{"id":27091,"date":"2014-01-25T16:33:44","date_gmt":"2014-01-25T20:33:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=27091"},"modified":"2022-09-29T12:45:50","modified_gmt":"2022-09-29T16:45:50","slug":"wsu-stages-magic-fire-regional-premiere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2014\/01\/25\/wsu-stages-magic-fire-regional-premiere\/","title":{"rendered":"Wright State stages \u2018Magic Fire\u2019 regional premiere"},"content":{"rendered":"

Excerpt<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a>The regional premiere of Lillian Groag\u2019s drama \u201cThe Magic Fire\u201d opens Thursday at Wright State University.<\/p>\n

Originally premiered in 1997 at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and notably performed at Canada\u2019s Shaw Festival in 2006, \u201cMagic Fire\u201d is a semi-autobiographical, three-act tale concerning the Bergs, a family of European immigrants living in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1952 during the Juan Peron regime. Lise, an actress, seeks answers from her past, particularly the life-changing events of her seventh birthday. When the Bergs discover a family friend has been involved with the arrest of their housekeeper\u2019s brother, they reach a pivotal turning point thrusting them into the country\u2019s political turmoil.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough \u2018The Magic Fire\u2019 is a memory play, at the heart of it is the challenge we face as human beings of remembering the past as more beautiful and perfect an ideal as it really was,\u201d said director Lee Merrill, who previously staged WSU\u2019s \u201cThe Miracle Worker\u201d and \u201cLittle Women.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s easy for us to focus on nostalgia, regret, disappointment or other things that pull us out of the present while life slips through our fingertips. I think it would be terrifying to get to the end of your life and realize you lived it in such a way that there\u2019s nothing to cherish or look back on. I think to live a life worthy of remembrance is not to live your life safely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Merrill also says opera admirers will enjoy the underlying parallels within the play to such works as Giacomo Puccini\u2019s \u201cTosca\u201d and \u201cMadame Butterfly.\u201d In fact, the title alludes to a key moment in Richard Wagner\u2019s \u201cDie Walk\u00fcre,\u201d specifically regarding the Bergs desire to live in their own dream world of art and music serving as a barrier to avoid the conflict encircling them. Above all, she hopes the play inspires audiences to embrace the present.<\/p>\n

\u201cLife is so fleeting,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have to learn to forgive ourselves and forgive each other. We must continue to move on.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cast features Layan Elwazani, Mathys Herbert (marvelous last season in WSU\u2019s \u201cGrand Hotel: The Musical\u201d), DeLee Cooper, Mimi Klipstine, Tommy DiMassimo, Kristina Hopkins, Stephen Kell, Logan Torbet, Alyssa Brembeck, Jasmine Easler, Diana Frankhauser, Julia Gomez, Ally Miller, Taylor Hinkle and Julian Rojas.<\/p>\n

In related news, WSU has announced its 2014-15 season. The mainstage selections are \u201cFences\u201d (September, co-directed by W. Stuart McDowell and Sheila Ramsey), \u201cHot Mikado\u201d (October\/November, directed by Greg Hellems with choreography by Teressa Wylie McWilliams), a new adaptation of \u201cPride and Prejudice\u201d (January, directed by Marya Spring Cordes), and the classic musical \u201cPeter Pan\u201d (March, directed by Joe Deer and starring Bruce Cromer as Captain Hook). The downstairs, black box Herbst Theatre offerings will consist of a contemporary production of \u201cRomeo and Juliet\u201d (November, directed by Sandra Crews) and the local premiere of \u201cSondheim on Sondheim\u201d (April, directed by Jamie Cordes).<\/p>\n

Read the original post at DaytonDailyNews.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Excerpt The regional premiere of Lillian Groag\u2019s drama \u201cThe Magic Fire\u201d opens Thursday at Wright State University. Originally premiered in 1997 at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and notably performed at Canada\u2019s Shaw Festival in 2006, \u201cMagic Fire\u201d is a semi-autobiographical, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":26937,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,729,2037,4859,747,715,730],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-around-campus","category-arts-scene","category-fine-and-performing-arts","category-liberal-arts","category-news","category-wright-state-in-the-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27091"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27095,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27091\/revisions\/27095"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}