GENTRY: And now Great Arts at Eastern. Coming to you from the Portales Campus of Eastern New Mexico University. I'm Jeff Gentry, Dean of the College of Fine Arts here on KENW, your Public Radio Network. Today my guest is Jonathan Barr of ENMU’s Department of Theatre and Digital Filmmaking. Thank you so much for joining me today.
BARR: Thank you for having me Doctor Gentry.
GENTRY: Well John let's preview the Spring Fine Arts season.
BARR: Oh yeah, Absolutely.
GENTRY: There is a lot going on what are you excited about.
BARR: I mean first of all I'm excited that we're doing stuff. Because I feel like we've been trapped in our houses. we've been watching the same old TV shows for months. And, now we've got live entertainment that's happening in the College of Fine Arts which really has me excited. In theater we're doing 2 productions that we have. Which is: Everybody which is a show by-. It's an adaptation by playwright named Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. And this is a- an adaptation of a medieval play. It's actually the first play that we have in English. And it tells the story of life of an everyman. but what's really exciting about this production is that before. At the very beginning of the show each actor takes a drawing and they pick which part they're going to play. it's assigned to them by random.
GENTRY: OK, so they prepare for every role.
BARR: Ever role.
GENTRY: And the audience gets to decide who plays what.
BARR: Well, it's actually-
GENTRY: Or a random drawing.
BARR: It's a drawing, like a lottery.
GENTRY: OK.
BARR: And apparently that's meant to represent the randomness of death. So, which is very medieval isn't.
GENTRY: It is.
BARR: To have that but I'm really excited about that and they've been rehearsing that on zoom all semester.
GENTRY: Right so was this play written in modern English? or does it go back to middle English?
BARR: It was written in modern English originally yes.
GENTRY: OK, so this is about Shakespeare's time then.
BARR: Oh wait, wait no- I take it back I don't know.
GENTRY: Yeah. 'cause if it's before Shakespeare-.
BARR: No, it would've been middle English, you are right.
GENTRY: Yeah,
BARR: Like around 14th century.
GENTRY: But so, have you decided to use middle English.
BARR: No, No, it is modern English modern yes, it's all modern it's very much we've gotten modern characters too. Because the characters each represent a sort of a formal philosophy and so.
GENTRY: Right. Excellent.
BARR: It's very exciting there's a character for death. There's a character for strength. There's a character for sensuality. It's just it's just a very interesting fun play
GENTRY: Great so an ancient text but accessible to our listeners.
BARR: That's exactly right.
GENTRY: That's great. And so that will be produced on Zoom. And then what's your other show?
BARR: Our other show is a Talent show and it's called: Portales Showcase and Talent of the Eastern Plains. That's directed by Anne Beck. And we're actually currently auditioning for that. So, we're looking for people were going to have auditions on we have auditions on February 6th from 10 to 2. And if you go to our Facebook page you can sign up for auditions. Even if it's past even if you're hearing this past that. We are looking for auditions. We are looking for people.
GENTRY: OK, well February 6th that's what Saturday.
BARR: That is Saturday.
GENTRY: OK, so just the day after tomorrow is when we're going to do that that's excellent so. So, you have two things I was really pleased that you got your shows out front early right. We got to know so that our listeners can plan ahead. So, if everybody just goes to ENMU.edu/fineartsevents, they can see everything we're offering. But how can they register to see your shows?
BARR: If you go to enmu.edu/TheatreLive, whatever is the current upcoming show just you'll be able to register on zoom to see tickets. And the tickets are free we're offering these free to the community. Because we really want to want to get people opportunities for fresh entertainment.
GENTRY: Fantastic so we've got two shows. We've got several concerts going on.
BARR: I'm really looking forward to the opera by the way.
GENTRY: Right the KENW Radio Opera this semester.
BARR: That is going to be stunning. And I've seen a preview of the technology that they're using to be able to synchronize their singing. And it's just going to be amazing.
GENTRY: Right, what's it called Sound - something-
BARR: Sound Jack.
GENTRY: Sound Jack right.
BARR: They can be in separate rooms but through the Internet they are able to connect. And the latency which is the drag is instantaneous.
GENTRY: Fantastic. So as our listeners can hear we've got a lot of fantastic events at ENMU his semester. And so, John bar thank you for helping launch our spring semester.
BARR: Oh, thank you. I hope a lot of people that are listening will come out and catch these shows. Their free and we're really looking forward to it.
GENTRY: Alright, so you can register for theater performances at enmu.edu/TheatreLive. And for upcoming plays art exhibitions concerts and more visit ENMU.Edu/FineArtsevents. Thanks everyone for listening on KENW, Your Public Radio Network.