For the Gazette

STEVENS POINT — Experience theater in a new way as the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Department of Theatre and Dance performs a stage reading of the drama “Kodachrome” next month.

“Kodachrome” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 8 and 9, in the Studio Theatre in the Noel Fine Arts Center, 1800 Portage St., Stevens Point. It is suitable for ages 12 and older.

The 14-member student cast will read the play with all the emotions, energy and interactions of the characters but without the sets, costumes and props of a full production. The stage directions will be shared directly with the audience, and each show will include opening remarks from the director, Theatre Professor Tyler Marchant.

A new play by Adam Szymkowicz, “Kodachrome” is about love, nostalgia and the seasons of life. It centers on Suzanne, a photographer in the small New England town of Colchester, who gives the audience a peek into the lives of her neighbors and captures their love stories as she captures her photographs.

“It is an emotional story and quite funny,” said Marchant, who met the author while working in New York. “Adam’s writing creates worlds that are easy to relate to, as he invites imagination.”

The Theatre and Dance Department is excited to bring a stage reading to the university, he said, as it gives more students opportunities for roles and teaches them skills they will need once they become professional actors.

“This is an experience that focuses completely on the actor and the text,” said Marchant. With only two weeks of rehearsals, the actors have to dig in emotionally and find their characters quickly.

Readings are often done for a playwright as part of a show’s development, for a producer or artistic director who is interested in the play or as a tryout before it gets staged on Broadway. “Students who do well at readings are often asked to take on the role when it is staged,” he said.

Tickets for “Kodachrome” are $6.25 for general admission and free for UW-Stevens Point students with I.D. the day of the show. Tickets are available at the UW-Stevens Point Information and Tickets Office in the Dreyfus University Center concourse, by calling 715-346-4100 or at http://tickets.uwsp.edu.