WWU Theatre partners with Fairhaven Middle School on 'Monologue Project' today through Sat.

Western Washington University’s Department of Theatre Arts will present “Monologue Project, 4th ed.” in conjunction with students from Fairhaven Middle School at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday-Saturday, Dec. 3-5, at the Firehouse Performing Arts Center at 1314 Harris Ave. in Fairhaven.

Recently given a Bellingham Mayor’s Arts Award by Bellingham Mayor Dan Pike, the collaboration between WWU and Fairhaven Middle School originally began in 2005 and has been growing every year. This year’s production includes over 40 never-before-seen original monologues, as well as highlights from past productions.

In addition to the college actors, a number of middle school students will join the performers for the public performances at the Firehouse Performing Arts Center. Some Fairhaven students will perform their own monologues while others will perform monologues written by their classmates. Each performance will be followed by a talkback with the audience, during which the playwrights and actors will share their experiences.

Tickets to the performance are $8 general and $5 students and are available at the door on the day of the show; only cash or checks will be accepted.

The “Monologue Project, 4th ed.” began this fall with 8th-grade Language Arts classes at Fairhaven Middle School, taught by Joel Gillman, as they learned a variety of ways to communicate their personal experiences, thoughts, and passions through the medium of dramatic writing. Exploring a range of voices, each student wrote up to 15 monologues.

The finished monologues were given to WWU Professor Rich Brown’s Acting 260 class as part of the course’s service-learning component. Each college acting student selected and performed two monologues for the playwrights in November at Western’s Old Main Theatre. The Fairhaven students were able to hear not only the voices of their peers but also their own words come to life through the art of performance, and each actor and playwright were given the chance to meet and discuss their views on the experience.

For more information about the Monologue Project, please contact Rich Brown at (360) 650-7320 or Rich.Brown@wwu.edu or visit www.wwu.edu/theatre.