TheatreSquared kicks off its third season with “Moonlight and Magnolias,” a smart new comedy by Ron Hutchinson, at 8 p.m. Fri., Sept. 5, at Walton Arts Center’s Nadine Baum Studios in downtown Fayetteville. The show opens the performing arts weekend of the Fayetteville Arts Festival and continues through Sept. 21, with performances on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $22 ($18 for seniors, $10 for students) and are available at the Walton Arts Center box office at 479-443-5600 or on-line at theatresquared.org.
“Moonlight and Magnolias” tells the fascinating and funny backstage story about the making of Gone with the Wind, the blockbuster of all blockbusters. Hollywood producer David O. Selznick, the outsized ego behind the making of the film, shut down production, fired his screenwriter and director, and hired legendary screenwriter Ben Hecht and director Victor Fleming, locking them in his office for a week to rewrite the film while subsisting on bananas and peanuts. That much is known. Unknown is what actually went on behind closed doors, and “Moonlight and Magnolias” imagines just that. The result is a fast-paced, often hilarious peek at the creative, frantic underside of show biz.
TheatreSquared has assembled a creative team of local professionals and visiting artists. T2 co-founder Amy Herzberg, University of Arkansas professor of drama who recently appeared in My Father’s War, directs. The cast includes several MFA UA graduates, including Bryce Kemph, Justin Scheuer, Virginia and Kevin Cohea.
The seasoned design team includes the University of Arkansas drama department chair Dr. D. Andrew Gibbs on lights, set designer Shawn Irish, costume designer Shauna Meador and sound designer Richard Rew. T2’s resident stage manager is Ashley Butler, a UA alumna.
TheatreSquared is a company of professional artists dedicated to producing exceptional contemporary theatre, operating in the Walton Arts Center’s Nadine Baum Studios. Upcoming in 2008/09 are the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama “Rabbit Hole” and the Dora Award-winning “Drawer Boy” as well as the “Discovery: Arkansas New Play Festival.” Visit www.theatresquared.org for further information.
