"One River" Encore

UMD Theatre selected for KCACTF Regionals.

UMD production of
UMD Theatre has once again been invited to perform at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF) Region V Festival in Des Moines, Iowa. UMD Theatre presents Tom Isbell’s original work One River, which is one of only six productions selected to compete in the six-state KCACTF regional competition. The KCACTF competition runs from January 22–28, 2017. 

Due to the world premiere sold out October shows, and to help defray travel costs to KCACTF, UMD Theatre is hosting an encore performance of this highly acclaimed show:

One River | Encore Performance
Saturday, January 14, 2017 @ 7:30 pm
Mainstage Theatre | Marshall Performing Arts Center

Tickets go on sale Wed., Dec. 21 and will be available online at tickets.umn.edu or by calling 218-726-8561. Prices are $30 for adults and $15 for students. (Please note that the Box Office has very limited hours due to UMD's winter break.)

Over the past 30 years, UMD Theatre has been selected 12 times to present at the KCACTF Regionals and has been chosen five times to perform at the National Festival held at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. (Note: As of 2011, productions no longer compete at the National Festival level.) For more information about KCACTF visit www.kcactf.org

One River
Written and directed by Tom Isbell

A documentary theatre adaptation of One River, Many Stories, a community journalism effort, One River tells the stories of the St. Louis River watershed: Its people, its history, its future. A cautionary tale about the future of our most precious resource, water, and also a reminder that without place, there are no stories; without stories, there is no place.

Evocative. Whimsical. Poetic. Director Tom Isbell shared what he hopes to convey with this work, "I want to demonstrate that theatre is another way to tell stories. I want to support the One River, Many Stories initiative and encourage overlap of disciplines and different modes of storytelling. In the play itself, through the exploration of the St. Louis River and what it means to so many, I hope we can also come to find out what it is that each of us values, and, namely that value of Place." 

“This moving theater presentation accomplishes what Isbell set out to do, blend a mosaic of many voices into one lyrical artistic whole, leaving the audience with the desire to go down to the oft-ignored river to see for themselves why it is such a glorious Northland treasure.” – Sheryl Jensen, Duluth News Tribune review (9/29/16)

Read a review by the Duluth News Tribune (9/29/16)

Visit SFA's Vimeo account to view the encapsulated overview of One River.