CCU Theatre faculty, students and alumni have been busy
Theatre folks have been busy this summer – students, faculty and alumni. Here's some of the latest from the Department of Theatre at CCU:
Steve Earnest, professor of theatre, had major roles in a couple of films shot over the summer. "Bloody Homecoming" is a horror/thriller DAVED production, an old-school throwback to the slasher classics of the '80s. Earnest played the role of Principal Patterson at Winston High, where it's Homecoming night in the sleepy little town. A gaggle of freshmen friends are refused entry into the dance by a trio of jerky senior jocks. The group decides to have its own fun by throwing a party in the school theater, but when Annie's egomaniacal date Billy threatens her, the ensuing fight results in an accident that leaves young Billy dead. The movie is scheduled for release by late October – in time for Halloween!
Earnest was also in "Dolls For Strangers," an independent film being made by local filmmaker Ken Cohen. The film is about a failed relationship and the subsequent experimentation in the world of voodoo by the husband who seeks revenge against his former wife. The film features CCU students Mark Jurosko and Shana Meyer and staff member Melissa Anne Blizzard.
Adam Roberts, who graduated from CCU in 2007 with a degree in musical theatre, recently landed a role in the chorus of "Spiderman" on Broadway.
"I'm ecstatic to announce that I am making my Broadway debut in Spiderman," Roberts wrote on his Facebook page. "Probably one of the happiest days in my life. Thanks everyone for your love, support, belief and prayers."
Roberts performed at the Carolina Opry for years while attending CCU. Following his graduation, he was an entertainer on a cruise ship.
Rob Stetson, a junior musical theatre major from Vermont, was selected to be a part of the Apprentice Company at one of America’s oldest summer theatre companies: the Williamstown Theatre Festival in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts.
Stetson was cast in the production of SITWALKSTANDLIEDOWN, an innovative work staged by Phil Soltanoff. One important aspect of the summer program was that it allowed Stetson to become an Equity Membership Candidate (EMC) for which he earned 10 points toward membership in Actor’s Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States.
Emily Brockway, a Coastal senior majoring in musical theatre, and James Wells, a 2011 graduate of the musical theatre program, both held important positions in the company of Rhode Island’s Theatre By the Sea, an Equity summer theatre operating under a Council of Summer Stock Theatres contract. Both were featured onstage in three of the company’s four mainstage musicals – The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Man of La Mancha and Hairspray.
Caleb Jernigan, a senior musical theatre major from Columbia, worked for three months at the Big Fork Summer Playhouse, a distinguished summer theatre company in Billings, Mont. Cast at the Southeastern Theatre Conference in March 2011 from nearly 900 Southeastern actors, Jernigan appeared in four shows at Big Fork, including My Fair Lady, Guys and Dolls, The Wedding Singer and Happy Days, in which he was featured in the major role of Fonzie.
Also in the company was his future wife Jenna Tummino, another CCU theatre graduate, who recently finished an international cruse ship tour with Norwegian Caribbean cruises. Caleb and Jenna met at Coastal and first appeared in Coastal’s production of Company. Demonstrating the importance of summer theatre in these young actors’ lives, Jernigan proposed to Tummino after a performance of Happy Days at the Big Fork Summer Playhouse, and she accepted the proposal!
