Next Production
Fahrenheit 451
October 5-7, 2017 at 8:00 p.m. & October 8, 2017 at 2:00 p.m.
Chappelear Drama Center Main Stage
By Ray Bradbury
Directed by D. Glen Vanderbilt Jr.
Award-winning writer Bradbury adapted his powerful book for the stage and presents an intense vision of a future where words and ideas on paper are illegal.
In fireman Guy Montag’s world, books – and the ideas they contain – are banned. Montag’s job is not to save the provocative print materials but to burn them. And he is happy to do so, until new ways of thinking spark his imagination and fuel an intellectual fire that threatens to consume him.
“The title refers to the burning temperature of paper,” said theatre professor D. Glen Vanderbilt Jr., who is directing and designing the upcoming production. “After spending 10 years burning books, Montag begins to question his actions and his life. Will he risk everything for the right to think and communicate ideas?
“It is a thought-provoking and timely play,” said Vanderbilt, a member of OWU’s theatre faculty since 1983. “The play is suitable for middle school students and up.”
The cast of “Fahrenheit 451” is comprised of 14 Ohio Wesleyan students and features Joshua Martin as Montag; Kacie Iuvara as Mildred, his wife; Ares Harper as Captain Beatty, his chief; and Ruby Scheckelhoff as Clarisse, a young neighbor whose observations challenge Montag’s conformist thinking.
Other on-stage roles are performed by OWU students Rose Jonesco, Doris Ottman, Nash Bonnema, Beverly King, Miko Harper, Michael Sutton, Logan Kovach, Catherine Giacalone, Jack Riter, and Margaret Welsh. And voice actors Daniel Haygood, Somerset Simpson, Jeff Horst, Makaila Weir, and TaTyana Payne also contribute to the production.
The play features costume designs by Jacqueline Shelly and lighting design by senior Alanna Easley, and it makes extensive use of the projection, lighting, and sound capabilities of Ohio Wesleyan’s Chappelear Drama Center.
Tickets: $5-students/seniors and $10-general.
Admission is free for OWU students, faculty and staff with a valid ID.