Theatre grads return to area to direct Jamestown High School's "To Kill a Mockingbird"
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Aundre Seals, a 2007 graduate, and Dan Lendzian, a 2006 graduate, will direct the student production.
The performance is scheduled for 8 p.m. on Tuesday, March 31 at the Robert H. Jackson Center in Jamestown.
This outreach effort is being supervised by Randy Gadakian, director of the Daniel A. Reed Library at SUNY Fredonia, and Ted Sharon, associate professor of voice and movement in the Department of Theatre and Dance.
The Big Read initiative is designed to restore reading to the center of American culture. The NEA presents The Big Read in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and in cooperation with Arts Midwest. The Daniel A. Reed Library, in cooperation with the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation, the Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Library System and the National Endowment for the Arts, is sponsoring the second Big Read Program across both Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties.
This year’s Big Read selection is “To Kill a Mocking Bird” by Harper Lee. Lendzian said he pleased to have this opportunity.
“I am so glad that in a time of fear and a less than stellar economy, Randy Gadakian and the National Endowment for the Arts programming recognize how vital the arts are to education, community building and quality of life,” he said. “I am proud to represent my alma mater and use the education that I received at Fredonia, in acting and English, to help bring to life this story to these students.”
The Jamestown High School students will perform the courtroom scene in an adaptation by Christopher Sergel, which adds the device of an adult version of the main character, Scout, to comment on the action of the play.
Seals said he is thrilled to have “the opportunity to direct such a powerful piece.” “It not only calls to me as an African American, but as a human,” he said. “In ‘Mockingbird’ Harper Lee examines the very core of humanity and the lapse from innocence to adulthood in the character of Scout. I am excited to be working with Dan and the students on a very important piece of literature, and having the opportunity to tell this important story through the art of theatre.”
Seals earned a bachelor of fine arts degree in acting, with a minor in English at SUNY Fredonia. While acting in many of the Mainstage productions at Fredonia, as well as professional productions around New York State, Seals began to focus his creative energies in creating art through direction. He is working to open his own company with close friend, business partner and fellow Fredonia graduate, Roger Mulligan. He has set a goal to have the company incorporated by 2010, with a small season of two to three shows.
This coming fall, Seals will be directing the New York City premier of “CARTOON,” by Steve Yockey, in an Off-Off Broadway venue. His other directing credits include: “Cabaret,” “A Midsummer Night's Dream,” “Two Rooms,” “Into the Woods,” “The Last Five Years,” “The Fantasticks,” “Songs for a New World,” “Sweeney Todd” (cut version), and “Art” (cut version.)
“I always love returning to my roots of study,” Seals said. “Fredonia is a very special place to me. I met my best friends here and found my mentors here. Ted Sharon and the faculty at Fredonia instilled in me not just studies in technique and craft, but opened my eyes to the important of being a great human, therefore being a great artist.”
During his senior year, Seals served as president of The Performing Arts Company. He has served as an acting/movement instructor for Fredonia’s summer theatre camp, Playground, working on such productions as “Annie” and “Honk.”
He plans on attending graduate school in the future to pursue his MFA in Directing.
Lendzian graduated Magna Cum Laude with concurrent degrees in acting and English and a minor in American Studies. While at Fredonia, Lendzian served at president of the Performing Arts Company, vice president of Alpha Psi Omega and director of Random Acts Comedy troupe.
He cofounded Playground Drama Day Camp with Ted Sharon and Marc de la Concha. He and Ted Sharon are currently writing the new script for the FSA Orientation video for Fredonia. His professional credits include roles at Blatt’s Dinner Theatre, The Weathervane Rep Theatre, The National Theatre for Children, and Shakespeare in the Valley.
Most recently, he spent a year at The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, on tour, and in Mainstage productions of “Romeo and Juliet” and “King Lear.”
