Courtney Romero of the Piper area of Kansas City, Kan., is a member of the company that will present “The Treehouse Effect” at the Kennedy Center Region V American College Theatre Festival. There will be an encore performance Friday, Jan. 15, at Emporia State University before students head for the festival.
Written by ESU alumni Mark Warner , BFA, May 2014, and Brandon Jensen, BFA, December 2015, the play is a contemporary and heartfelt exploration of memory and friendship that reunites three college friends after several years apart. Jeremy is getting married, and has invited his two best friends Lucas and Tyson back to the shape-shifting, time-altering treehouse of their childhood to compete for the honor of being his best man. Their imaginations send them to faraway planets, where they battle zombies and swashbuckling pirates.
Romero, a junior, is the costume and makeup crew head.
The production is under the direction of Theresa Mitchell. Chris Lohkamp is the technical director/scenic designer and Nancy Pontius is the lighting designer. Costumes were designed by Amanda Dura.
While the action of the play is appropriate for all ages, audiences should keep in mind that it does contain adult language.
“The Treehouse Effect” will have a single performance at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 15, in the Karl C. Bruder Theatre on the Emporia State campus. Tickets will not be sold in advance for this production; rather, it will be general admission seating with a suggested donation of $10. All donations received will be used to support travel expenses to the festival.
The company will then head to Minneapolis, Minn., for the weeklong festival, Jan. 17 through 23. At the festival, the production will be seen by students and faculty in the region as well as national respondents from the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Students in the production will also be eligible for national recognition.
ESU is one of only six universities in the seven-state region to be selected for the festival; other Region V representation includes Wichita State University, Southwest Minnesota State University, Bethany Lutheran College, Mankato, Minn., Minnesota State University Moorhead and the University of Nebraska Omaha. ESU productions have been selected for the festival in previous years, most recently “Rabbit Hole” in 2009 and “Six Women Wearing the Same Dress” in 2007.