UM Department of Theatre Wins Four Regional Awards for its Productions and Performances

The College of Montevallo’s Section of Theatre introduced property 4 2022 BroadwayWorld Birmingham Awards this thirty day period, which honor the ideal in regional productions, touring exhibits and far more.

UM’s wins involved Very best Perform winner “Anon(ymous),” Greatest Musical winner “A New Brain,” Ideal New Play or Musical winner “Flatliners the Musical” and Ideal Supporting Performer in a Engage in winner Eric Browne for his part in “The Regular Heart.”

According to BroadwayWorld, the performances had to premiere in between Oct. 1, 2021, and Sept. 30, 2022. The audiences at the performances then voted and produced their choices for the most effective in every single group.

“I’m elated and really proud of the perform that the college students have performed and very pleased of the department,” claimed Michael Walker, interim chair and affiliate professor of theatre, performing and voice   at UM. “The amount of time and effort that goes into a production is unreal. To see those initiatives acknowledged in a regional and statewide way is amazing.”

“The men and women voting validate that the perform we’re doing and the perform that our college students are accomplishing is superior caliber   and at an elite amount. It validates the hard operate that the college, workers and the College have put into establishing the programming and this section.”

BroadwayWorld is an international group which is broken down in various regions throughout America, Canada, Central and South The usa, Europe and Asia. Montevallo is aspect of the Birmingham and Central Alabama location, which contains Shelby, Jefferson and Tuscaloosa counties.

“This is the only theatre award we have in our space, so it is a significant deal,” Walker said.

“Anon(ymous),” premiered in March 2022 in the Rebecca J. Luker Stage in the DiscoverShelby Theatre  . It was a offered-out play about immigration.

“A New Brain” premiered in April 2022 in the Michael & Sue Meadows Black Box Theatre  . Walker explained it was the previous exhibit that lights and scene structure faculty Kel Laeger did just before retiring.

“Flatliners” is a new musical created and composed by Annslyn Pilkington, who graduated in May well 2022, and UM Accompanist and Songs Director

Jennifer Hartsell co-wrote. It’s dependent on the movie “Flatliners” launched in 1990 and was executed in Palmer Corridor Auditorium  and Homewood Theatre in Jefferson County.

“Annslyn arrived at out to Sony Pictures to talk to if she could make a musical of the movie and they linked her to the first author Peter Filardi who gave them permission,” Walker said. “It’s been amazingly thriving and they are hopeful that the exhibit will continue improvement and move to New York.”

Eric Browne won Very best Supporting Performer in a Engage in for his part in “The Typical Heart,” which was a show Montevallo place on 10 to 15 yrs in the past, Walker explained. Members of the original generation have been invited back again to carry out it once more in May 2022 and Eric, who is a theatre trainer in Cell, was “phenomenal” Walker stated.

Master much more about the UM Division of Theatre at montevallo.edu/division-of-theatre/.