Ivy Tech Community College presents Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. It's a farewell celebration for Bloomington actor Diane Kondrat. Performances in the intimate Rose Firebay run January 25-February 9.
Kondrat plays Martha with frequent acting partner Bill Simmons as her husband George. Emily Mange and Mathew Rowlands play Honey and Nick. They're the young couple who unwittingly fall into George and Martha's ongoing battle.
Although many will recall Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf as a dark and scary experience, Kondrat is wary of a simple approach." It's so tempting for actors to see a piece like this that is so familiar and to let themselves be imitative or derivative from a film or the very dark readings that can occur in a high school honors class," she says."Our director Patricia McKee keeps comparing it to Noel Coward's comedy Hay Fever. She's insisting on kind of a light touch and wants people to think that at least at the beginning, they're seeing a romantic comedy."
Kondrat does admit that, "There are some brutal moments in the play, but we're daring ourselves to make this Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf more like badminton match than a squash game. "
The community farewell to actor Diane Kondrat sponsored by Ivy Tech Community College is produced by the Ivy Tech John Waldron Arts Center's Artistic Director, Paul Daily.
In addition to producing the production Daily has arranged for Kondrat to meet with Ivy Tech students in sessions on monologues and scene work.