JA
Joey Albus
  • Beallsville, OH

Joey Albus in Play 'Increased Difficulty of Concentration' at Bethany College

2011 Nov 6

Joey Albus of Beallsville, Ohio, will perform in "The Increased Difficulty of Concentration," a play written by former Czech Republic President Vaclav Havel, at Bethany College. Performances will be held November 10-12 at 8 p.m. and November 13 at 2 p.m. in Wailes Theatre.at Bethany College.

Albus, a senior theatre major at Bethany, will play the role of Mr. Beck.

Linear storytelling is abandoned in this absurdist door-slamming farce. Set in 1928, a social scientist, Huml, is recovering from a breakdown, trying to dictate a treatise on happiness, break up with his mistress, and divorce his wife (or is it the other way around?) - all while enduring an intrusion by a team of researchers with a piece of technology called Puzuk. Puzuk is an early version of a computer with a logarithm that attempts to analyze the randomness of human beings. As it begins to function, it more than analyzes as it escalates the randomness.

Written in the 1960s, the play was originally known as a commentary on communist repression. The 1990s revised version explores the effects of technology.

Havel, a Czech playwright, dissident and politician, was the 10th and final president of Czechoslovakia and the first president of the Czech Republic. He has written more than 20 plays and is the recipient of the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Philadelphia Liberty Medal, the Order of Canada, the freedom medal of the Four Freedoms Award and the Ambassador of Conscience Award.

Tracie Lynn Duncan, associate professor of theatre and cirector of technical theatre, will serve as technical director and designer.

The play is directed by Luke Hardt, associate professor of theatre, director of the Bethany College Theatre, and chair of the Department of Visual and Performing Arts.

Babysitting by the Bison Cheerleaders will be available at Bethany Memorial Church from 1:30-4 p.m. for the Sunday afternoon performance. The cost is $5/child, and reservations are required. Call 304.829.7124.

A food drive for the Wheeling Soup Kitchen will be held for each performance. Please bring non-perishables and gently used clothing for collection at the play.

Admission donations will be accepted at the door.

The play is being produced with permission from Samuel French Inc., and parents are advised that it includes adult content.

Bethany College is a small college of national distinction located on a picturesque and historic 1,300-acre campus in the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia. Founded in 1840, Bethany is the state's oldest private college.