Limelight: the Rice Players' season

By Sonia Pothraj     9/14/11 7:00pm

Self-described as "(mostly) quality theatre since 1951," the Rice Players, a completely student-run group, is gearing up for another great year of performances.

Houston's oldest collegiate theater troupe and one of the more experimental organizations at Rice, the Rice Players draws students from across campus and from all courses of study. The organization has consistently offered Houston audiences historical classics and modern novelties.

Two of this year's directors, Wiess College senior T.J. Burleson and Joseph Lockett ?(Hanszen '93), expressed excitement for their upcoming plays, Dead Man's Cell Phone and The Baltimore Waltz, respectively.

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Sarah Ruhl's Dead Man's Cell Phone is described by Charles Isherwood of the New York Times as a work that "blends the mundane and the metaphysical, the blunt and the obscure, the patently bizarre and the bizarrely moving." Opening Thursday, Sept. 22 at 8 p.m. in Hamman Hall, the play is sure to appeal to a wide range ?of audiences.

Though not opening until April, The Baltimore Waltz is equally enthralling. Written by Paula ?Vogel, the play is a dream sequence that allows protagonist Anna to put the reality of her brother's death from AIDs into perspective. Lockett has directed twice in the recent past for the Rice Players: Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest in fall 2009 and David Auburn's Proof in fall 2007.  He has also directed several times for Baker Shakespeare. As an alumni and a current Baker College associate, Lockett has been involved with Rice for quite some time.

As an undergraduate in the late 1980s, Lockett first joined the Rice Players with little prior experience in theater. However, after taking classes, observing, and working in shows, he was hooked. Even after graduating, Lockett has remained deeply involved with Rice.

"I keep coming back because I love working with Rice students; Rice actors are clever, curious, and hard-working.  You can offer Rice students a share in the creative work of putting a play together, and they will happily leap into the fray once you show them the boundaries," Lockett said.  

Currently working in public relations, technical writing and adult training, Lockett's career was definitely shaped by participating in the ?Rice Players.

"Rice Players taught me that what I really enjoy is communication; figuring out how to best convey information.  Obviously, that feeds into the education work I've done, whether in designing lessons, preparing materials or presenting to a classroom,  all of which benefit from an understanding of effective design, creative expression and crafting a strong message," Lockett said.

As a current undergraduate, Burleson's experience is relatively similar to Lockett's. Though Burleson had a background in theater before college, he too fell in love with Rice Players and is now the troupe's managing coordinator. "I loved being in my first few productions at Rice, and I realized at the end of my freshman year that the students who were directing shows weren't that different from me. Naturally, I felt like trying it out for myself," Burleson said.

Though Burleson has yet to graduate, it appears that working with the Rice Players has shaped his future ambitions. At present, he is considering advanced degrees in theater and education at the university level.

"I think being a coordinator has been a great learning experience, and potentially becoming a professor of theater has everything to do with it. In many ways, I plan my year around the shows that I'll be doing, especially those with the Players. It has also had lots of relevance to skills that everyone needs and uses — effective communication, time management and budgeting.  Rice Players is one of the best organizations I have ever been involved with,"  Burleson said.

Sonia Pothraj is a Hanzsen College freshman. Limelight  is a column that features student artists and their current projects.

 

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