CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION by Annie Baker
- Directed by Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson
- Scenic Design and Technical Direction by Dathan Powell
Friday, April 10; Saturday, April 11; Sunday, April 12 & Thursday, April 16; Friday, April 17; Saturday, April 18. (All performances at 7:30pm, except for the Sunday, April 12 Matinee at 2:00pm)
"When four lost New Englanders who enroll in Marty's six-week-long community-center drama class begin to experiment with harmless games, hearts are quietly torn apart, and tiny wars of epic proportions are waged and won. A beautifully crafted diorama, a petri dish in which we see, with hilarious detail and clarity, the antic sadness of a motley quintet."--Dramatist Play Service, Inc.
"Annie Baker's play is an absolute feast. CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSORMATION is the kind of unheralded gem that sends people into the streets babbling and bright-eyed with the desire to spread the word. The play traces the lives of a handful of small-town Vermont residents who gather each week for an acting class taught at the local community center. By the play's end we seem to see to the very bottom of these souls, and feel how the artificial intimacy of the acting class has shaped their lives in substantial ways."
The New York Times
"...orchestrated with a subtlety and unfailing naturalness that make the play's small revelations disarming and unexpected. The characterizations display a miniaturist attention to detail that goes down to the bone... Baker is never blind to their weaknesses and faults, yet regards them all with a warm, empathetic eye."
Variety
"Smartly, sneakily, Baker gives us the rare theater centric play that's not self-obsessed. [CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION] is about real people exploring their lives through tiny leaps of faith and creativity."
Backstage
"Baker develops her characters slowly through their interactions each week in class, which is the only place we see them. Naturally, their real, offstage lives gradually infiltrate the classroom, revealing insights and transformations both humorous and heartbreaking."
Associated Press
"Reverberates with seduction and sorrow...the play's final scene is devastatingly gentle."
The Village Voice
Performances will take place in the UIS Theatre Acting/Directing Studio, in the Visual & Performing Arts Building (VPA 170) on the UIS Campus.
Park in Lot B and walk to VPA 170.
