“Clybourne Park” hit the Hippodrome State Theatre main stage last week, but the main feature is the collaboration between performers from UF and the Gainesville community.
This partnership between the UF School of Theatre and Dance and the Hippodrome gives some masters students the opportunity to bring their talents to this multi-award winning play on racial tensions in two different decades.
“Uncomfortable situational comedy is the best way to describe it,” said Sean Cancellieri, a third-year master’s in fine arts candidate who plays two lead male roles.
Cancellieri said he hopes that the play can help inspire some change on the racial issues brought up in “Clybourne Park.”
By collaborating with the Hippodrome, UF students have the opportunity to work in a professional setting, which helps prepare students for real-world acting jobs. All the while they are allowed to earn credit, said Stephanie Lynge, an actress in the Gainesville community who plays two lead female roles.
Six weeks are allotted to put up a show at the academic theater, whereas at the Hippodrome you have two and a half weeks, she said.
Lynge, who has performed on Broadway and toured nationally, clearly remembers how she learned the most through experience. Doing things made what she learned in class click.
Art should make you uncomfortable and entertain you, she said, and this play is a combination of both.
This is the second production put on by the partnership, the first being “Avenue Q” last summer, said Jessica Hurov, managing director of the Hippodrome. Because of the great success the first time, both parties wanted to work together again.
“We’ve been thrilled,” she said. “It has been a success all around for everyone involved.”
The cooperation between UF and the Hippodrome benefits both parties. UF students get an experience and growth that can’t be provided elsewhere, and the theater can draw on talents from the school, Lynge said. Also, it exposes the theater to a new audience of students who go and see the show.
Although 18-year-old UF journalism freshman Alexis Cavakis-Perez saw the play because her theater appreciation class required it, she recognized “Clybourne Park” as not the typical play you would go see.
“It’s a good social commentary on the nature of how people behave and how it hasn’t fluctuated over time,” Cavakis-Perez said.
You can see this collaboration in action from now until Sept. 28 every day except Mondays. Student tickets are $15.
[A version of this story ran on page 7 on 9/11/2014 under the headline "UF and the Hipp collaborate to give student actors real-world experience "]
Javon Johnson, a UF masters student, Matthew Lindsay, a UF alumnus and Oluchi Nwokocha, a UF masters student, all from the UF School of Theatre and Dance, appear in the Hippodrome’s production of “Clybourne Park.” The show runs until Sept. 28: Check out our review on pg. 9
