Missouri Western State University has suspended operations of Western Playhouse, the summer theatre company, due to recent state budget withholding. Auditions scheduled in St. Joseph and Kansas City in February for this summer\u2019s planned production of \u201cWest Side Story\u201d are cancelled.<\/p>\n
\u201cWestern Playhouse has been a tremendous artistic success for five seasons, with high-quality productions staged by talented cast and crew from around the nation,\u201d said Dr. Gordon Mapley, dean of the Western Institute and Western Playhouse executive producer. \u201cUnfortunately, we are unable to continue operations under the university\u2019s current budget situation. We will evaluate the possibility of resuming the Playhouse if there are more favorable financial conditions in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Western Playhouse was founded in 2012 to enhance the St. Joseph arts scene with professional-quality summer productions. It also provided many Missouri Western students with their first professional theatre opportunities both on stage and behind the scenes.<\/p>\n
\u201cEach year, more than 20 Missouri Western students have been part of Western Playhouse, with many earning Actors Equity points toward their Equity card\u201d Mapley added. “Many of our graduates have noted how their Western Playhouse experience has helped them advance in their professional careers.”<\/p>\n
Over its five seasons, Western Playhouse produced nine shows, most recently \u201cFiddler on the Roof\u201d in 2016.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m proud of the work we did at Western Playhouse,\u201d said Dr. Bob Willenbrink, founding dean of Missouri Western\u2019s School of Fine Arts and Western Playhouse producing director. \u201cWe made it possible for St. Joseph audiences to see gifted professional actors from New York, Kansas City and elsewhere while nurturing young talents just embarking on their careers. I\u2019m very grateful to those who made it possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Western Playhouse will not operate this year, Missouri Western\u2019s School of Fine Arts will continue to be a strong presence in the local theatre scene through its Department of Theatre, Cinema and Dance\u2019s Theatre Season. The department presents four productions per year. The spring semester shows are William Shakespeare\u2019s \u201cMacbeth\u201d Feb. 24-March 4 and \u201cThe Wedding Singer\u201d April 21-29. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit mwsutix.com.<\/p>\n
Missouri Western State University is a comprehensive regional university providing a blend of traditional liberal arts and professional degree programs. The university offers student-centered, high quality instruction that focuses on experience-based learning, community service, and state-of-the-art technology. Missouri Western is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit <\/em>www.missouriwestern.edu<\/em><\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Missouri Western State University has suspended operations of Western Playhouse, the summer theatre company, due to recent state budget withholding. Auditions scheduled in St. Joseph and Kansas City in February for this summer\u2019s planned production of \u201cWest Side Story\u201d are cancelled. \u201cWestern Playhouse has been a tremendous artistic success for five seasons, with high-quality productions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":5453,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[48],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5452"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5452"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8679,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5452\/revisions\/8679"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}