Veteran New York Director Joins The Roeper Theatre Company and Launches Rent as First Production
By: Mark Winter
BIRMINGHAM, Mich., November 1, 2011 – Accomplished New York Actor/Director Chi Wright has joined The Roeper School (Roeper), a co-educational day school for gifted children, as the new artistic director of The Roeper Theatre Company and will launch the Broadway musical RENT, starring Roeper students, as his first production. Head of School Phillip Deely made the announcement.
RENT, The Roeper Theatre Company’s first production of the 2011-2012 school year, will open on Friday, November 4, 2011 at 8:00 p.m. at the R. Dean Acheson Theatre on Roeper’s Birmingham campus, located at 1051 Oakland Ave. The show, which is intended for mature audiences, will run through Saturday, November 11, 2011.
“Roeper’s theatre program is known for challenging its students by providing them with material that is usually not performed until the collegiate level, which is why I was so drawn to become a part of the school,” said Wright. “The students are extremely talented and I had no doubt that they would be able to tackle this huge production, with very adult themes, with the energy and level of performance the show needed.”
Mr. Wright was able to utilize RENT as an additional teaching opportunity to educate Roeper students involved in the production on issues not commonly discussed in high school theater programs. By bringing in guest speakers for intimate, round-circle discussions, the students met real people who opened up about their personal journeys living with HIV or eating disorders, two themes prevalent throughout RENT. Through these discussions, Mr. Wright enabled the students to not only learn about these issues, but also to better understand the material they were performing.
Mr. Wright has starred in off-Broadway and regional theatre productions, as well as commercials and films. Additionally, he has directed multiple classical and contemporary plays and new theatrical works at college and secondary levels. Prior to joining The Roeper Theater Company, Mr. Wright also taught drama and English at schools in Cambodia and Laos. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Lesley University and his Master’s in Fine Arts degree in Classical Theatre from Columbia University.
To reserve tickets, or for more information on The Roeper Theater Company’s production of RENT, please call 248-203-7933 or email [email protected].
Click here to view and download a photo of Chi Wright
Click here to view and download The Roeper Theatre Company’s official RENT poster
Founded in 1941, The Roeper School is a uniquely personalized, coeducational school for gifted and talented children in preschool through grade 12 from over 60 communities in southeast Michigan. With campuses in Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills, Mich., Roeper was conceived on founding principles that recognize the power of education, choice and self-expression, and the transformative impact these principles have on young minds. For more information, please visit www.roeper.org.
SUBSCRIBE
Subscribe to Roeper’s News Feed
MEDIA CONTACTS
Meghan O’Brien Edwards
248.258.2333
[email protected]