{"id":10953,"date":"2015-07-13T12:07:05","date_gmt":"2015-07-13T17:07:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=10953"},"modified":"2024-07-02T16:07:50","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T16:07:50","slug":"bipartisan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=10953","title":{"rendered":"UNC alumnus\u2019 satirical musical about gridlock in Congress makes N.Y. theater debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Bipartisan<\/a>It may not be apparent to New York theater-goers who attend the Off-Off Broadway play \u201cThe Bipartisan,\u201d but playwright Joey Rasmus wants to make one thing clear: This show bleeds Carolina blue.<\/p>\n

Rasmus is a 2014 UNC alumnus who wrote the book and lyrics; he majored in economics and peace, war and defense with a minor in creative writing. John Haber \u201970 of Dodger Theatrical Productions offered guidance to Rasmus and invited him to a Tony Awards party, where he met the musical\u2019s composer, John Murrell. Patrick Robinson \u201913 is a co-producer (and has his own show, \u201cJuly House,\u201d opening at New York\u2019s Fringe Festival.) Nathaniel Claridad (MFA \u201814) is directing the play. Jack Utrata \u201913 plays the lead, Evan Williams. Margaret Burrus \u201914 is in a featured role.<\/p>\n

The idea for the play started out as a small skit performed for Bowman and Gordon Gray Distinguished Professor of English Marianne Gingher\u2019s Gram-O-Rama class. That led to a songwriting class and an independent study with Kenan Distinguished Professor of English and Creative Writing Bland Simpson, who became Rasmus\u2019 mentor on the project. Simpson saw the play through from start to finish and helped Rasmus make some connections in New York City.<\/p>\n

\"Jack<\/a>
Jack Utrata practices the opening number as Margaret Burrus looks on.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt was truly a life-changing experience. Bland is an incredible man and teacher,\u201d Rasmus said. \u201cHe divided his lessons between the creative and business sides of theater. You require knowledge of both to be a successful artist.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Bipartisan\u201d follows independent Congressman Evan Williams from North Carolina\u2019s Fourth District and his fight against partisan divisions in Washington. It plays at the Hudson Guild Theater Aug. 6-9 as part of the Thespis Theater Festival.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough the lens of satire, it looks at why cooperation is such a difficult thing to achieve in our federal government,\u201d Rasmus said. \u201cEvan finds that Washington is completely gridlocked. He continues to challenge himself and those around him when faced with adversity. I think he\u2019s someone with whom most Chapel Hill students will identify.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rasmus is enthusiastic about the seeing the show make it from page to stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really exciting because I\u2019ve never seen these characters except in my head,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I get to see someone else bring them to life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rasmus said he values the in-depth study with Simpson, where they explored everything from the history of Broadway to Simpson\u2019s own successful productions, including \u201cKudzu: A Southern Musical.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Margaret<\/a>
Margaret Burrus and Ashley Coia rehearse their illicit love scene as Jack Utrata conspicuously spies on them.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cJoey Rasmus is an exceptionally creative fellow \u2014 he was a real sparkplug in our 2013 songwriting class, and I was delighted to work with him as he developed script and lyric ideas for ‘The Bipartisan,’ which has great humor and sly charm,\u201d Simpson said. \u201cBehind it all, though, is a young artist\u2019s very real and deep concern about how often collaboration and common sense get short shrift in politics and governance. I expect we’ll be seeing a lot more of Joey’s keen observations on American culture as time goes by \u2014 all to the good!”<\/p>\n

Rasmus said the interdisciplinary nature of his Carolina education allowed him to bring the play to life:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt helped me to approach issues through multiple lenses. Having that liberal arts background helped me to have various perspectives and to think critically about the production.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information: Visit the <\/em>Facebook page<\/em><\/a>; <\/em>buy tickets.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

By Kim Weaver Spurr ’88, College of Arts and Sciences<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It may not be apparent to New York theater-goers who attend the Off-Off Broadway play \u201cThe Bipartisan,\u201d but playwright Joey Rasmus wants to make one thing clear: This show bleeds Carolina blue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":10954,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,18],"tags":[1580,24,1985,1986,1987,1988,1989,36,37,38,103,39,40],"class_list":["post-10953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fine-arts-humanities","category-undergraduate-education","tag-bland-simpson","tag-carolina","tag-joey-rasmus","tag-new-york-city","tag-off-off-broadway","tag-the-bipartisan","tag-thespis-theater-festival","tag-unc","tag-unc-arts-and-sciences","tag-unc-college-of-arts-and-sciences","tag-unc-creative-writing","tag-unc-chapel-hill","tag-university-of-north-carolina-at-chapel-hill"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10953"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47314,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10953\/revisions\/47314"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}