Clemson Players to present student's original play 'Ensemble'

Published: November 7, 2012

image by: Clemson University

CLEMSON — The Clemson Players and the performing arts department will present the original work "Ensemble" by student Susanne Parker at 8 p.m. Nov. 12-16 and 3 p.m. Nov. 18.

It will be in the Bellamy Theatre of the Brooks Center for the Performing Arts.

Parker, a senior, began the long path to developing her script when she was studying abroad in Pau, France, last fall and met a travel journalist who was researching the prevalence of depression in France despite that culture’s emphasis on pleasure and simplicity.

Influenced by an article she found about a family of four in France that committed suicide together, Parker's play follows Henri, a college-aged student, who returns home to Paris to deal with the suicides of some family members 10 years earlier. As he attempts to lessen the weight of this troubled past that has burdened him for years, memories, dreams and new visitors complicate plans and create a struggle in the relationships with the dead and those still living.

Guest director Richard Washer from Washington, D.C., said, “With a new play we are all discovering for the first time what the story is, who the characters are and what the unique qualities of the play are.” 

“Seeing the play being developed on its feet has been another humbling process,” said Parker. “At this point, the words belong as much to the director and actors as they do to me, and I have to relinquish control in the hopes that what it becomes will be better than what I could do on my own.”

Tickets for "Ensemble" are $11 for adults and $6 for students and are available at www.clemson.edu/Brooks and through the Box Office at 864-656-7787 from 1 to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday.

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