Campus News

Final preparations are underway for Performing Arts students and faculty to make their journey to Edinburgh, Scotland on August 4 to perform in this year’s international Festival Fringe. The group will present a preview of their Festival Fringe performance one final time on Friday, July 29, at 7:30 p.m., Maddox Theatre, Clark Arts Center on Rockford University’s campus. The public is welcome to come. Freewill donations will be accepted at the door and a reception will follow the 80 minute performance.

Students are set to perform Kander and Ebb’s “2 By 5,” a dark and classy sung-through revue of songs from one of Broadway’s most prolific and celebrated composing teams of the late 20th century. The revue, hailed as stylish and fresh, includes songs from such smash hits as “Chicago” and “Cabaret” as well as some of the duo’s lesser-known but no less-loved work. Money and sex, love and loneliness, gritty yet fragile, with a wink for the man at the bar, the world of Kander and Ebb comes to life with edgy new stage direction and choreography for the Fringe.

Contact the RU Box office for more information: boxoffice@rockford.edu or 815-226-4100.

More about the students’ trip to Scotland:

20 students and three faculty members are preparing for a unique opportunity this summer to perform on an international stage. The RU group will be attending the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, held August 5 – 29, in the Scottish capital city. Rockford University is one of only four small colleges in the United States invited to attend. Only eight total from the U.S. were invited.

Led by Performing Arts Department Chair and Professor of Performing Arts Deborah Mogford, Associate Professor of Music Timm Adams, and Assistant Professor of Dance Amy Wright, the students will perform a new piece created specifically for the festival, “Taps, Tunes and Tales of the American Songbook.” RU will be at the festival for two weeks and performances will take place throughout the city.

More about this exciting opportunity can be found in the Sunday, March 6, story in the Rockford Register Star –Rockford University to take the stage at world’s largest performing arts festival in Scotland.

Students attending the Edinburgh Festival Fringe are:

Taylor Barnes – Venutra, Calif.
Elisha Beston – Singapore
Mary Bridgeland – Freeport, Ill.
Addison Clearwood – Madison, Wis.
Sarah Cleeland – St. Louis, Mo.
Courtney Foschi – Frankfort, Ill.
Janelle Good – East Highland, Calif.
Samantha Hodson – Flower Mound, Texas
Maya Hopkins – Rockford, Ill.
Kyle McCaffrey – Niles, Ill.
Brandon Michaud – Saint Peters, Mo.
Ilea Pearce – Rockford, Ill.
Joi Pierre – Houston, Texas
Zachary Pletcher – Highland Village, Texas
Kyle Rainey – The Colony, Texas
Alex Smith – Rockford, Ill.
Owen Thomas – Portsmouth, N.H.
Emily Todt – Jackson, Mo.
Sarah Vallacchi – Shreveport, La.
Ana Weickert – Rockford, Ill.

Learn more about these student achievements and others on RU’s Merit page.