Saint Martin's student Emilie Schnabel to direct “Duet for One”

January 15, 2010

Lacey, Washington — Saint Martin’s University student Emilie Schnabel will be directing Tom Kempinski’s play “Duet for One” in the Kreielsheimer Hall on the University’s Lacey campus. The production will run February 16-20 @ 7:30 p.m. Tickets will be available at the door ($10 general admission, $6 students, seniors and military). Tickets for February 16 are pay-what-you-will.

Ms. Schnabel is a junior double-majoring in music and theatre arts. Her acting credits include the General in Saint Martin’s production of “Guys and Dolls,” a chorus member in “Fiddler on the Roof,” and Bella in “Eye of the Beholder.” In December, she performed selections from Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro.” She took on the mantle of director last spring, when she directed Kobo Abe’s “The Man Who Turned Into A Stick.”

“Duet for One” is about a woman who is struck with Multiple Sclerosis and is slipping into the depths of depression. Finding no comfort from her psychiatrist or her conductor husband, she soon shuts herself away from the world, locking her door and replaying her old concert tapes. The play follows her as she struggles with her illness, while her belief in life and determination persist. The London Financial Times declared the piece “a wonderfully sensitive play, positive and optimistic.”

Says Ms. Schnabel, “[This play] is not just about one person’s experience in therapy. It also deals with the journey taken by anyone who has ever experienced a loss. Having a part in shaping that journey is one of the most rewarding things about directing.”

“Duet for One” is a real jewel, tightly written and emotionally compelling, and I’ve never seen a play that’s so smart about the process of psychotherapy,” says Saint Martin’s theatre professor David Hlavsa. “When Emilie – who is herself very bright – settled on it for a directing project, I was thrilled. It’s just the kind of material I think she ought to be doing.”

For more information about this play and performance times, please contact David Hlavsa at 360-438-4345 or dhlavsa@stmartin.edu.

Saint Martin’s University is an independent four-year, Catholic, coeducational university located on a 380-acre wooded campus in Lacey, Washington. Established in 1895 by the Catholic Order of Saint Benedict, the University is one of 18 Benedictine colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, and the only one west of the Rocky Mountains. Saint Martin’s University prepares students for successful lives through its 21 majors and six graduate programs spanning the liberal arts, business, education and engineering. Saint Martin’s welcomes 1,250 students from many ethnic and religious backgrounds to its main campus, and 650 more to its five extension campuses located at Fort Lewis Army Post, McChord Air Force Base, Olympic College, Centralia College, and Tacoma Community College.

For additional information:

Genevieve Canceko Chan
Director of communications & marketing
Saint Martin’s University
360-438-4332
gchan@stmartin.edu
www.stmartin.edu