CofC Stages at the College of Charleston’s Department of Theatre and Dance commences the second half of its 2023-2024 season on Feb. 2, 2024 with The Pages Festival, an evening of staged readings of new work written and performed by students.
Organized by adjunct faculty member of acting and playwriting Michael Smallwood, The Pages Festival features monologues and scenes written, developed, and performed by a group of seventeen students, composed of theatre majors along with students studying in other programs. Smallwood serves as the festival’s director and coordinator, lending his talents as a playwright and director to the group of student writers and actors.
“The development of new plays and, perhaps more importantly, new playwrights, is some of the most vital work we could possibly be doing in our department,” shares Smallwood. “As a former student playwright, I know just how foundational a skill it can be to a long and successful career in the theater.”
Smallwood continues, “it's been my great privilege to help shepherd this incredible room of insightful, creative, visionary student playwrights. The work they have created in this process would be remarkable if they were all veteran writers.”
Theatre majors as well as non-majors comprise the cast and include Beau Dolan, Lauren Evans, Kaleigh Montgomery, Emma Piazza, Alexandria Prioleau, Joy Sabet, Eva Voros and Chris Warzynski. The festival features new work written primarily by theatre majors, including Noah Anderson, William Caretto, Cheyenne Comitz, Amber Dunton, Madelein Hanson, Jaelin LaVanway, Olivia Maness, Jacob Rye and Riley Taylor. The festival is stage managed by arts management major Grace Albertson.
“The fact that they are still learning, some of them even presenting words in front of an audience for the first time, makes their accomplishments here truly inspiring,” says Smallwood.
DETAILS: Staged readings of The Pages Festival at the Chapel Theatre (172 Calhoun St.) are Friday, February 2 through Monday, February 5. Curtain times are 7:00 p.m. on February 2, 3 and 5, with a 4:00 p.m. matinee on Sunday, February 4.
Individual tickets for The Pages Festival are $10 for adults; $8 for seniors (60+), military/veteran and youth under 18; and free for CofC students, faculty and staff. Individual ticket prices for other shows in the CofC Stages season vary by show. Purchase tickets online at go.charleston.edu/pages or contact the George Street Box Office by emailing gsbo@cofc.edu or calling (843) 953-4726.
The department is pleased to announce that select works from The Pages Festival will be presented as part of the Department’s Stelle di Domani series, its annual contribution to the Piccolo Spoleto Festival. Certain works developed as part of the festival will return to Stelle di Domani 2024 as part of Under the Lights, a reading series highlighting work written and presented by College of Charleston students.
2023-2024 CofC Stages Season
Men on Boats by Jaclyn Backhaus
After the Rain (faculty-choreographed dance concert)
In Love and Warcraft by Madhuri Shekar (staged reading)
Pippin by Stephen Schwartz and Roger O. Hirson
The Pages Festival: Staged Readings of Student-Written Works
Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss II (co-production with Department of Music/CofC Opera)
Pathways (student-
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
Visit go.cofc.edu/cofcstages to learn about all eight productions that center on the theme “Expectations and Explorations.”