Copy by Chip Chandler, 806-651-2124, [email protected]

CANYON, Texas — West Texas A&M University Theatre will seek an engaged audience with its next production, even though actors and viewers won’t be in the same space.

Student actors will livestream Bertolt Brecht’s “The Caucasian Chalk Circle” at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 12 and 13. Tickets are available now at https://www.showtix4u.com/event-details/39674.

The drama, one of the modernist playwright’s most essential works, actively tries to dispel the magic of theater, said director Royal R. Brantley, Regents Professor and director of theatre.

“To Brecht, theater is a participatory thing,” Brantley said. “Yes, it’s entertaining, but you’re there to make the world better.”

To encourage the audience to focus on the show’s themes, rather than getting caught up in a story, Brecht called for a variety of techniques to point out theater’s artifice — puppetry, interruptions, breaking of the fourth wall, obvious stagecraft — all to emphasize the audience’s alienation from the process.

“That makes you think twice,” Brantley said. “It makes you go deeper as an audience member because you’re not just sitting there, even at home.”

The play, adapted from an ancient Chinese tale, is told by The Singer (McLean native Jared Bartley), who recounts a parable of a simple maid, Grusha Vashnadze (Stinnett native Arden Hinshaw), who adopts the abandoned child of an executed governor and his imprisoned wife. When the wife (Maggie Connick of Stapleton, Ala.) returns to claim the child solely for access to her late husband’s considerable estate, a judge (Christopher Burrell of Enochs) orders both women to undergo a test to see who should keep custody: The child would be placed in the middle of a chalk circle, with both women attempting to pull him out. Much as in the biblical tale of Solomon, if both pull, the child would be ripped in two.

“This is an amazing story about courage,” Brantley said. “Grusha never planned on raising a child, but in making the choice to save his life, she does something good in a terrible time.”

That has added relevance in 2020, Brantley said.

“In many ways, these are terrible times now. We’ve lost so much humanity, so it’s good to see someone who does something right and good and courageous, despite the evil all around her, the threat of death all around her,” he said. “It sends a beautiful message.”

That’s not lost on the actors.

“Sometimes, it’s hard to do the right thing,” Hinshaw said. “Grusha is risking her life to do the right thing. That’s easier said than done. In our lives, we need to think about what we must be willing to risk to do the right thing.”

The production will be entered in the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. WT’s 2019 production of “Ada and the Engine” won several national awards in the theater competition last spring.

Engagement with the arts is a valued component of the University’s long-term plan, WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World.

Other cast members include Tate Parker of Clarendon, Sawyer Landry of Canadian, Caleb Martinez of Seagraves, Jalen Barrera of Lubbock, Ethan Chase of Amarillo, Andrew Trevino of Andrews, Kyle Gentry of Bulverde, Noah Santos of Lubbock, Darrianna Ferguson of Amarillo, Hannah Segrist of Lubbock, Michaela Parsons of Lubbock, Bella Walker of McKinney and Macy Fulton of Midland.

Understudies are Zachary Johnston of Lewisville, Matthew Thurman of Frisco, Evan Burke of Keller, Taylor Pritchett of Amarillo, Joey Hill of Little Elm, Kaitlin Wampler of Wichita Falls and Hunter Schineller of Tempe, Ariz.

Student production staff members are Benjamin Nitschmann of Aledo, assistant director; Devon Patch of Trinidad, stage manager; Kaylee Todd of Leander, assistant stage manager; Zane Wells of Amarillo, composer and sound designer; Daniel Loughran of Canyon, lighting designer; and Kayla Arnold of Killeen, hair/makeup designer and assistant costume designer.

Tickets are $15 for the general public, and free for WT students, faculty and staff.

Box office hours are 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. For tickets, call 806-651-2804, email [email protected], visit the WTAMU Theatre Facebook page or visit the WTAMU Theatre website.

About West Texas A&M University

WT is located in Canyon, Texas, on a 342-acre residential campus. Established in 1910, the University has been part of The Texas A&M University System since 1990. With enrollment of more than 10,000, WT offers 60 undergraduate degree programs, 38 master’s degrees and two doctoral degrees. The University is also home to the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, the largest history museum in the state and the home of one of the Southwest’s finest art collections. The Buffaloes are a member of the NCAA Division II Lone Star Conference and offers 15 men’s and women’s athletics programs.