University of Virginia Library

Volpone Alive In Festival Competition

The American College
Theatre Festival announced
recently that Volpone, the
Virginia Player's opening
tion of this season, has
selected for performance
regional
to take place in
North Carolina.

was chosen one of
for viewing at the
out of more than
from ten states in
United States.
will once again be
at Greensboro where
one of the five will be selected
as a finalist in the region and
will then perform in the
Kennedy Center for
Performing Arts in Washington,
D.C. along with winners from
other regions across the United
States.

Director George Black was
in good spirits after the
notifying phone call from
Greensboro. "It's an
immensely encouraging event.
The Virginia Players have
achieved a well-deserved boost
in prestige in the entire region,"
he notes.

Volpone caused no small
reaction when it opened in
October. The novel approach
taken by Black in his direction
was the subject of much
controversy. Volpone was
considered by some to be at
least a serious play if not a
tragedy, but Black employed
every sort of theatrical motif
from religious ritual to the
silent movies to arrive at the
free-form comic form of this
production.

"Although the purists may
have been offended," said Jim
Jontz, who plays Mosa, "the
audiences and the judges loved
it."

The cast will begin brush-up
rehearsals after Christmas and
will probably perform the play
once more for the college
community. The Players are
scheduled to perform in
Greensboro on Jan. 20 at the
University of North Carolina
Theatre. The company will
leave Charlottesville today in
order to view some of the
competition and will return on
Sunday. This is the first time
the Virginia Players have
entered the active competition.
"With this kind of success,"
said. Black, "it won't be the
last."