News from Transy

LEXINGTON, Ky.— Transylvania University’s professional theater residency project kicks off this week with four performances of the critically acclaimed play, “No Spring Chicken.” The Project SEE production, directed by professor Sullivan Canaday White, will run Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. in Little Theater. The new comedy by Ginna Hoben was hailed by critics at its Washington, D.C., premiere last fall as both a “tale of life at its very existential core” and “a funny surprisingly raw show.” The script is inspired by Hoben’s pregnancy blog, “bambino & the bean,” which charted the highs and lows of pregnancy at an “advanced maternal age” – 40.  “With candor typical of a late-night college gabfest,” notes Washington Post reviewer Jane Horwitz, Hoben’s character, Jenn, “launches into her tale. She always wanted to be a mom but wasn’t quite ready. And when she finally was ready, getting pregnant was tough.”  “This is a performance that celebrates the power of storytelling,” White said, “much like Hoben’s first play, ‘The Twelve Dates of Christmas,’ produced by Project SEE in 2011.” Project SEE is a Lexington theater company. Hoben is an actor, playwright and TV writer/producer who lives in New York City. (Her works include the Emmy-nominated “Brain Games.”) With its launch with Hoben’s play, Transylvania’s professional theater residency program will provide students a chance to work alongside professional theater artists on stage and off.  “While professional theater residencies are not uncommon at large universities,” White said,

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University’s Community Engagement Through the Arts class will collaborate with local elementary schools and community heroes for Superhero Day on Monday, April 18. The event, which will be from 10 a.m. until noon in the Clive M. Beck Athletic and Recreation Center, will empower children to think of themselves as superheroes through activities such as games, art, a photo booth, robots, drones, free books—and capes custom-designed by the elementary school participants and CETA students. “We wanted to do something we have never done before: bring together all the kids we have worked with and make a really fun experience for them that also has educational elements,” said English professor Kremena Todorova, who co-teaches CETA. “Because they share a neighborhood, we want these children to also share a morning together.” This event—for students from Arlington and William Wells Brown elementary schools and Sayre School—is part of Transylvania’s Project One diversity and inclusion initiative. “The best part so far was seeing the incredible enthusiasm and creativity of the students at William Wells Brown when they were making their own cape designs,” Transylvania junior Elly Maddy said. Other Superhero Day activities will include a superhero play by Transylvania theater students, a performance by the university’s cheerleading and dance teams and demonstrations by the Lexington police and fire departments. “It’s exciting to invite all of the children we have worked with to campus,” said art professor Kurt Gohde, the other co-teacher of CETA. “It’s

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