Matthew Allen of West Winfield is in the cast/crew of Nazareth College Theatre and Dance Department's CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION, February 13-22

2015 Jan 22

The Nazareth College Theatre and Dance Department and Theatre League will present Circle Mirror Transformation, a glimpse into contemporary American life, as the third production of their 2014-2015 Season. The show will run February 13, 14, 20, and 21 at 8 p.m.; and February 15 and 22 at 2 p.m., in Studio A48 at Nazareth College Arts Center.

The Circle Mirror Transformation cast and crew consists of Nazareth College students, including Matthew Allen of West Winfield.

Circle Mirror Transformation is part of Annie Baker's trilogy of plays that take place in the mythological but very familiar Shirley, Vermont. The events of the play revolve around a sparsely populated community center acting class. Seeing CMT, which is the name of a specific acting exercise, is like going behind the scenes of both the theatrical art form and the community of Shirley. Watching the evolution of the class and the people in it makes for an intensely moving, often heartbreaking journey through contemporary American life.

Circle Mirror Transformation is directed by Rochester-based actor, director, and improviser, Patricia Lewis Browne, who is also a lecturer in the Nazareth College Theatre and Dance Department. It is a show she finds relevant to everyday life.

"Circle, Mirror, Transformation is the name of a very basic acting class exercise." Browne explains. "Annie Baker uses this as a metaphor for what happens when five people come together for a six-week acting course at a community arts center in a small town in Vermont. Their inner lives and relationships with each other are explored through the process of opening themselves to the craft of acting. Having taken and taught acting classes for several decades, I find the playwright's take on how interpersonal relationships overlap with acting and how the line between 'real life' and 'acting' can become blurred fun to explore."

Tickets to Circle Mirror Transformation are $13-$15. For tickets, call - or visit - the Box Office: 585-389-2170 or order online: artscenter.naz.edu.