RIT’s ‘living dead’ star in Fringe Festival show

‌

RIT representative ghouls in the Fringe Festival’s Spoon River Rochester include Dawn Soufleris and her daughter, Lizzie.

“All I can say is that I secretly gave birth to a child that is a central character in the ‘Spoon River’ anthology—but did not have the opportunity to raise the child myself.”

—Dawn Soufleris, RIT’s “living dead”

Ghoulish zombies from RIT—including Dawn Soufleris and Karey Pine—will join hundreds of performers downtown during the 2014 First Niagara Rochester Fringe Festival’s widely anticipated Spoon River Rochester. The community art performance created by Method Machine will premiere at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 26 and 27 in various East End locations along Main and Gibbs streets.

The living dead will portray the characters of Edgar Lee Masters’ Anthology (1915) Spoon River, a fictional town where everyone is deceased. Actors are assigned a short poem and character from the anthology—with most tales centered on love, death and debauchery.

Macabre? Yes. Fun? Yes.

“My daughter Lizzie and I decided to do Spoon River because we are both ‘theater geeks’ and thought this was a great way to perform together before she leaves for college in fall 2015,” said Soufleris, RIT associate vice president, Residential Education and Community Standards. “We also love to support the arts in Rochester and love being downtown whenever we can. We had a great time planning costumes and doing our ‘zombie’ make-up together for the dress rehearsal. Good mother-daughter bonding time!”

Pine, the senior director of RIT’s Campus Life, said she got involved with the Fringe Festival production because she “loves performing and loves flashmobs”—but more importantly because the students she works with every day at RIT seem unusually intrigued with zombies.

“My character is Mrs. Kessler, and she is the laundress in Spoon River,” said Pine. “She is a strong woman who definitely has some unresolved issues with her husband and some of her former employers. But she is certain of a couple things: Time wears equally on all, whether rich or poor, and her work has given her many insights into the lives and the people of Spoon River. I like her!

“I am most looking forward to seeing how ‘the living’ react when caught off guard in their walk among the undead. I hope I can maintain my character when I see that happen.”

A sponsor of the Fringe Festival, RIT will host more than 20 performances in a mix of poetry readings, dance, film, music, theater, gaming and visual arts. All are free and will be held at the Little Theatre 1 and Little Café, 240 East Ave., and Gallery r, 100 College Ave.

A sampling of RIT’s festival offerings include the Chain Gang Chase (MAGIC), Emerging Artists, Thomas Warfield: A Song and Dance, Dangerous Signs, Brick City Singers, RIT Improv: On the Fringe, and our very own RIT President and his spouse, The Destler and Johnson Show banjo-singing duo.

For a schedule of RIT Fringe events, go to the Rochester Fringe Festival website. Or contact RIT Director of Special Events, Lynn Rowoth, at 585-475-7408 or lynn.rowoth@rit.edu.