Saint Michael's college junior theater major Brendan O'Leary has teamed up with UVM senior jazz musician Zachary Cooper to create what has been honed into the college theater department's major spring show. "Professor Wellright's Library: A New Musical by Brendan O'Leary and Zachary Cooper" plays at the McCarthy Arts Center, Wednesday, April 1, through Saturday, April 4, at 7 p.m. each evening. The full-scale production is free and open to the public. Seating is unreserved, and is on a first-come, first-served basis.
O'Leary has created a grown-up parody of the popular kids TV series "Mr. Rogers's Neighborhood." The show is described this way: "A cameraman puts his heart and soul into a children's television series he hopes will be an instant classic.
But something about Professor Wellright's Library is well, wrong."
The plot evolves around production of a children's TV show lodged within a musical that's aimed at college students, sort of a Mr. Rogers inside "Wicked" or "The Wiz." And some things are, "not camera appropriate," O'Leary said. This tension and the presence of a library full of life stories provide the playwright with endless complexities, which he has embraced. He's turned portraits on the wall into a group of sniping "Fates," who compete with the "Figs," or figments of imagination, "who come from the land that's there, but no not really." And on and on into complications.
Music carries the day when words are not enough. Cooper has animated O'Leary's poetry/lyrics into a vibrant musical production.
Saint Michael's Associate Professor of Theater Peter Harrigan directs the show and designed costumes. Emily Benway and Peter Harrigan are scenic designers; John Forbes is lighting designer. Nathaniel Beliveau is musical director, and Keelia Liptak is stage manager. Laura Michelle is dance consultant and master electrician; Matt Mascelli is sound designer, and Amanda Mulligan and Krista Tunnell are assistant stage managers.
Cast members play the following roles:
LUCAS - Kevin Parise
LILLIAN - Kate Clark
PROFESSOR WELLRIGHT - Rory Fitzgerald
The FATES
- Craig Ueland
- Liz Levenson
- Molly Ziegler
The FIGS
- MATTHEW - Philip Noonan
- KING DEWEY DECIMAL - Bobby Gaglini
- QUEEN DIANA DECIMAL - Julia Watson
The TECH CREW
- TINA (Lighting) - Katie Yawney
- MARTINA (Make-up) - Katie Healy
- CHRISTINA (Hair) - Jen Robbins
- BRUCE, Lucas' Twin Brother (Costumes) - Andrew Parise
Musicians for the show are: Nathaniel Beliveau, keyboards; Tim Mason-Osann, percussion; Al Teodosio, guitar and Zach Cooper, bass.
Saint Michael's College, founded in 1904 by the Society of St. Edmund and headed by President John J. Neuhauser, is identified by the Princeton Review as one of the nation's Best 368 Colleges. A liberal arts, residential, Catholic college, Saint Michael's is located just outside of Burlington, Vermont, one of America's top college towns and less than two hours from Montreal. As one of only 270 institutions nationwide with a prestigious Phi Beta Kappa chapter on campus, Saint Michael's has 2,000 full-time undergraduate students, some 500 graduate students and 200 international students. In recent years Saint Michael's students and professors have received Rhodes, Woodrow Wilson, Guggenheim, Fulbright, National Science Foundation and other grants, and Saint Michael's professors have been named Vermont Professor of the Year in four of the last eight years. The college is currently listed as one of the nation's Best Liberal Arts Colleges in the 2009 U.S. News & World Report rankings.
Photo caption: Lillian and Lucas, front, played by Kate Clark and Kevin Parise, are haunted by three Mysterious Muses, The Fates, back, played by Craig Ueland, Molly Ziegler, Liz Levenson, in "Professor Wellright's Library" at Saint Michael's College, April 1-4.