Meredith theatre faculty members Steven Roten and Jamie Cuthrell are taking on a new challenge this semester—leading Stillwater Theatre, a new professional company in residence at Meredith College.

Roten is the company's artistic director and Cuthrell is the primary technical director, with Carnessa Ottelin as the third primary artistic staff member. Ottelin has been a frequent guest director for Meredith Performs Theatre productions and will direct many of Stillwater Theatre's productions. Roten, Cuthrell and Ottelin met as students in UNC-Greensboro's Master of Fine Arts program. The company will be supported by Roten's wife, Laura, who is serving as business manager.

Roten says the new company will showcase "new voices and perform things that Meredith might not otherwise," while still primarily producing plays "that have women central to them."

Meredith Director of Theatre Catherine Rodgers says that having a professional theatre company in residence is an unusual opportunity for a college. UNC-Chapel Hill's Playmakers Theatre Company is one of the only such arrangements in the Triangle.

Stillwater Theatre will produce one play per year on campus, in supplement to the three presented by Meredith Performs Theatre.

"We will produce [plays] with professional actors, designers and directors, so Meredith students will be exposed to a professional experience," Cuthrell says.

Meredith students have the opportunity to audition for roles and will also be able to serve in technical positions for Stillwater Theatre. Meredith students involved in the company's first production, "Scenes and Revelations," are actor Maureen Price, Assistant Stage Manager Rosa Wallace and Assistant Director Karen Ainsley. Rachel Adams, '04, is also acting in the show. (For more information on "Scenes and Revelations," click here.)

"Scenes and Revelations" holds special significance to the creative forces behind Stillwater Theatre.

"This play was the very first play Jamie, Carnessa and I did together as graduate students at UNC-G," Roten says. "The experience of that production was a "beautiful, precious thing that we shared…the choice [of Stillwater's first play] was almost automatic."

"Scenes and Revelations" performance dates and times are September 15-17 and 20-24 at 8 p.m. and September 18 and 25 at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $10 general admission and $5 for students and senior citizens. Call 919-760-2840 to reserve tickets.

Stillwater Theatre to Present "Scenes and Revelations" at Meredith

Stillwater Theatre, Meredith College's new resident theatre company, will present "Scenes and Revelations," in the Studio Theatre of Jones Hall, September 15-25.

Performance dates and times are September 15-17 and 20-24 at 8 p.m. and September 18 and 25 at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $10 general admission and $5 for students and senior citizens. Call 919-760-2840 for reservations.

"Scenes and Revelations" by Elan Garonzik is set in 1894 at the height of America's westward movement. It is an engrossing character study of four English sisters growing up in a Mennonite farm town in Pennsylvania. The women dream and plan their futures as their lives are dramatized by the uniquely fluid structure of the play, which intertwines the past and the present. Caught between their duty to remain together and their desire for romance, the sisters struggle with choices, as their lives are pulled apart. The Stillwater Theatre production is being directed by Carnessa Ottelin.

 The 2005-2006 theatre season will mark the beginning of Meredith's affiliation with Stillwater Theatre Company, a new professional company that will be in residence at the College. According to its mission statement, Stillwater Theatre Company "strives to create stirring, passionate and thought provoking theatre that will engage and inspire our audience."