Villanova Graduate Students Present Lauren Yee's HOOKMAN

The Villanova Theatre Department's fifth annual Studio Show is the existential slasher comedy Hookman by Lauren Yee. This fully realized production is entirely directed, designed and performed by current Villanova Theatre graduate students, including director Amy Abrigo, and runs January 30th to February 2nd, 2020.

Freshman year at college is hard enough when your roommate is weird and you're feeling homesick. But if Lexi can discover what really happened to her high school best friend on their fateful car ride to the movies over winter break, everything will be okay. Right? (Pay no attention to the hook-handed serial killer hanging around in the background.) In Hookman, Lauren Yee tackles the deadly topics of grief, sexual assault, distracted driving and growing up, with a sharp, satirical edge.

In this production, director Amy Abrigo aims to portray the sometimes-frightening (in more ways than one) transition into adulthood that young women experience as they head off to college, and share Lexi's story with other undergraduates who may be having similar experiences at Villanova. Abrigo says, "We are exploring how fear transforms our surroundings, and how isolating living in a community such as a college campus can be." To portray this fear and isolation, the physical scenery will be mostly abstract, although many props will be realistically (and often bloodily) presented.

The cast includes theatre graduate students Paul Goraczko (Hookman), Manda Jacobi (Jess), Rachel McFatridge (Chloe), Sharese Salters (Lexi), Anna Sorrentino (Yoonji) and Melissa Sturges (Kayleigh).

Vasey Studio is located in Vasey Hall (Room 206) on Villanova's main campus at the intersection of Lancaster & Ithan Avenues. Tickets are free; seating is general admission. In lieu of the price of admission, we will be collecting donations for scholarships to support our students going to the 2020 Summer Studio in Ireland. Advance booking is encouraged to guarantee a seat, and tickets can be reserved online at villanovahookman.eventbrite.com.