Student Production goes Hollywood with Hidden in this Picture
WHAT: Student Production in the Herberger College of Fine Arts at ASU presents Hidden in this Picture, a side-splitting romp written by award-winning playwright Aaron Sorkin and directed by student Justin Dero. The program will also include a series of short dance pieces by students in the college’s department of dance.
Student Production is a student-driven organization within the department of theatre that is dedicated to bringing student work to life on stage.
WHEN: Feb. 10-12, 2002, at 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: The Student Laboratory Theatre at the Prism, 851 E. Tyler St., in the Ritter Building on the ASU campus (northwest corner of Terrace and Rural, just south of University Drive).
TICKETS: $3; available at the door only.
INFORMATION, TICKETS: 480-727-7877.
Best known as the executive producer and writer of the hit television series The West Wing, playwright Aaron Sorkin’s prolific career has touched on numerous political and social themes. For the play Hidden in this Picture, Sorkin sets his sights on Hollywood as he tells the story of a writer-director team on the brink of either extreme success or extreme ruin.
Their movie, which includes a cast of hundreds and an elaborate sunset, is over budget. They have one last shot to make it work. With the producers breathing down their necks, they watch as the sum total of their creative work is derailed by Murphy’s Law.
Sorkin is a relative stranger to failure in the movie business; he has written over a half-dozen screenplays, including such hits as Bulworth, The American President and A Few Good Men.
Hidden in this Picture simultaneously gives a realistic and endearing picture of the filmmaking process, and ultimately delves into what it really means to be personally satisfied with one’s art.
Student director Justin Dero selected the play for exactly that reason. “We can all appreciate the panic that strikes when something you care about goes horribly wrong,” Dero says. “There is something of all of us in this play.”
Dero also has a background in choreography. He auditioned students from the department of dance to come up with pieces that would complement his opus to artistic triumphs and failures. These dance works will be presented both before and after performances ofHidden in this Picture.
Hidden in this Picture opens what promises to be an exciting and full season for Student Production, touting such big names as Sam Shepard and Christopher Marlowe. Shepard’s True West is slated for February 24-26, 2002, directed by graduate student Michael Saar. This will be followed in April by the student-written Endless Deep and Closer Still on Feb. 14-16, 2002, and Marlowe’s The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus on Feb. 28-30, 2002.
Media Contact:
Megan Krause
480-965-8795
megan.krause@asu.edu