'

By Emily Slomovits · Sunday, Feb. 7, 2016

Stephen Sondheim is widely regarded as the grandfather of musical theatre. His career as a composer and lyricist has spanned nearly seven decades and his shows are some of the most beloved in the musical theatre repertoire: Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, A Little Night Music, Follies, Sunday in the Park with George and many more. But, among performers, his work is also known as some of the more difficult to perform and sing because of its unpredictability, density and complexity.

Women’s SafeHouse: A realist performance about the violence against women in Turkey

By Kelsey Hawkins-Johnson · Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015

Told through reading and performance, audio and visual components, the two-act play “Women’s SafeHouse” opened for the first time in America at Eastern Michigan University’s Frank Ross Laboratory Theatre in Quirk Hall on Monday night. “Women’s SafeHouse,” written by Turkish playwright, Tuncer Cucenoglu, depicts a modern tragedy about 11 women and their stories at a safehouse in Istanbul, Turkey where they fell as victims of violence and abuse.

Neighborhood Theatre Group needs $8,000 to finish season

By Sasha Brown · Sunday, Nov. 1, 2015

Eastern Michigan’s alumni, students and local professional actors are a big part of Ypsilanti’s newest theatre company, Neighborhood Theatre Group (NTG). Kristine Anne Danko and Aaron Dean, the founders of this company, have brought their talent to Ypsilanti after leaving the Chicago theater scene. EMU alumni included in the Neighborhood Theatre Group are Bradley James Drozdowski, Marissa Kurtzhals, Christopher Zavac, Mary Hourani, Eric Hohnke, Chris Jakob and Dawn Peterson.

The Eastern Echo

'Little Shop of Horrors' exceeds expectations

By Emily Slomovits · Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015

In my three years at EMU, I’ve seen some wonderful theatre. But, the current main stage production, “Little Shop of Horrors,” is the best show I’ve seen here, hands down. Júlia Miyahara, a freshman majoring in international affairs, said, “I really like this musical, because it touches on a lot of real-life issues like poverty and domestic violence... I had very high expectations for this production, and it exceeded them by a lot.” The show is somewhat paradoxical – on one hand, it’s a frothy, entertaining and stylized show with catchy Motown music, while on the other, it’s a dark, grim, sometimes scary look at the lengths people will go to in order to get what they want.

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New local theater troop to present 'Beaver's Long Strange Trip'

By Afua Osei-Bonsu · Sunday, May 31, 2015

A young theater movement has given rise to many new theaters around Ypsilanti including Mix, Dreamland Theater and the newest member, The Neighborhood Theatre Group. On Friday, June 5, at 7:30 p.m., The Neighborhood Theatre Group will present a reading of Beaver’s Long Strange Trip at the Back Office Studio (BOS) located at 13 N.

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