KU News Release

Irish theater company to host workshops, perform at KU

LAWRENCE — Irish theater company Mangiare will visit the University of Kansas to conduct a series of master classes and workshops and present its production of “A Play on Two Chairs.” The residency, which takes place Oct. 24-26, is sponsored by the Department of Theatre and Film, University Theatre and Student Union Activities.

Mangiare Theatre Company represents the new movement of dynamic, physical, ensemble-based companies influencing contemporary Irish theater. The company works to create bold and compelling productions by addressing text with a unique physical style.

KU alumnus and Lawrence native Jaimie Carswell set up Mangiare in Sligo, Ireland, in 2005 with long-time collaborators Darragh McKeon and Deborah Dignam. The company has created 11 productions in various theatrical styles, including a cabaret, a site-specific public art project, a red-nose clown show, two re-inventions of classic texts, four contemporary plays, a “bouffant” street theater spectacle and a devised futuristic commedia dell’arte show. Mangiare’s “The Evils of Tobacco and the Bear” was nominated for three awards at the 2006 Dublin Fringe Festival, including the Spirit of the Fringe Award.

Mangiare’s master classes at KU will cover physical theater techniques for beginning and advanced students, led by Carswell and Joanne Mitchell, both graduates of the Jacques Lecoq International Theatre School in Paris, which specializes in a highly physical and dynamic performance style; directing, hosted by Mangiare director McKeon; new directions in theater, hosted by Mangiare producer Dignam; and techniques in clowning, led by 1997 KU theater alumnus and Mangiare associate artist Alexander Kipp.

The performance of “A Play on Two Chairs” is at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 26, in the William Inge Memorial Theatre in Murphy Hall. Written by Irish playwright Michael West, the play received a prestigious touring award from Culture Ireland to take it to the Prague Arts Festival in May.

A story about a strange, co-dependent, bewitched couple trying to understand what modern love is all about, the play gives a funny, insightful look into the ins and outs of love and sex. Set on two ordinary kitchen chairs, the comedy probes the ambiguities of how couples interact by watching a love affair between a man and a woman evolve, unfold, develop, collapse and evolve again.

Carswell completed his undergraduate degree in theater at KU in 1995 and received a Graduate Exchange Grant to study playwriting at the University of Birmingham in England. While at KU, he received the Gerhard Zuther Memorial Playwriting Award for his first play, “Dinner Theatre,” as well as the James B. Pearson International Fellowship. Carswell worked as an actor, writer and director in Ireland, served as the development manager for the Blue Raincoat Theatre Company and won the national PJ O’Connor Playwriting Award for his play “After the Beep.” He was formerly managing director of the Catalyst Theatre Company in Towson, Md., and taught playwriting at Towson University. Carswell’s most recent production, “The Babelfish Tartuffe,” is a new translation of a classic French comedy through an Internet translating engine and performed in English by a cast of French actors.

Mangiare’s visit to KU is supported by the Arts Council of Ireland.

General admission tickets for “A Play on Two Chairs” are on sale in the KU ticket offices: University Theatre, 864-3982; Lied Center, 864-ARTS; and Student Union Activities, 864-7469; and on the University Theatre Web site. Tickets are $10 for the public, senior citizens and KU faculty and staff, and $5 for students. All major credit cards are accepted for phone and online orders.

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