CRAWFORDSVILLE, IN — The Wabash College Theater Department will present its final production of the season, The Time of Your Life, by William Saroyan, which will run April 17-20 and May 10-11 in Ball Theater in the Fine Arts Center on the Wabash College campus. The play is directed by Michael Abbott and will feature a visiting guest artist, Kate Steele. Performances are scheduled for 8 p.m. each evening except for a 2 p.m. matinee on May 10.
Set in 1939 in a San Francisco waterfront bar frequented by a collection of eccentrics, Saroyan's whimsical ode to ordinary people and the simple values of life has made this enduring and endearing comedy an American classic. Considered the best and most popular of his plays, The Time of Your Life won a Drama Critics Circle Award and the 1940 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, which the author refused on the grounds that it was "no more great or good" than anything else he had written.
Kate Steele, a visiting guest artist in the play, is a native of Indiana and currently a professional actress in Los Angeles. She graduated summa cum laude from the Honors College of Ball State University with a triple major in theatre performance, dance, and psychology before moving to New York City for three years. Steele has worked in multiple venues including summer stock, off-Broadway, independent and feature film, promotional video, children's theatre, staged readings, and regional tours. Favorite roles include Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire; Keely in Keely and Du; Kate in Dancing at Lughnasa; Helene in Sweet Charity; and Kathy in Company. She was nominated for three Irene Ryan Acting Awards while at Ball State University and took two fully mounted productions to regional competition.
Wabash students performing in the show are freshmen Jefferson Crew, Nick Wilson Jonathan Schwartz and Zach Parrett; sophomores Chaz Mailey, Jesse Becerra, and Jon Galliher; juniors Aaron Parks, and Chris Laguna; and seniors Joe Hisch, Christopher Alexander, Mike Charbonneau, and Gabirel Duarte. Also participating in the production are, Ian Nixon, Rachel Kendall, Katy Young, Amy Young, Lydia Crumpacker, and Alexandra Hudson.
Tickets for the play are $5 for adults and $3 for non-Wabash students. Tickets are available from the Fine Arts Center Box Office, which is open from 10 a.m. to noon, and 1 to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, or by calling 765-361-6411. The ticket office is open all day on day of performance.