The Holiday Season is In Full Swing at the CSS Theatre!

Now that we're all back from Thanksgiving break, we are now getting into the Holiday spirit! All of the members of the theatre department contributed in decorating the building to the brim with Christmas decorations. Here are just a couple of the beautiful decorations our team put up!

Have a great week everyone!

Adrianna Bail

CSS House Manager

Thanksgiving Break Is Nearly Upon Us!

Thanksgiving is nearly here! We here at the CSS Theatre are excited to recharge our batteries, stuff ourselves with food, then jump right into our next performance: Eleemosynary! This show is bound to be a good one and you don't want to miss it. Here's a little glimpse of what this play will be about:

Eleemosynary - This play probes into the delicate relationship of three singular women; the grandmother, Dorothea, who has sought to assert her independence through strong-willed eccentricity; her brilliant daughter, Artie (Artemis), who has fled the stifling domination of her mother; and Artie's daughter, Echo, a child of exceptional intellect - and sensitivity - whom Artie has abandoned to an upbringing by Dorothea.

Have a great Thanksgiving break everyone!

Adrianna Bail
CSS House Manager

Our First Production Comes to a Close...

Thank you to all who attended the CSS theatre's first production of the 2017-2018 season. "Sense and Sensibility" was a fantastic show, and we would like to thank all who came to see the show as well as all of the people involved in making this show a success. It is through the community's continued support that we are all able to continue doing what we love. As this show wraps up, we look forward 

to our next show of the 2017-2018 season: "Eleemosynary". We are extremely excited about this production and we hope you are as well!

As always, it is a pleasure blogging for you.

Adrianna Bail

House Manager

Check Out Our Review for "Sense and Sensbility"! Then Come See the Show This Weekend!

Theater review: Art of conversation shines in "Sense and Sensibility"

By Lawrance Bernabo, for the News Tribune Today at 3:13 p.m.

"Even the coiffures of the two oldest Dashwood sisters speak to their disparate natures: Elinor is

simple and sensible; Marianne's overly ornate, right down to the twin ringlets that frame her pretty

face.

In Jane Austen's "Sense and Sensibility", it quickly becomes clear that Elinor (Katherine Grotte) feels

way too little while her sister Marianne (Jemma Provance) feels way too much. By the end of the

charming period play that opened at the College of St. Scholastica on Friday night, the girls will channel Goldilocks, get things just right, and live happily ever after.

Appropriately, the two main actresses shine most when they effectively trade places. Provance's high spirited Marianne glows once she encounters Willoughby, her would-be prince, but memorably

shatters when Elinor reads his fateful letter aloud. Grotte's best moments come in the second act when she pleads with the ill Marianne not to leave her alone in the world, and in both of her tortured

meetings with Edward.

In a nicely understated performance, Conor Reindl's Edward Ferrers is endearingly polite and equally awkward, while as the scoundrel Willoughby, Theodore Webster, quickly rubs us the wrong way. As

the soft spoken Colonel Brandon, Mitchell Gertken is the calm at the center of the dueling love storms.

Interestingly, Kate Hamill's script makes the narrative's turning point Marianne finally thinking about
somebody other than herself and fiercely defending her sister's artwork. The script also takes

advantage of every opportunity to interject comedy into the proceedings.

As Mrs. Jennings and Sir John Middleton, Shayna Shafter and the velvet voiced Adam Anderson

burst upon the scene like they just came out of Dickens novel. Armed with the world's loudest

whisper, Shafter takes Mrs. Jennings over the top and a bit beyond at times. Five "gossips" act as a Regency chorus and also serve as elegantly dressed stagehands, courtesy of costume designer

Sasha Howell.

This script gave a lot of characters their moments. Bailey Johnson is maternally stalwart as Mrs. Dashwood, Adrienne Skelton's young Margaret Dashwood has a flair for stomping off, and Nick Aspin and Hanna McLevish make John and Fanny Dashwood instantly dislikeable.

Bryn Soland's Lucy Steele smiles sweetly while destroying Elinor's love life. Cassandra Boucher's Anne Steele was vaccinated with the same phonograph needle as Mrs. Jennings, while Dawson

Ness' brief turn as the cottage-obsessed Robert Ferrers was a hoot.

The staging is theater in the square, so director Tammy Ostrander keeps the settings simple, often just an arrangement of wooden chairs, sometimes accented by a writing desk or a clavichord posing

as a pianoforte. Since with Austen the focus is on the art (and artifice) of conversation, this is quite appropriate.

Of course this staging requires characters to take turns facing in all directions, which means you may or may not see the dead eyes Marianne turns towards Fanny at dinner or her predatory smile when Willoughby returns to recite poetry.

Finally, while Austen would certainly disapprove of some things Elinor does in her final scene with

Edward, her behavior suited the audience just fine."

If you missed out on these amazing performances, do not fear! There are more performances this weekend!
The show dates are as follows:
November 9, 10, & 11 @ 7:30pm and November 12th at 2pm. The performance on November 12th is ASL Interpreted!

Hope to see you there!

Adrianna Bail
CSS House Manager