Student production explores digital media

Tue, July 20, 2010 |

A Valparaiso University graduate student will present "Tell Her We Have an Automobile," a digital theatre experience featuring four plays by early 1900s Chicago playwright Alice Gerstenberg, on campus Friday and Saturday.

The one-hour performances will take place July 23 and 24 at 7 p.m. (with an additional performance at 3 p.m. on July 24) in Valpo's Art-Psychology Building, Room 19. The performances are free and open to the public, but not recommended for children younger than age 10.

"This performance will feature Gerstenberg's literature in interesting and unique ways," says director Tim Dawson, a graduate student in Valpo's digital media program from Sawyer, Mich. "The plays serve as public performances of my comprehensive graduate project, 'Tell Her We Have an Automobile,' which experiments with digital media, particularly video and audio, and how an actor interacts with these media."

The four plays featured in "Tell Her We Have an Automobile" include:

-"Attuned" – The story focuses on the loss of a loved one at war and the
connections two souls can have. An exclusively video piece, Dawson says this play was created as a sort of "theatre at a distance" experiment.

-"Beyond" – This play presents the audience with the questions after death and the process of accepting the afterlife. This play combines audio and video along with acting.

-"The Illuminatti in Drama Libre" – A collage of text, audio, video and movement, performed by actors.

-"Overtones" – Actors will provide an interactive video experience through the roles of four characters, which demonstrate the layers of personality.

More information about the plays can be viewed in an online trailer at www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHMy8-Hm5Gc.

More information about Valpo's digital media masters program can be found at www.valpo.edu/communication/majors/digitalmedia.php.