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Contact: Zina L. Carter
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Wharton County Junior College Drama Instructor Greg McLarty, center, coaches student actor Cole Fitzgerald of Bay City (seated) while Trace Morris of Needville and Maren Ellis of Wharton look on. The Drama Department will present "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 22 through Saturday, Feb. 24 at the Horton Foote Theatre in the Duson-Hansen Fine Arts Building on the Wharton campus. The show is open to the public and free of admission.
WHARTON, TEXAS – Wharton County Junior College drama students will have their hands full with their first production of the Spring 2018 season, “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.”
Scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 22 through Saturday, February 24 at the Horton Foote Theatre in the Duson-Hansen Fine Arts Building on the Wharton campus, the play was written by Simon Stephens and based on a book by Mark Haddon. The story focuses on the brutal death of a neighborhood dog and the 15-year-old boy who tries to solve the mystery while dealing with his own unique perspective.
The play presents unique set requirements and an interpretive script that requires careful staging. Many of the scenes blend reality and imagination.
“Transitions from one scene to the next are quite challenging and it will take some effort to ensure the audience understands what’s going on,” said WCJC Drama Instructor Greg McLarty. “This is a very visual show because most of it is taking place inside the main character’s head.”
McLarty said the production was originally performed “in the round,” and will have to be adapted for a more traditional stage like the one found in the Horton Foote Theatre.
The show will feature a cast and crew of 19. Veteran student actors like MaKayla Biskup of El Campo are enthusiastic about tackling such an immersive production.
“I always enjoy these kinds of challenges,” Biskup said. “This kind of a script makes everything more exciting.”
The production will also require a fair amount of physical acting. A portion of these movements are based upon skills learned during a workshop last year led by the United Kingdom-based acting group, Frantic Assembly.
“This is the first show I’ve done like this,” said Jackson Rogers of Richmond. “This has a lot of lifts that can be difficult at times. It’s like nothing I’ve done before.”
In addition to Biskup and Rogers, the cast and crew for “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” include Cole Fitzgerald of Bay City, Trace Morris of Needville, Maren Ellis of Wharton, Kaylin Meek of Hungerford, Tyler Korff of Markham, Nicholas Simons of Bay City, Alexis Flores of El Campo, Madeline Wright of Edna, Sofia Uribe of Rosenberg, Victoria Posa of Houston, Sarah Pingon of Sugar Land, Jordan Gutierrez of Houston, Jazmin Cordova of El Campo, and Catching Valentinis-Dee of Katy.
