CONWAY, Ark. (September 7, 2010) — Dynamic, compelling characters drive an award-winning new play that will debut in a staged reading in mid-September at Hendrix College in Conway. The reading is part of the annual Hendrix-Murphy Foundation Playwright’s Theatre during which Hendrix students and alumni will present the play.
The reading of Disfarmer by Werner Trieschmann of Little Rock, winner of the 2010 Hendrix-Murphy Alumni Playwriting Contest, will be presented on Friday, Sept. 10, at 7:30 p.m. in Cabe Theatre on the Hendrix College campus. The event is free and open to the public. No tickets or reservations are required. The readings will be followed by a discussion and reception.
Disfarmer is based on the life and career of the famed portrait photographer and notorious recluse from Heber Springs, Ark., Michael Disfarmer. The play travels through time between the artist’s efforts to establish himself in the 1930s and 1940s and the descent upon Heber Springs in 2005 by two New York galleries in an effort to buy up as many Disfarmer prints as they could find.
Werner Trieschmann, a 1986 graduate of Hendrix College, has published numerous plays, including Failing the Improv, You Have to Serve Somebody and Killers, which have been staged across the country. His monologues have appeared in The Best Women's Stage Monologues 1999 and Audition Arsenal for Women in Their 20s. He received first prize in the Contemporary Arts Center of New Orleans New Play Competition for his play Lawn Dart and was the first playwright to receive the Porter prize for outstanding achievement by an Arkansas writer. He has a Master of Fine Arts degree in playwriting from Boston University. Trieschmann is a freelance writer and busy adjunct professor living in Little Rock with his wife and two boys.
Other Hendrix alumni and students will be involved in all other aspects of the production as well. Disfarmer is played by Tommy Sanders of Little Rock. The cast also includes Jeff Benson of Dallas, Texas; Kate Brannon Herrold and Pete Weber, both of Conway; and Tucker Steinmetz, Lesley Dancer, Mark Young, Amy Meredith Forbus, Justin Warren, and Philip Adams, all of Little Rock. Mike Mueller, also of Little Rock, will direct the reading.
Hendrix College Department of Theatre Arts and Dance faculty are co-sponsors of the event. After the readings, Professor Ann Muse will conduct an audience discussion session. A reception will follow the discussion in Mills Lobby.
An annual staged reading series, Playwright’s Theatre evolved in 1999 from the annual Alumni and Student Playwriting Contests first sponsored by the Hendrix-Murphy Foundation in 1986. The program was designed to cultivate the skills of fledgling playwrights who are current or former Hendrix students. A professional playwright judges the competitions, one for students and the other for alumni. Playwright’s Theatre, founded by Professor Danny Grace and Dr. Rosemary E. Henenberg, extends the efforts of the contest by enabling winners of the alumni contest to see their plays in staged readings that often involve both alumni and students as cast and production crew.
Mike Mueller, class of 1988, was a humanities major with an emphasis in theatre arts. He earned a Master’s of Secondary Education from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and taught acting and technical theatre at the high school level for ten years, including two years for Arkansas Governor’s School. He has directed a number of plays, such as Romeo and Juliet, Godspell, You Can’t Take It With You, and Diary of Anne Frank, and continues to act in commercials and films as the opportunities arise. He is currently a partner in the Scott Copeland Agency, an interactive marketing agency.
Jeff Benson graduated from Hendrix College in 2001 with a double major in theatre arts and religion. After graduation, Benson attended the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater for a two-year certification program. Benson has appeared in several films, television programs, and commercials, including Law and Order: SVU and a feature film that will debut in the fall of 2011.
Pete Weber, class of 1992, is currently the assistant pastor at First United Methodist Church in Maumelle, Ark. In the past several years, he has done vocal acting for Funamation Inc., in addition to writing and producing a number of reader’s theatres and a one-act musical. He now lives in Conway and is the proud parent of two beautiful children.
Kate Brannon Herrold graduated from Hendrix College in 2010. As a theatre arts major, Herrold participated in productions doing backstage work on sets and lights, acted in numerous productions, and directed the senior seminar production of Eurydice.
Lesley Dancer, a theatre arts major from the class of 2001, won the 2007 and 2008 alumni playwriting competitions for plays that she co-wrote with Hendrix alumna Ashlie Atkinson. Dancer currently works with the Red Octopus Theatre in Little Rock and is pursuing a teaching license for speech and drama with plans to graduate from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock with a Master of Education in May 2011.
Philip Adams graduated from Hendrix College in 2004 with a Spanish major. He has worked extensively as a video producer and event manager, including work for New York Fashion Week, University of Arkansas, CNN Larry King Live, Arkansas Governor’s School, and his current position in video production for the Office of Governor Mike Beebe in Little Rock.
Amy Meredith Forbus of Little Rock was an English major at Hendrix College. Since graduating in 1996, she has worked in communications, including positions with her local congregation and with UMR Communication, home of the United Methodist Reporter national weekly newspaper. Her new position as editor of the Arkansas United Methodist, an edition of the Reporter, brought her back home to Little Rock this summer.
Justin Warren, class of 2009, was born in Little Rock and attended Episcopal Collegiate High School, where he fell in love with the theatre. He continued his passion for the arts with a theatre arts major at Hendrix College where he took the stage in eight plays. He is currently working as the youth director at First United Methodist Church in Little Rock.
Mark Young graduated from Hendrix College in 2001. As both a student in the theatre arts department and an alumnus, Young has participated in numerous theatre productions at Hendrix, including past Playwright’s Theatre productions. He currently lives in Little Rock and is a sports therapist and owner of Life-Letics Sports Therapy.
Tommy Sanders, class of 1976, participated in theatre throughout his four years at Hendrix and continues to act with the Arkansas Repertory Theatre, in addition to his work on radio and television commercials, three motion pictures, and 21 years as an on-camera host for ESPN. He now works as a host, writer, and producer for CSE Inc, in Little Rock.
Tucker Steinmetz graduated from Hendrix College in 1963 and is currently a resident of Little Rock. Most recently cast as Hector in The History Boys and as Big Daddy in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, he has acted in 34 productions at The Weekend Theater, Royal Theater, Community Theater of Little Rock, and the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre.
This reading is sponsored by the Hendrix College Department of Theatre Arts and Dance and the Hendrix-Murphy Foundation Programs in Literature and Language, which are designed to enhance and enrich the study and teaching of literature and language at Hendrix College. For more information about this and future events, please contact Henryetta Vanaman, 501-450-4597 or vanaman@hendrix.edu.
Founded in 1876, Hendrix is an undergraduate liberal arts college emphasizing experiential learning in a demanding yet supportive environment. The college is profiled in Loren Pope's book Colleges That Change Lives. Hendrix has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. For more information, visit www.hendrix.edu.