“Meet Vera Stark” with UTC’s theatre department
It may be nearing 2016, but you can take a trip back to 1930s vaudeville with UTC’s theatre department via their production of “By The Way, Meet Vera Stark.”
Centering on Vera Stark, an African American vaudeville actor living in ’30s Hollywood, the play follows her ups and downs in Tinsel Town, accepting demeaning parts in the hope of furthering her career.
A 2009 play by Atlanta-based, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage, “By The Way, Meet Vera Stark” shows how “the media in American can be both a transcending force and a hindrance to personal freedom,” says director Steve Ray. The play is turned upside down with laughs when Vera’s cast as a slave in “an epic antebellum movie.”
Referred to by The Wall Street Journal as “sharp-toothed comedy,” the piece is a great choice for a college cast. UTC’s theatre company this time includes Andrea Frierson, Maya Abram, and Kimberly Rye, bringing to life Nottage’s characters.
There are four more opportunities to see this play before it leaves the stage. Final performances are Nov. 19-21 at 7:30 p.m., with an additional matinee showing on Saturday at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $12 for adults, $10 for students and seniors.
“By the Way, Meet Vera Stark”
Nov. 19-21, 7:30 p.m.
Nov. 21 , 2 p.m.
UTC Theatre Arts Department
Fine Arts Center
Vine & Palmetto Sts.
utc.edu/fine-arts-center