Ball State University Presents A Reading of THE CIRCUS IN WINTER, 4/23

Join the students from Ball State University's Virginia B. Ball Center for Creative Inquiry as they present a concert reading of their original musical, "The Circus in Winter", inspired by Cathy Day's novel of the same title. The story follows Wallace Porter, a young and country-raised stable owner as he acquires a disheveled circus and menagerie. Set while the circus is winter-quartered in Lima, Indiana, Porter and company consider notions of risk, redemption and rebirth through relationships as graceful and perilous as an acrobat's high-flying routine.

Led by Associate Professor of Theatre & Dance, Beth Turcotte, the student creators of the musical include: Brianna Clark, Emily Behny, Justin Swader, Christopher Swader, Erin Spahr, Ranger Puterbaugh, Jonathan Jensen, Ryan Prendergast, Ben Clark, Nick Rapley, JD Mitchell, Maren Ritter, J. Max Gosman, Eric Byrer.

The concert reading of "The Circus in Winter" will be presented at Ball State University's Sursa Performance Hall, located in the Music Instruction Building, on April 23, 2010 at 8:00 pm. Tickets are $5.00 at the door, and all proceeds will benefit the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Delaware County. A small reception will follow in the lobby of Sursa Performance Hall.

"The Circus in Winter" will also be presented at Chicago's Drury Lane Oakbrook Terrace, 100 Drury Lane, Villia Park, IL 60181, on April 26, 2010 at 7:30 pm. Donations will be accepted, and all proceeds will benefit Ball State University's Department of Theatre & Dance's Scholarship Fund.

The Virginia B. Ball Center for Creative Inquiry enables faculty and students to explore the connections among the arts, humanities, science and technology, create a product to illustrate their collaborative research and interdisciplinary study, and present their product to the community in a public forum. Four Ball State University faculty members are chosen each year to teach interdisciplinary seminars to fifteen students. The students are chosen by application or audition. Working together with a community sponsor, each group of faculty and students creates a product [e.g. an exhibit, performance or publication] to engage the community in public dialogue. The Center provides a summer stipend for faculty to prepare their seminar. The Center also provides a semester's "leave" for the four fellows-two in the Fall and two in the Spring-to teach their seminars. And to help facilitate the work of the seminars, the Center provides each group with an expense budget of $15,000.