Student-Run Drama

GAMBIER, Ohio (October 24, 2006)

Renegade Theater, Kenyon's company exclusively for first-year students, will present The Graduate on Friday and Saturday, October 27 and 28, at 8:00 p.m. in the Black Box Theater in the Old Bank Building. When tickets for the first two shows sold out within 24 hours, an additional performance was added on Sunday, October 29, at 3:00 p.m.

Adapted for the stage from the 1967 classic starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft, "the play is different from the movie," says Jonathan Meyers, of Scarsdale, New York, "but it still has many of its best scenes, and many great new ones as well." More than forty students auditioned for the nine roles, and the cast has been rehearsing almost every night since being chosen in mid-September.

Renegade is dedicated to giving first-year students as many opportunities as possible to participate in theater at Kenyon. This is the company's sixth season, and each year, a new board of five people is chosen two weeks after the beginning of the school year, by the board members from the previous year. The board decides what shows to produce and where to present them.

"Renegade has never had a faculty advisor," explains Meyers, "because it was created for the explicit purpose of being completely student-run." This year, in addition to The Graduate, the company will present Mercy Seat, by Neil LaBute, on November 30 and December 1. Next semester, they plan to produce The Shadow Box and a festival of original work written by first-year Kenyon students.

The board members for 2006-07 are Will Dagger, of Glen Ellyn, Illinois, as consultant director; Laura Rosenberg, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, as technical director; Meyers, as producer; Will Bainton, of New York City, as dramaturge; and Eric Lewis, of Chevy Chase, Maryland, for publicity.