Camille Lenning <\/strong>| Entertainment Editor<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The 2021 \u2013 22 academic year marks the return of in person shows on campus. Western\u2019s theatre department is keeping to its winter term biennial tradition with their production of \u201cThe Theory of Relativity,\u201d a musical written by playwright Brian Hill, with music composed by Neil Bartram.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The musical offers a unique situation for those involved with its production \u2014 a large cast with relatively little set dressing. \u201cThe Theory of Relativity\u201d is a largely student-produced play, featuring 18 actors and several student crew members, with only a few staff and faculty supervisors.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The show itself is essentially a collection of songs with a recurring theme, according to the play\u2019s director and Western theatre professor Dr. Michael Phillips.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis was (written by) a composer and a lyricist who got together with a bunch of college people and said \u2018tell us your stories about what it means to connect to people,\u2019\u201d Phillips explained. \u201cOut of those stories came the music for the show.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Each song has its own unique topic, but all orbit around the theme of human connection. They eventually tie together in the grand finale, circling the center of gravity Einstein theorized in his theory of relativity.<\/span><\/p>\n Senior theater-actor training major Tessa Rosenau plays the character Beth in the musical, and will perform in the duet \u201cLipstick.\u201d The song details an interaction between two individuals making eye contact on a busy sidewalk, and the mental anguish that follows.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The dramedy promises to be a delightful addition to Western\u2019s winter musical repertoire.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe Theory of Relativity\u201d will have its opening night on Feb. 24 at 7:30 p.m., and will play at the same time through Feb. 26, as well as March 2 \u2013 March 5. There will be a matinee show at 2 p.m. on Feb. 27. Friday showings will be ASL interpreted.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n General admission will cost $14, senior citizens and Western faculty and staff tickets will cost $10, and Western students with a valid school ID can pick up their tickets for free.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really about how everybody is just getting through life and is in some way affected by and affecting others around them, and how that plays out in multiple different ways.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n 18 students in the cast, 3 stage managers, 1 assistant director\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s really close to being ready, I\u2019m really excited. I think we\u2019ve just peaked at the right time in the rehearsals. It feels like it\u2019s ready to be presented to an audience, so I\u2019m really excited for that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis was (written by) a composer and a lyricist who got together with a bunch of college people and said \u2018tell us your stories about what it means to connect to people, and what it means to be in relationships with people around you,\u2019 and out of those stories came the music for the show. It\u2019s really a show that originated with college aged people and is perfect for college aged people to perform. It\u2019s good! You should come see it!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Western presents \u201cThe Theory of Relativity\u201d this…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1361,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1361"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18583\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/files\/2020\/12\/lighter-gray-line.png\")
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