CONWAY,
Ark. (September 9, 2014) — Rook*Bishop*King*Queen,
an award-winning new play by 1975 Hendrix graduate Robert Preston Jones, winner
of the 2014 Hendrix-Murphy Alumni Playwriting Contest, will debut in a
staged reading Friday, Sept. 12, at 7:30 p.m., in Cabe Theatre.
The
reading is part of the annual Hendrix-Murphy Foundation Playwright’s Theatre,
during which Hendrix alumni and students will present the play.
The
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.
The
event is open to the public and free of admission. No tickets or reservations
are required. The reading will be followed by an audience discussion and a
reception in Mills Lobby.
For
more information about this and future events, contact Henryetta Vanaman at
501-450-4597 or vanaman@hendrix.edu.
Rook*Bishop*King*Queen is a dramatic speculation
on the events leading up to the prosecution and eventual execution of Anne
Boleyn, second wife of King Henry VIII. Jones thought the most interesting
aspect of the entire episode was the swiftness in which Anne’s fall took place –
from queen to execution in less than three weeks. He also believes evidence
points “towards Cromwell as the engineer of this travesty of justice” and he
found himself “equally fascinated by the non-role Henry played in the whole
affair.”
Jones graduated
from Hendrix in 1975. His first play, The Stroop Report, won the Hendrix-Murphy Playwriting Contest in
1999 and was later produced in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York. He has
recently won awards for his song lyrics and lives in Dallas, where he continues
to produce art.
Hendrix
alumni, students, and staff will be involved in all other aspects of the
production as well. Laura Sessoms Grimes ’04 of North Little Rock will direct
the reading. Suzanne Sisson Alstadt ’95 of Bigelow will read the part of Anne
Boleyn, with Jeff Benson ’01 of Dallas, Texas, taking on the role of Thomas
Cromwell. P. Luevonda Ross ’86 of Monticello will take on Lady Shelton’s role,
and David Fleming ’84 of Pine Bluff will read the part of Sir William Kingston,
with Tucker Steinmetz ’63 of Little Rock as Thomas Cranmer and Elizabeth
Williams ’13 as Mary Boleyn.
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, Willis H. Holmes Distinguished Professor of Theatre
Arts, Emerita, 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.
Cast members:
Laura Sessoms Grimes ’04 (director)
Laura Sessoms
Grimes is a North Little Rock, Ark. native and has recently returned to
Arkansas after living in Europe, New York City and El Paso, Texas. After
graduating from Hendrix in 2004 with her bachelor’s degree in theatre arts,
Laura moved to Italy to study at The Accademia dell'Arte. She was accepted at
New York City's Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre and graduated in
2007. Laura worked as a stage, film and TV Actor, Playwright and Assistant
Artistic Director of The Real Theatre Company during her six years in New York.
Favorite Roles include Alma in Summer and Smoke, Mary in The Red
Coat, Chrissy in Hair, and Grace in The Bride of Olneyville
Square. Laura was part of the script development workshop and
production ensemble for US, an original musical based on the music of
Peter Gabriel. As a Hendrix student, Laura won the student portion of the
Hendrix Murphy Playwriting contest with her play Five Golden Rings and as an alumna was awarded second place for her
play Prisoners.
Suzanne Sisson Alstadt ’95
Suzanne Sisson
Alstadt was born and raised in
Little Rock and now lives on beautiful Wye Mountain. She earned a master's degree
in Public Administration from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in
2003. She has worked for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences since
2003 and has been the Director of the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs
since 2008. Suzanne is currently a student in the Doctor of Public
Administration program in the School of Public Service Leadership at Capella
University and anticipates completing her DPA by the end of 2014. She has
participated in previous Playwright’s Theatre events and has performed in The
Elephant Man, A Little Night Music, and Jeffrey at the
Weekend Theatre in Little Rock and acted in The Art of Dining, Pentecost,
All My Sons, and Unchanging Love as a Hendrix Player.
