Staged reading of “Virtue” Nov. 14

The Cornell College Department of Theatre is hosting a staged reading of Tim Slover’s “Virtue” on Thursday, Nov. 14 at 8 p.m. on the Cornell College campus in the Plumb-Fleming Studio Theatre.  This reading is directed by Cornell theatre professor Janeve West.  The cast includes Cornell theatre professor and Equity actor Jim Van Valen as well as Kristy Hartsgrove of Iowa City.  Rounding out the cast are Cornell students Haley Karlson, Per Wiger and Meghan Kuhn.

Passionate and iconoclastic mystic Hildegard von Bingen is almost as well known today as she was in her own 12th century. Today we know her principally because of her extraordinarily beautiful music. Then, she was famous throughout Europe for her visions and as the only woman to have her writings read aloud in synod by the Pope himself. In “Virtue,” Hildegard is preparing to complete her book of revelations and present it to the Holy See when a penitent named Richardis arrives at her monastery and profoundly disrupts her world.

Slover is an award winning writer on faculty at the University of Utah in the Department of Theatre. During Block 3 he is serving as a visiting professor at Cornell College and is teaching a course in play writing. Slover is an accomplished playwright and screenwriter, and many of his works have been produced off-Broadway and in professional regional and university theatres all over the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Slover’s writing awards include the Grand Prize, 65th Annual Writers Digest Writers Awards; the Christopher Brian Wolk Award for Playwriting Excellence; a Cine Golden Eagle; a Freedoms Foundation George Washington Honor Medal; a Hopwood Award for Best Play; he was also a finalist for a Television Arts and Sciences Community Service Emmy.

Admission is free and open to the public. The audience is invited to remain in the theatre for a talk with the cast, playwright and director following the reading. This event is intended for mature audiences.  Those with questions are encouraged to contact Janeve West.