DC Players spring production to feature Ives comedies

February 3, 2015

DEFIANCE, Ohio – Defiance College’s DC Players kick off the spring with an over-the-top, gut-busting, comedy-filled extravaganza of short one-acts by playwright David Ives. Performances will be Friday, Feb. 20, at 8 p.m., and, Saturday, Feb. 21, at 2 and 8 p.m. at the Schomburg Auditorium in Dana Hall on the DC campus, under the direction of JP Staszel.

Compiling five of Ives' outrageously popular works from his larger collection "All in the Timing," DC's production attempts to challenge the audience's understanding of reality. While Ives' more recent recognitions credit his hilarious translations of the classical French comedies of Corneille, Molière, and Jean-Francois Regnard's, he is equally celebrated as one of the premier comic playwrights of the second half of the last century. DC's Five by Ives highlights Ives' comic brilliance by providing a wonderful assortment of nonsensical works that prompt the audience to ask profoundly delicate questions about the existential existent of mankind. Can monkeys write Hamlet? What would a cheese-steak taste like if you were in New York, but metaphysically stuck in Philadelphia? Is anything really a "sure thing?" What came first, Philip Glass or a loaf of bread? How many times can Trotsky die?

The production stars an energetic ensemble of DC students bursting at the seams, ready to unleash their hard work and comic onslaught. The ensemble includes Phillip Balla, Rossford; James Boley, Cypress, Texas; Toni-Ann Boyd, St. Mary, Jamaica; Marissa Bramble, Milford, Pa.; David Brown, Columbus; Erin Conner, Sycamore; Amanda Fooce, Bellevue; Nolan Fout and George Roth, Defiance; Taylor Haydinger, Wilmington, Del.; and William Ploughe, Bryan. Production staff includes stage manager Beth Pienoski, Sheffield Lake, assistant stage manager and production assistant Kelsea Burns, Antwerp, props mistress, and graphic designer Catherine Bledsoe, Fort Wayne, and assistant director and production assistant Mandie Heil, Defiance.

The production is presented under the direction of John Paul "JP" Staszel in his first year with the DC Players. Staszel is a Pennsylvanian native currently teaching a core curriculum course at Defiance College while finishing his doctoral studies in theatre and film at Bowling Green State University. While his theatrical interests are more often focused on physical and devised theatre, Staszel loves to sink his teeth into obnoxiously funny comedy when he gets a chance.

Admission is $5, and tickets will be available at the door. The event is free to DC students, faculty and staff with valid campus ID.

Defiance College, chartered in 1850, is an independent, liberal arts institution in Northwest Ohio offering more than 40 undergraduate programs of study as well as graduate programs in education and business. Defiance College has received national recognition for its educational experience of service and engagement. The college website is www.defiance.edu.