AASU Masquers Anniversary

As the AASU Masquers' Celebrating the Past, Celebrating the Future anniversary season nears its conclusion, they have planned a few special activities to commemorate the occasion. First of all, they have programmed Gertrude Tonkonogy's 1933 farce Three Cornered Moon to anchor the close of this Anniversary season. While many may have never heard of the play, its significance to Armstrong is that it was the first play produced by Savannah Theatre at Armstrong Junior College in 1937. The Masquers invite all of Savannah to join them on April 19th for opening night and a post performance reception to meet the cast and director.

The Masquers present Three Cornered Moon for seven performances April 19th to April 28th. During the 2007 production run, they are offering a few unique opportunities for the audience and for the extended Masquers' family. Beginning on opening night, Masquers audience members will have the opportunity to make their indelible mark in Armstrong Theatre history by autographing a special signature scroll that will be deposited into a time capsule in AASU Jenkins Theater during its forthcoming renovation that is scheduled to commence this summer. The Masquers invite you to be sure to leave your mark when you attend one of the performances.

The instructions on this time capsule will require the capsule to remain unopened until the 100th anniversary of theatre at Armstrong, February 4th, 2037. At that time, the signature scroll and donated Armstrong Theatre memorabilia will be unveiled and released to the University's permanent archive.

The Masquers invite all submissions of old photos, programs, tickets, costumes, or other Armstrong Theatre artifacts that may have been stored in the attic collecting dust. Anyone who would be willing to donate such memorabilia to AASU should bring the items to any of the Three Cornered Moon performances for inclusion in the permanent archive. Select pieces of memorabilia will be chosen for inclusion in the time capsule. All pieces will be secured and stored in a permanent, climate controlled archive room, preserving fond Armstrong Theatre memories for the ages.

Also during the two-weekend run, the Masquers will sell raffle tickets for a seat naming opportunity in the renovated Jenkins Theater. Future naming opportunities will cost bidders a much steeper figure, but for this special raffle, tickets will be available for only $5. Bring 5 dollars and purchase your chance to place your name, or name of your choice, on the back of one of the theatre seats in the renovated Jenkins Theater. (For those interested in elevated naming opportunities, contact AASU at 927.5208.)

Finally, they couldn't close the Anniversary season without a t-shirt special. While at the theatre, obtain your very own limited printing AASU Masquers 2006-2007 Anniversary Season T-shirt. The striking white on black design will look great on everyone and will enjoy a timeless feel.

Final Curtain Call. The climactic moment of this Masquers season is the last performance, Saturday, April 28th. The Masquers invite all Armstrong Theatre alumni to attend the final performance of Three Cornered Moon to take one more tour of beloved Jenkins Theater while it remains in the state that many know and love it, prior to its scheduled renovation. Take a final bow, reminisce with old friends, meet some new friends, and share in this landmark moment in the history of theatre at Armstrong. Before the final performance, the Masquers will recognize all of its alumni who are present in the theater. During intermission, they'll draw and announce the name of the seat naming opportunity raffle winner. After the performance, they'll throw a reception dedicated to Masquers alumni but open for all in attendance.

Three Cornered Moon
AASU Masquers present Gertrude Tonkonogy's Depression Era Broadway Play
First Performed by Savannah Theatre at Armstrong Junior College in 1937

Opening Night:
Masquers Alumni Pre-Show Talk and
Meet-The-Cast Post-Show Masquers Reception

Savannah, GA -- The Armstrong Atlantic State University Masquers theatre troupe concludes its season-long celebration of the Seventieth Anniversary of the first theatre performance at Armstrong with Gertrude Tonkonogy's 1933 Broadway play, Three Cornered Moon. This Depression era farcical comedy traces the lives of the members of a silver-spoon Brooklyn family after they lost their entire net worth in the stock market crash. The family faces, for the first time, the unfamiliar and frightening prospect of gainful employment. Seven performances run April 19-22 & 26-28 at 7:30 p.m. (3 p.m. only on Sunday, April 22) in AASU Jenkins Theater.

