“The longest and most charming love letter in literature.”
by Keith Martin
BOONE, N.C. – The Department of Theatre and Dance (T&D) at Appalachian State University is proud to present the High Country premiere of “Orlando” by multi-award winning playwright Sarah Ruhl. The production takes place at 7 p.m. October 29 -31 and November 1, 4, 5 and 7 with a 2 p.m. matinee of Sunday, November 2 in the intimate IG Greer Studio Theatre on the university’s main campus located at 401 Academy St. in Boone, NC 28608. The play is produced by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com.
Tickets are $10 for students, $15 for Faculty/staff, and $17 for adults and are now available online through the T&D website at theatreanddance.appstate.edu, as well by phone or at the Schaefer Center for the Arts box office. The production features scenes which depict intimacy that may not be appropriate for children under the age of 14.
An adaptation of the “longest and most charming love letter in literature,” written by Virginia Woolf for her lover, Vita Sackville-West, Orlando is a theatrical, wild, fantastical trip through space, time and gender. Orlando’s adventures begin as a young man, when he serves as courtier to Queen Elizabeth. Through many centuries of living, he becomes a 20th-century woman, trying to sort out her existence. This fresh stage adaptation from Sarah Ruhl uses narrative and a chorus to enact lyrical, instant and whimsical transformations as Orlando travels through countless epochs.
Sarah Ruhl
Ruhl is an American playwright, poet, professor, and essayist. Among her most popular works are “Melancholy Play” (2001), “Eurydice” (2003), “The Clean House” (2004), “Dead Man’s Cell Phone” (2007), and “In The Next Room", or "The Vibrator Play” (2009). These plays and others have been produced on and off Broadway and the West End.
Among numerous awards and honors, Ruhl has been the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, a Whiting Award, and the PEN/Laura Pels Theater Award. She has twice been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama and been nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play. Ruhl teaches at the Yale School of Drama and her recent memoir, “Smile: The Story of a Face” was featured at the 2022 National Book Festival.
The App State production is directed by Derek Gagnier, associate professor of theatre arts performance in the Department of Theatre and Dance. Gagnier is an acting, voice, and dialects teacher with interests in both classical and modern works. His professional career spans 45 years and includes acting work in Shakespeare, Sondheim, Simon, Shaw and soap operas. His career has taken him to theatres in New York, New Jersey, and much of North Carolina. He also directs and coaches stage dialects professionally. As the coordinator of the BA Performance Concentration in Theatre Arts, he prepares students for auditions for the University/Resident Theatre Association, the Southeastern Theatre Conference, and the American College Theatre Festival. Prior to teaching at Appalachian, Gagnier helped develop acting programs at Greensboro College and Old Dominion University.
Derek Gagnier
In his director’s notes for the playbill, Gagnier says that “Orlando’s journey through time and gender is an engaging, bawdy, humorous and thought-provoking jaunt. He/she experiences love and loss, enlightenment and pain over several centuries. It is clear throughout the story that Orlando learns to deal with the duality of human identity and navigates the societal views of the roles of male and female through the lens of each century. Eventually, Orlando deciphers what it means to be truly human.
“We have sought to stage Virginia Woolf’s Orlando as if the audience were reading the novel. We hope you feel part of the story and are as involved as if you were reading it, engaging your imagination and emotions. We ask you to work with us and fill in the details as we take you on Orlando’s fanciful trip and have some laughs along the way.”
The creative and design team for “Orlando” includes T&D faculty members Paulette Marty as intimacy choreographer, Martha Marking as costume designer, Michael Helms as lighting and sound designer, with students Michael Ahern and Whitney Dyer as scenic designer and stage manager, respectively. T&D staff members Matt Tyson serves as technical director and Kristin Grieneisen supervises the costume shop.
The all-student cast of 12 includes the following Appalachian State University undergraduates, listed alphabetically: Ayla Altman, Phoebe Atkins, Lee Bodenhamer, Mackenzie Tate Boone, Max Crum, Kayne Domenech, Cora “Kore” Fritsche, Lauren Harris, Ian Kirchbaum, Owen Lewis, Delta McCalister, and Robby Steever.
A full listing of the Department of Theatre and Dance 2025-26 season is available on the Theatre and Dance website. Directions and parking information may be found here.
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About the Department of Theatre and Dance
One of seven departments housed in the College of Fine and Applied Arts, the Department of Theatre and Dance's mission is to facilitate transformative experiences for students and the public, which cultivate compassionate, creative, and collaborative communities through theatre and dance. The department also offers coursework for integrated learning through the arts to the general university student population. Its dynamic co-curricular production program provides exemplary theatre and dance experiences to departmental students, the university community, and the region. www.theatreanddance.appstate.edu.
About the College of Fine and Applied Arts
Appalachian State University's College of Fine and Applied Arts is a dynamic and innovative group of seven academic departments, bringing together a variety of perspectives, experiences, and real-world education to provide unique opportunities for student success. The college has more than 3,500 undergraduate and graduate majors. Its departments are Applied Design, Art, Communication, Military Science and Leadership, Sustainable Development, Sustainable Technology and the Built Environment, and Theatre and Dance. Learn more at cfaa.appstate.edu.
About Appalachian State University
As the premier public undergraduate institution in the Southeast, Appalachian State University prepares students to lead purposeful lives as global citizens who understand and engage their responsibilities in creating a sustainable future for all. The Appalachian Experience promotes a spirit of inclusion that brings people together in inspiring ways to acquire and create knowledge, to grow holistically, to act with passion and determination, and to embrace diversity and difference. Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Appalachian is one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina System. Appalachian enrolls nearly 21,798 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio, and offers more than 150 undergraduate and graduate majors.
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