Theatre Season Dedicated to Cermak

Oct 03, 2011

cermak
Jim Cermak’s last theatre season will feature some of his favorite productions. He’s chosen a musical and several plays that he feels speak to the human condition.

“I’ve always tried to do plays with a message,” he says. “There’s usually a significant character in each production that brings something for students to think about.”

After 40 years of teaching and directing, he’s had a role as designer or director in nearly every play and musical staged at the Concordia theatre, as well as a couple dozen Christmas concerts.

“We’re featuring some favorite productions that will be a fresh exploration for a new group of students,” Cermak says. “We’ll need a great number of creative actors and we’ve got a good crop of them here.”

Cermak is directing the first production, “The Foreigner,” opening Oct. 6.

“I think this is a hilarious sitcom about strangers in a strange land, which is a theme that resonates with me,” he says. “It’s a story about how messages are conveyed, with good lessons in communication.”

The musical “Grease” opens Nov. 10 and is directed by Dr. Jennifer Thomas.

“It’s about growing up in the 1950s as I did,” Cermak says. ”It’s a story about finding out who we are, how we connect with different people and how we’re perceived as individuals.”

“Cyrano,” directed by Dr. David Wintersteen, opens Feb. 14 in the Lab Theatre. The story is about seeing beyond the surface of body image into the heart and soul of a person, Cermak says.

The final production, opening April 13, is Tennessee Williams’ “Camino Real,” a play that is about people seeking to make each day to be one of significance.

Cermak intends to retire to 80 acres of timberland in northern Wisconsin to a home he designed with his wife, Helen, who he co-directed most of the theatre productions with at Concordia. Helen died in 2009. Cermak intends to work on his property, travel, connect with theatre alumni, and guest teach and direct, but first he’ll do two more summers of directing the Gooseberry Park Players’ summer theatre in Moorhead.

For tickets, contact the Frances Frazier Comstock Theatre Box Office by calling (218) 299-3314 weekdays, emailing thrix@cord.edu or visiting Concordia Theatre.

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