Student production led by visiting
director and Hendrix alumnus William Ragsdale ’83
Pictured in a recent
rehearsal of The Hope Hypothesis, from left: Liam Puls ’26 as FBI agent 1; William Ragsdale ’83, director; Lain Shoals ’25 as Amena
Qamar; John
Straessle ’26 as FBI agent 2. / Photo by Kendra Baldwin ’26
CONWAY, Arkansas (February 13,
2023)—The Hendrix Players and the Hendrix College Department of Theatre Arts
and Dance present four performances of Cat Miller’s dark comedy The Hope
Hypothesis in Cabe Theatre on the Hendrix College campus, 1600 Washington
Avenue in Conway.
Performance times are 7:30
p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, Feb. 22-24, and 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25.
Admission is free, but reservations are required and may be made through Eventbrite.
The
plot of The Hope Hypothesis centers on Amena Qamar, a model immigrant. A
refugee from war-torn Syria, she has fled to the United States and fully
embraced the American way of life, graduated from college, and is finishing up
her third year of law school. Her goal is to bring the cherished American
principles of protection under rule of law to the world by working in
international humanitarian law. But when pursuing her path towards citizenship
reveals a flaw in her paperwork, Amena’s plans are suddenly put in peril. She
must overcome the suspicions about her past by of those in authority to avoid
deportation… or worse.
William Ragsdale, a native
of El Dorado, Arkansas, and a 1983 Hendrix College graduate, has returned to
campus as the Murphy Visiting Theatre Director for this production, which is
funded by programming support from the Hendrix-Murphy Foundation Programs in
Literature and Language. Murphy Visiting Theatre Directors spend six weeks as
artists-in-residence to direct a play, in the process teaching students about
how directors interact with scripts, as well as providing insight into
dramaturgy and directing.
After graduating from
Hendrix, Ragsdale went on to become an award-winning stage and screen actor. He
made his Broadway debut in 1985, replacing Matthew Broderick as Eugene Morris
Jerome in Neil Simon’s Biloxi Blues; that same year he starred as Charley
Brewster in the Columbia Pictures film Fright Night. His television
credits include the lead role in the 1990s Fox series Herman’s Head and
recurring roles on Ellen (as Ellen’s “last” boyfriend), Judging Amy,
Less Than Perfect, Search Party, and Justified, as well as
dozens of individual guest appearances on other episodic series.
“It’s really been such a
pleasure to be back on campus and to be back in the Cabe Theatre,” Ragsdale
said. “I hadn’t fully anticipated how special it would be to get to create a
whole new batch of wonderful memories to go along with the old ones that
already I have of being on this stage 40 years ago. It’s a really special place
and the students are amazing. They’re so engaged, inquisitive, creative,
committed… you know, they’re just ‘Hendrixy.’”
The Hope Hypothesis cast and crew for this
production includes:
Lain Shoals ’25—Amena
Qamar
Ryan Fuller ’25—Teller
Liam Puls ’26—FBI agent 1
John Straessle ’26—FBI
agent 2
John Trieschmann
’25—Supervisor
Aidan Walsh ’26—Brendan
Jada Shorter ’26—Carol
Stage Manager: Katie
Baker ’25
Assistant Stage Managers:
Mikala Clendenin ’26 and Lyida Le ’26
Light Board Operator and
Programmer: Ivy Branum ’26
Sound Board Technician:
Abriel Davis ’24
Sound Designer and
Operator: Landry Dosher ’23
Properties Artisans and Crew:
Rhett Booher ’24, Andrew Lawrence ’26, and Evelyn Calhoun ’26
Scenic Crew: Jules Bardi
’25
Costume Assistant Designers
and Crew: Kendra Baldwin ’26, Ella Britt ’25, Lovey Krone ’25, Savannah Loving
’26, Gray Pair ’25, Griffin Squires ’24
Scenery and Lights: Linc
Luke ’26, Josie Nunn ’24, Rachel Petelle ’23, Justin Smith ’24
Costume and Makeup:
Sophia Parrish ’26 and Madeline Mundkowsky ’26
House and Publicity: Grey
Pair ’25 and Griffin Squires ’24
Website: Evan Werner ’22
Costume Crew: Grey Pair
’25, Kendra Baldwin ’26
About Hendrix College
A private liberal arts
college in Conway, Arkansas, Hendrix College consistently earns recognition as
one of the country’s leading liberal arts institutions, and is featured in Colleges That Change
Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges. Its
academic quality and rigor, innovation, and value have established Hendrix as a
fixture in numerous college guides, lists, and rankings. Founded in 1876,
Hendrix has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. To
learn more, visit www.hendrix.edu.