2025

Photo of Visiting Assistant Professor Braxton Rae
What's Happening
Art born from playfulness: Braxton Rae’s approach to creativity
Visiting assistant professor invites students and audiences to rediscover creativity through play, curiosity, and collaboration.
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Ava King
Students
A Voice From Home: Ava King ’27
Interviews with her neighbors in aftermath of California wildfires led her to craft monologues about human resiliency in the face of devastation.
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Art piece
In the News
Professor Eleni Papaleonardos directs "John Cage 101"
Papaleonardos says the original piece focuses on the life, work, and collaborators of the famous composer John Cage through 38 vignettes.
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Students performing a play.
Student News
A tribute to Denison’s past and present
Nora Cashman’s theatre senior project blends memory, archival discovery, and the enduring spirit of student artists across generations.
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Eleni Papaleonardos teaching her class
Faculty
One semester, 30 plays
Eleni Papaleonardos teaches students the beauty of simple theatre.
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Denison students rehearsing 9-to-5 musical number.
Performances
Breaking the glass ceiling: ‘9 to 5 the Musical’
Mishaps, chaos, and comedy are at the heart of this musical penned by Dolly Parton.
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Internships
New internship supports theatre education
Theatre major Robyn Taylor ’26 will study in New York City this summer as the first recipient of the Gary McAvay Internship Award.
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2024

Illustration of a yellow crescent moon against a deep blue night sky, seen through the silhouette of a tree canopy.
Performances
Send in the clowns: Tears and laughter accompany ‘A Little Night Music’
The Sondheim classic comes to Sharon Martin Hall in December, with a talented student cast navigating a story of tangled relationships.
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Image of two puppets
Performances, Faculty
The Power of Story
Based on the book Cold Sassy Tree, Cheryl McFarren’s play Invincible Summer blends archival research, stories, and puppetry.
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What's Happening
Skills in theatre apply to life
Eleni Papaleonardos shares the history of her career — and the importance of getting comfortable speaking in front of people.
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Like Leaves. Like Carrots.
Performances
'Like Leaves. Like Carrots.' an exhibit by James Dennen
Combining musical, visual, theatrical, and virtual elements - with interference from AI, the exhibition asks whether we still need human creativity.
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2023

Photo from costume shop
Performances
Inside the fantastical world of 'She Kills Monsters'
A journey to discover bravery, self-acceptance, and love beyond life and death, with interweaving elements of iconic gaming and 90s references.
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Puppet class visit to Atlanta
Performances
Connections through puppets
Puppetry is so much more than people realize...
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Emily Harris ‘24
Performances
'Eurydice' weaves together music, love, death, and loss
The Department of Theatre presents Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice, an exciting and unorthodox version of Orpheus and Eurydice’s timeless trek to the underworld.
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Alumni
Ban the Bard?
Dramaturg Drew Lichtenberg '05 weighs-in on current controversy surrounding the Bard of Stratford-on-Avon.
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Ali Nauen and Ben Frey
Newsletters
From the director's chair: Caro Elliott '23
Every experience I've had in the Theatre Department has helped me prepare for this...
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Four actors in period costume
Performances
'The Threepenny Opera'
“A play with music,” The Threepenny Opera has two directors, one each in music and theatre.
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Faculty
Prof. Kirk Combe launches blog about culture
Professor Emeriti Kirk Combe shares his fun reflections on all kinds of culture in a blog titled “Rant Against the Regime.”
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The famous white linen suit Hal Holbrook wore in his one-man Mark Twain show is the centerpiece of a collection of memorabilia the Holbrook estate gifted the university in 2022.
Denison Magazine
It suits him
“When (Hal Holbrook was) getting ready to do the Mark Twain show, Hal told my dad, ‘I need a white suit.’”
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2022

Max-Wisnefski-in-Company
Performances
Singers’ Theatre Workshop’s presents 'Pippin'
Max Wisnefski ‘24 shares his experience of playing the lead character Pippin
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You on the Moors Now
Performances
Theatre production: 'You on the Moors Now'
Timeless issues through classic narrative: "You on the Moors Now" examines femininity.
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Susan Booth
Alumni
Susan Booth '85 to lead Chicago's Goodman Theatre
Susan Booth '85 has been named artistic director of the Goodman Theater in Chicago, one of the most influential regional nonprofits in the country.
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wave
Performances
Join us for 'Pearls in the Wave'
The Department of Theatre presents the world premiere of Pearls in the Wave, a new play by Hongyi Tian ‘13.
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Andrew Levitt
Alumni
Andrew Levitt '01 as Edna in national tour of "Hairspray"
For Andrew Levitt, the iconic role of Edna in the national tour of "Hairspray" is the perfect marriage of his drag queen and theater backgrounds.
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2021

Newsletters
Theatre and cinema building histories
This article on the former Theatre Arts building and the Cinema House is the second in a series of articles on the history of Denison’s Arts Quad
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Emerson '23 & Jon Powell '23
Performances
Department of Theatre presents 'Take Five' by David Ives
A collection of five short comedies by David Ives each with different characters, stories and focuses, ranging from existential crisis to romantic comedy.
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Students performing 'Everybody'
Performances
Department of Theatre presents 'Everybody'
A lottery-based play about living, dying, and who will come with you when it’s your time.
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Hal Holbrook meeting a student
Denison Magazine
Farewell to Hal
Our distinguished alumnus died in January 2021. In 2012, he visited the campus where he met his life's mentor and came to know himself as a learner.
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Performance outside the Eisner Center
In the News
Keeping the arts alive at Denison
Denison's Eisner Center director talks about keeping the arts alive during the year-plus of COVID-19.
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Adam Venrick
Performances
Bird Variation, a loose version of a true story
There are 13 different variations of the bird story, and they work together to gradually become one larger story.
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