An opportunity for the AASU Theatre program to showcase a couple of its alumni, Peter Mellen, Director of the Masquers, programmed Three Cornered Moon to coincide with the Masquers 2006-2007 Anniversary Season theme: Celebrating the Past, Celebrating the Future. In 1937, under the direction of Stacy Keach, Sr., Savannah Theatre at Armstrong Junior College introduced live theatre to the Armstrong community with a two-performance production of this very same play. The Masquers' 2007 rendition of Tonkonogy's play reunites two of AASU's more recent theatre majors, Steve Meguiar and Cully Long.

Director, Steve Meguiar, is a native of Alamo, Georgia. He attended Middle Georgia College and Armstrong Atlantic State University. He graduated cum laude from AASU in 2000 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre. While at AASU, he performed in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead and directed several plays including A Christmas Carol: Scrooge and Marley, The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man in the Moon Marigolds, and Deathtrap. Steve is a pastor in the United Methodist Church, currently at Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Savannah. While serving as the Associate Pastor at Richmond Hill United Methodist, he directed several dinner theatre performances and worked in conjunction with the music staff to present special dramas and musicals throughout the year.

Cully Long, set designer, is a graduate and former employee of AASU working for two years as the resident scenic designer and technical director in 1999-2001. Since leaving AASU he has earned his Master of Fine Arts degree in Scenic Design at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT. Following graduate school he moved to New York City where he now lives and works pursuing scenic and costume design. He has interned at the Metropolitan Opera, and assisted at a several prestigious theatres throughout the US including the Muny in St. Louis and the Barter Theatre in Virginia. In New York City he has designed extensively for the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, The Brooklyn Gallery Players, The Manhattan Children's Theatre. His work has also appeared onstage at several other New York City venues. Last year he designed his first official Off-Broadway production, "Karla" by Steve Earle, which earned him his first mention in the theatre review section of the New York Times.

Many other Masquers alumni have already returned to Jenkins this season to be recognized for their contributions to the immeasurable body of stage work that has been nearly omnipresent at Armstrong since the Great Depression. As directors, designers, actors, workshop presenters, and guest speakers, numerous alumni have shared in the anniversary celebration throughout the season. Looking forward, the Masquers continue to send graduates into graduate programs and into the professional theatre industry.

Just prior to the Opening Night performance, Cully Long and Michelle Robinson, an Armstrong Theatre alumna from the 1990's, will hold a pre-show discussion. Long and Robinson will share anecdotes from their experiences in the Armstrong Theatre program and will shed light on the professional theatre activities they have each conducted since graduation. Robinson is currently the Marketing and Public Relations Director for the Orlando Opera.

Remain after the show on Opening Night for a light Armstrong 70th Anniversary of Theatre celebration reception following the performance, and meet the members of the current Armstrong Three Cornered Moon cast.

Before, during intermission, and after all performances, enjoy a new retrospective lobby display, featuring photos and other archival materials from many memorable moments during the first 70 years of fine theatre at Armstrong.

Advance tickets may be purchased in person at the AASU AMT Box Office, located in the AASU Fine Arts Building. AMT box office hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., weekdays. Call 927.5381.

To purchase advance tickets by mail, please send payment (cash or check only, please) and a self-addressed, stamped envelope, including a note indicating which performance and number of tickets at each price level, to:

Three Cornered Moon Tickets
Department of Art, Music & Theatre
Armstrong Atlantic State University
11935 Abercorn Street
Savannah, Georgia 31419-1997

General admission tickets are only $8. Senior citizens, military personnel, and non-AASU students may purchase tickets for only $7.
(Cash or check only, please). Please make checks payable to AASU Department of Art, Music & Theatre.
AASU students, faculty, and staff will be admitted for FREE upon presenting a valid AASU I.D.

Any remaining tickets are available at the Jenkins Theater Box Office one hour before the show.

Call 927.5381 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays, for concert or departmental information.

The AASU Masquers is a student organization sponsored by the AASU Student Government Association

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AASU Masquers SPRING 2007 SEASON:

January 25-27: "New Voices" original plays written by local playwrights
February 15-18 & 22-24: You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown by Clark Gesner
March 1-3: Greater Tuna by Jaston Williams and Joe Sears
March 30: "Spring Video Showcase", a series of short films by AASU students
April 12-14: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield
April 19-22 & 26-28: Three Cornered Moon, by Gertrude Tonkonogy

Armstrong Atlantic State University
Department of Art, Music & Theatre
Savannah's Cultural Center on the Southside