“Education is the beginning. It is the beginning of a new life, the beginning of a new career, and the beginning of new responsibility. The education system shapes us and directs us. But how do we shape the education system? This ensemble - comprised of senior BFA Theater Performance majors, ventured out to find the relationship between individuals and education with an emphasis on gender roles. Exploring outward through interviews, surveys and personal discussions with our peers, we found that generalizing about educational experiences became more of a starting point than an ending. Turning our investigation inward – examining our own stories, experiences and relationships – we found that race, class, age and sexuality as well as gender were all necessary components of how and what we learn. Education does not begin or end in the schools. TEN CHAIRS depicts the interpersonal complexities learned inside and outside of the classroom. We begin with simplicity: ten students, ten stories and ten chairs.”

“Ten chairs is thought provoking theatre with true stories, music, song, humor and controversial issues. It will make you cry, make you laugh, give you insight on ten peoples lives, and hopefully influence your own.”

“Ten Chairs gives you a chance to see how education affects lives, both positively and negatively. It shows how teachers and peers inspire us to change our world, as we know it. It also reveals how teachers and peers alienate, making some people feel like outsiders. But, nonetheless, it has shaped us. 'What ever doesn't kill us, makes us stronger.' Where did we learn that? School, friends, TV? During those precious early years of our lives, we mold ourselves into whom ever we want to be. Who are you? When you go on the Ten Chairs journey, these ten people will show you what they found to be profoundly important. Chances are, you will recognize the pain and the joy, because sometimes all that is important, is knowing each other and having fun.”

“Graduation! It’s that time of year again. The ten of us – all BFA theatre grads enter into a future unknown. We are finally finished with our school days. And as we look back at our lives where 50% of time was spent in school, we find ourselves asking, “What did we learn – inside and outside of school?” We ten collaborated to conceive, create and produce and perform a completely original piece of theatre by reflecting on our own experiences from elementary school through college, as we discovered what this education means to us now, and what we hope education will be for graduates of tomorrow.”

“This project is a Student driven … not really a play … not really a musical, or a dance concert … not a drama, not a comedy … but a little of each. Ten Chairs is a collage of experiences, utilizing a mosaic of performance styles, incorporating pathos, humor, poetry, prose, song, dance, sax and violence. All proceeds from Ten Chairs will benefit the I Have A Dream Foundation, a drop-out prevention program that focuses on helping low-income families. The foundation provides tutoring, mentoring, counseling, after school programs, and intervention for families with at-risk children. In our quest to influence social change in education, we couldn’t think of a more deserving charity to receive our donation. Check them out at www.ihadboulder.org.”

“This project is about the most important lessons that we have learned as we complete our college careers. Ten Chairs is about the education that has made each of us who we are today.”

Contact: Leigh Hannah                                                                                FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Phone: (303) 717- 7071

Email: TenChairsMedia@waffleboy.com

College Seniors Create Theatre to Inspire, Entertain

CU students hope to end their college careers with “meaningful art”

Boulder CO — May 1^st  — the Non-Fiction Theatre Company, a collection of ten graduating senior B.F.A. theatre students at the University of Colorado at Boulder, are preparing to present their senior thesis project. The project is called Ten Chairs, and will be presented for two weekends – May 6^th and 7^th in Boulder, and two shows on May 13^th in Denver. The show, a thought provoking, all original montage of perspectives on issues of gender roles (among other things) in education, is a lifelong dream of theirs to create art with an important message that may even provoke social change.

The project is a graduation requirement for those receiving performance degrees, and has been a challenging and rewarding process. “As artists, we all are so hungry to create something that can actually become important to someone else,” says Benjamin T. Koucherik of Ten Chairs. “We believe that trying to start a conversation about gender and education, which have both become so intertwined in our country, has the potential to make a difference in how people see the outcasts in the lunchroom. These aren’t bad kids; they are kids who need guidance and love and, most importantly, a chance to feel like they can belong.”

Koucherik says that this project has had a profound effect on his final year in college, and has prepared him for a future in his chosen profession of theatre. “I know that for me, doing this piece of creative and collaborative art with my fellow senior B.F.As has been really great and really hard. It has taught me so much about collaboration, communication and most of all it has taught me how to really care about other people and what they have to say. I think it’s one of the beauties of art: to be able to see, hear and feel the human experience from many angles and come away a changed person.”

Performances of Ten Chairs will be May 6^th and 7^th at 8pm in the University Loft Theatre on the CU Boulder campus. On May 13^th, Ten Chairs will have a special engagement in Denver at The Bug Theatre, with shows at 2pm and 7pm. Tickets will be sold for a suggested donation of $3 - $5, with all proceeds and donations going to Benefit the I Have Dream Foundation – information at www.ihadboulder.org. For reservations or information, contact Laura Garcia @ (720) 352-6085, or email TenChairsTickets@waffleboy.com with name, phone number and number of tickets desired. Tickets may also be purchased at the door. Cash or check only, please.