Charming Our Way to the Top! @ Weber State University Department of Performing Arts (January 18, 19, 7:30 p.m, Browning Center)

Charming Our Way to the Top! Selected for ACTF Region VIII Competition

Who: Weber State University Department of Performing Arts

What: "Charm," by Kathleen Cahill, directed by Tracy Callahan

Recommended for mature audiences only

When: January 18, 19, 7:30 p.m.  

Where: Eccles Theater, Val A. Browning Center for the Performing Arts

Weber State University Department of Performing Arts´ fall production of "Charm" has been selected for American College Theatre Festival (ACTF) Region VIII competition, presented February 15 at the Los Angeles Theatre Center. The play, written by Kathleen Cahill, directed by Tracy Callahan, will also be presented at WSU for two fundraising performances, January 18-19, at 7:30 pm in the Eccles Theatre. 

All tickets to the WSU performances are $15, general admission, and no comp tickets will be honored for these two performances. The play is recommended for adults.Tickets are available in advance at Dee Events Center Tickets, the Browning Center Box Office, 1-801-626-7000 or weberstatetickets.com or at the Browning Center Box Office beginning one hour before the performance.  It is recommended that tickets be purchased well in advance as there is very limited seating and most performances sold out during its fall semester run. 

 In a quixotic and "abstract" way, the play tells the story of Margaret Fuller (1810-1850), a writer at the center of the American Transcendentalist movement and the avant garde of feminism. Ralph Waldo Emerson selected her to edit "The Dial," the leading publication of the Transcendentalists that also included Henry Thoreau, Nathanial Hawthorn and Orestes Bronson. All of these men and others are characters in this play. Later, Horace Greeley and the New York Tribune hired her as the first full-time book reviewer in journalism and the publication´s first female editor. Fuller´s life as a critic and journalist also took her to Italy where she was a witness to the 1848 revolutions in the Italian states. She was not your typical 19th century women! 2010 was the bicentennial of Fuller´s birth and a website devoted to her (margaretfuller.org) is still available on line.

The 45th Annual KCACTF Region VIII Festival, February 14-16, 2013, returning to the Los Angeles Theatre Center, is one full day shorter than past festivals in a cost cutting measure. Most of the costs accrued are in lodging and meals so shorterning the event by one day saves everyone a lot. 

The only major change will be the scheduling of the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Auditions. Preliminary rounds are on Thursday. The semifinal rounds will be held on FridaySaturday´s schedule will be consistant with past festivals. In addition to sending the play to festival, several members of the cast of Charm as well as other department students will be attending e Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship Auditions.

For more information, contact director Tracy Callahan, tcallahan@weber.edu or 801 626-7886 

For more information about the playwright: kathleencahill10@comcast.net

For more informaiton about KCACTF Region VIII: John H. Binkley (818) 677-6497 o john.h.binkley@csun.edu

photos available on request.