The MSU Friends of Theatre and MSU Department of Theatre are pleased to announce the next free “Behind the Scenes” season of classes exploring the inner workings of select 2026-2027 MSU productions. Please join us with our next class of the season.
All classes are 3:00-5:00 pm at The People’s Church and performances are 7:00 pm or 7:30 pm based on the show.
Two-Week Class & Public Performances:
Antigone
by Sophocles; adapted by Emily Mann
Directed by Ann Folino White
Antigone
SESSION ONE: UPDATE: The initial class will focus on the structure of the play and the MSU production. Speakers include Melissa Leilani Larson (playwright) and Daniel T. Smith (director). This session will be held at The Peoples Church, on Thursday, November 5, 2026, from 3:00 to 5:00 pm.
THE PLAY: Class participants will have a two weeks to attend the play at MSU’s Pasant Theatre on a day and at a time of their choosing. The play runs from November 6-15, 2026. Parking is available in the Wharton Center parking structure or in the Shaw Lane parking ramp.
SESSION TWO: After the play closes, a second discussion-style session will be held at The Peoples Church, on Thursday, November 19, from 3:00 to 5:00 pm. UPDATE: This class will be led by actors and designers from the production. This always promises to be a lively discussion.
Where: The Peoples Church is at 200 Grand River Ave, East Lansing. Classes are in the Robertson Room. Free parking, including handicap spaces, is available on the west side of the church. The Church is handicapped accessible.
Cost: The classes are FREE. To purchase tickets to the plays, call the WHARTON CENTER Ticket Office at (517) 432-2000 or toll-free at 1-800-WHARTON. The cheapest way to purchase tickets is to go to Wharton Center in person.
Registration: Although classes are free, please submit this REGISTRATION FORM to secure a spot. If you have any questions, please contact Kath Clark at the MSU Department of Theatre, clarkk98@msu.edu or (517) 884-7796. Seating is limited.
Production Description for Antigone:
Meet the Director: Dr. Ann Folino White
Dr. Ann Folino White is a scholar and theatre artist. She received her B.A. in Theatre from Michigan State University, M.A. in Theatre from Northwestern University, and Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Theatre and Drama along with a Gender Studies Certificate from Northwestern University.
Dr. Folino White’s teaching interests include stage directing, performance theory, and American theatrical and popular performance from the late-nineteenth century to the early-twentieth century. In 2015, Dr. Folino White received the Mid-Michigan Alumni Association Quality in Undergraduate Teaching Award.
Her scholarship on American drama, protest, and performances has appeared in American Drama, Text and Performance Quarterly, Performing Arts Resources, Women and Performance and TDR: The Drama Review. She is contributing co-editor of the essay anthology, Food & Theatre on the World Stage (Routledge, 2015). Her book Plowed Under: Food Policy Protests and Performance in New Deal America (Indiana University Press, 2015) was awarded the 2015 Working Class Studies Association CLR James Book Award.
She has served as a dramaturg for Appletree Theatre and Writers’ Theatre in the Chicago-area, and as a new play reader for Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Select directing credits for MSU DOT include The Grapes of Wrath, In the Blood, Widows, Macbeth, and Fallen Angels. Dr. Folino White also directed her own adaptation of the book The Lady Victory (by Jane Vincent Taylor, Turning Point Press 2012), which explores the experiences of girls sent to a home for unwed mothers in 1960s Oklahoma.
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One-Week Class & Special Preview Performance:
Rhinoceros
by Eugene Ionesco; Translated by Derek Prouse
Co-Directed by Andrew Keller and Nick Torres
Antigone
CLASS: UPDATE: The initial class will focus on the structure of the play and the MSU production. Speakers include Melissa Leilani Larson (playwright) and Daniel T. Smith (director). This session will be held at The Peoples Church, on Thursday, November 24, 2026, from 3:00 to 5:00 pm.
THE PLAY: Class participants will have a two weeks to attend the play at MSU’s Pasant Theatre on a day and at a time of their choosing. The Special Preview Performance is Tuesday, November 24, 2026. Parking is available directly across the street at the Auditorium Surface Lot (Lot 9) located at 542 Auditorium Road.
Where: The Peoples Church is at 200 Grand River Ave, East Lansing. Classes are in the Robertson Room. Free parking, including handicap spaces, is available on the west side of the church. The Church is handicapped accessible.
Cost: The classes are FREE. To purchase tickets to the plays, call the WHARTON CENTER Ticket Office at (517) 432-2000 or toll-free at 1-800-WHARTON. The cheapest way to purchase tickets is to go to Wharton Center in person.
Registration: Although classes are free, please submit this REGISTRATION FORM to secure a spot. If you have any questions, please contact Kath Clark at the MSU Department of Theatre, clarkk98@msu.edu or (517) 884-7796. Seating is limited.
Production Description for Rhinoceros:
Meet the Directors: Andrew Keller
Andrew Keller is a third-year MFA Acting candidate. Recent credits include Othello (Iago), Inching Towards Yeolha (Kyo-Choong), Thinner than Water (Benjy) and A Beautiful Day in November (Granddada) here at MSU, Ada and the Engine (Lord Lovelace) at the Clague Playhouse, One Man, Two Guvnors (Alan) at Blank Canvas Theatre.
Meet the Directors: Nick Torres
Nick Torres is a third-year MFA Acting candidate. Nick is very excited to be part of a show that resonates just as much today as it did in the seventeenth century. Recent acting credits include Othello (Roderigo/The Duke), 9 to 5: The Musical (Franklin Hart Jr.), Thinner Than Water (Mark), and Inherit The Wind (Henry Drummond).
Class Organizers: Carol Bryson, Jeanie Croope, Jean Lyle Lepard, and Joan Mattson
. Faculty Liaisons: Rob Roznowski and Kirk Domer.