Local student performs in Virginia Tech Theatre Department production of [sic]

Alex Ritchie, of Amherst, Va., a freshman majoring in Theatre Arts in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech, plays the role of Air Shaft Man in the Virginia Tech Theatre Arts Department final main stage production [sic].

The production will be held through April 25 in Squires Studio Theatre. The play is directed by Robert Leonard, associate professor of Theatre Arts in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech, and performed by a cast of seven students and two non-student adults.

[sic] depicts the interaction between three self absorbed 20-somethings living in a high rise apartment building in New York City, struggling to make their dreams come true. The play looks at how people forget how to connect with each other when they get absorbed in themselves. The interaction between the three characters creates a comedy filled with mind play and fast paced word games.

This production is part of Arts Fusion 2004, a weeklong celebration of the arts on campus and in the community sponsored by the School of the Arts, April 19-25.

The Department of Theatre Arts at Virginia Tech is an innovative theatre program rooted in the liberal arts tradition with a mission to educate and train students in and about theatre. Students in the theatre arts program have the benefits of a small, close-knit department within the environment of a comprehensive university. The department keeps a full schedule of stage productions. These productions are integral to the work of the department and provide cultural opportunities for the entire community. The Department of Theatre Arts puts on four main stage productions during the academic year and two summer shows. There are 120 undergraduate majors, 12 full-time faculty, and five full-time staff. The department has three primary performance spaces and a fully equipped, dedicated scene shop and costume shop.

Founded in 1872 as a land-grant college, Virginia Tech has grown to become the largest university in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Today, Virginia Tech's eight colleges are dedicated to putting knowledge to work through teaching, research, and outreach activities and to fulfilling its vision to be among the top 30 research universities in the nation. At its 2,600-acre main campus located in Blacksburg and other campus centers in Northern Virginia, Southwest Virginia, Hampton Roads, Richmond, and Roanoke, Virginia Tech enrolls more than 28,000 full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries in 180 academic degree programs.