Theatre Department Receives Moss Hart Award for Best College Production

WORCESTER, Mass. – The department of theatre at the College of the Holy Cross has been awarded the New England Theatre Conference’s (NETC) Moss Hart Award for best college play, for their 2006 production of Good, by C.P. Taylor. Edward Isser, associate professor and chair of the theater department will receive a plaque commemorating the award at the NETC’s annual conference on Nov. 3, 2007.  Good is also in the running for best overall New England production, which will be announced at the annual conference.  The play is up against the other division winners from the community theatre, secondary school theatre, and youth theatre divisions.

The annual Moss Hart Award is given in memory of Moss Hart, an American playwright and director who dedicated his life to theatre.  The award recognizes outstanding theatrical productions throughout New England, in the areas of human courage and dignity, strong literary and artistic merit, and productions that are fresh, imaginative, and creative.

According to the NETC website, the award, “seeks to encourage artistic growth and the highest standards of excellence in theatre.”

“This is a great external recognition of what we've long known: that our students are among the hardest working and most talented in New England,” says Isser.

C.P. Taylor’s harrowing musical, Good, about one man’s gradual acceptance of Nazism in 1930s Germany, was presented in November 2006 on the Fenwick Theatre stage. The production was directed by Isser, with music direction by Eric Culver, lecturer in the music department. Sets were designed by Robert Mack, technical director in the theatre department; lighting by William J. Rynders, former associate professor of theatre; and costumes by Kurt S. Hultgren, costume designer in the theatre department.

“This is also a tribute to our fantastic design staff, especially Bill Rynders who did such an incredible job lighting such a complicated production,” hails Isser.  “Bill recently retired and it is fitting that he should be an integral part of an award-winning show during his last year on faculty."

The cast featured Patrick Gavin ’07, Thomas Morin ’07, Vasilios Asimakos ’09, Jimmy D’Amico ’10, John Grassey ’10, Cooper Gardner ’09, Kristen Fleming ’08, Emily Rast ’09, Savanah Shaughnessy ’09, and Yelena Sayko ’10. The orchestra included Eric Culver, Emma Reilly ‘10, and Michael Ferraguto ’09.

Set during the early years of the Nazi regime, Good takes us inside the head of a German literature professor, a specialist in Goethe’s Faust, who slowly begins to lose touch with reality as the fantasies of his imagination merge with the increasingly absurd quality of life under Hitler’s rule. The play asks the audience to reconsider their notions of what constitutes good and evil and the meaning of individual responsibility.