Jeff Benson ’01
Jeff Benson is grateful for the opportunity to appear again at Hendrix
Playwright's Theatre. After graduating from Hendrix College in 2001,
Jeff trained for two years at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the
Theater. During his professional acting career, Jeff appeared in several
films, television programs, and commercials including Law and Order:
SUV. He most recently performed in Sean Gallagher's 2013 film Good
Night which was shown at several film festivals across the country. Jeff
owns a financial consulting firm that works with families across the country on
strategies to prepare for and fund the high cost of college. Jeff is also a faculty
member of Landmark Worldwide, an international training and development firm
based in San Francisco. He lives in Dallas with his wife Sarah and their 19
month-old-daughter Annalinda.
P. Luevonda Ross ’86
P. Luevonda
Ross graduated from Hendrix College as an English major. She earned her Juris
Doctor in 1991 and opened her practice in Monticello in 1996 after working as a
staff attorney and law clerk. She was a deputy prosecuting attorney before
joining the Arkansas Attorney General’s office as a deputy attorney general. Currently,
she owns her own law firm in Monticello and was appointed Drew County District
Judge by Governor Mike Beebe in 2012. She also teaches Business Law at the
University of Arkansas at Monticello, and her community and volunteer
activities have earned her the Martin Luther King, Jr. Committee Award and the
NAACP Leadership Award. As a student at Hendrix, she was part of the production
of the commissioned play August Snow
by Reynolds Price. She also had a role in the student directed one-act plays
called Their First Anniversary
directed by Mike Sells during his senior year. She sang with the minor
choir, the College Singers, and had a Saturday morning radio show on
KHDX.
David Fleming ’84
David Fleming’s love of theatre began when he was cast in the
title role of Oliver! in his hometown
of Jackson, Tenn. He subsequently appeared in numerous civic and college
productions and continues to use the arts as a means of building community in
the congregations and cities he serves as a pastor in the United Methodist
Church. A 1984 graduate of Hendrix College and Perkins School of Theology, SMU
(1988), David is currently appointed as pastor of First United Methodist Church
in Pine Bluff. He is actively involved at the Arts and Science Center for
Southeast Arkansas as a member of the Board of Trustees and chair of the
Performing Arts Committee. His favorite roles include Tinman in The Wizard of Oz with the Crittenden
Arts Theatre, Michael in I Do! I Do!
with the Bella Vista Village Players, Wilbur Turnblad in Hairspray, and Fagin in Oliver!
with the Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas. David is proud serve
on the Hendrix College Board of Trustees. He and his wife, Karla Hefty, have
one son, Andrew, who is currently a freshman at Hendrix.
Tucker Steinmetz ’63
Tucker
Steinmetz is a retired social worker and lives in Little Rock. He has been in
35 productions in central Arkansas community theaters and performed in the
first season of the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre in Conway. He has appeared in
a number of short films that have been shown in the Little Rock Film Festival.
The most recent, Sacred Hearts, Holy
Souls, won the best Arkansas short film award at the festival in May.
Elizabeth Williams ’13
Elizabeth
Williams graduated from Hendrix in 2013 with a theatre arts major and an English
minor. She lives in Conway and currently works part-time at the Faulkner County
Library; is the production assistant for the Theatre Department at Episcopal
Collegiate School in Little Rock; and teaches a theatre class for children at
Sonshine Academy in Conway. She has also spent the past three summers as the
props intern at Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre. Since graduating from Hendrix, she
has become actively involved with Conway Community Arts Association, appearing
in several productions at the Lantern Theatre including Circle Mirror Transformation, Amateurs,
and Five Women Wearing the Same Dress,
as well as assisting in technical aspects for several shows. In August of 2013
she joined the Board of Directors of Conway Community Arts Association and is
currently serving as the Secretary. The 2014-15 school year will be her second
year as production assistant at Episcopal Collegiate School, providing
assistance to fellow Hendrix alumni James Mainard O'Connell.
Founded in
1876, Hendrix College is a national leader in engaged liberal arts and sciences
education. This year, Hendrix was named the country’s #1 “Up and Coming”
liberal arts colleges by U.S. News and
World Report. Hendrix is featured in
the 2015 Fiske Guide to Colleges, Forbes magazine's list of
America's Top Colleges, the
2014 Princeton Review’s The Best 378
Colleges, and the latest edition of Colleges That
Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think about Colleges. Hendrix has been affiliated with the
United Methodist Church since 1884. For more information, visit www.hendrix.edu.