Upstate theatre-goers will have an opportunity to see YESNOMAYBE: The Doppelganger and the Professor before it goes to New York City for the prestigious United Solo Theater Festival next month. The performance is free and will take place in the Daniel Recital Hall of the Rainey Fine Arts Center on October 19 at 7:30pm.
Dr. Deborah McEniry, chair and professor of theatre at Anderson University, has been selected to perform her one-woman show at the prestigious United Solo Theater Festival in the heart of the acclaimed Theatre Row on 42nd St. in New York City this fall.
McEniry, who performs professionally under the name Deborah Colleen White, developed the play as a humorous, dramatic and thought-provoking look at the experience of a former NYC actress turned theatre professor whose dream of working in New York theatre and being on Broadway has never been extinguished. Realities of life – a job, children, a husband’s career- have put her dream on hold. After 20 years, the spark of hope is ignited as she returns to NYC to find that world she thought she knew has changed dramatically.
Additionally, another AU theatre faculty member, Cara Wood, will be a part of the performance as she is lighting the show and serving as technical director.
The festival runs from Sept. 17-Nov. 22 in NYC, but theatre lovers in the Upstate of South Carolina will get an opportunity to preview it on October 19 at 7:30 in the Daniel Recital Hall of the Rainey Fine Arts Center, home of the South Carolina School of the Arts at Anderson University. Admission to the show is free, but tickets are required. Tickets can be reserved by calling the AU box office at 864-231-2080.
More about Dr. McEniry
Dr. Deborah McEniry is in her ninth year as Professor and Chair of Theatre Arts at Anderson University in South Carolina. She received her master’s degree in Vocal Performance/Musical Theatre from NYU’s Steinhardt School and her Ph.D. in Educational Theatre from New York University. She has studied acting with Seth Barrish and Lee Brock at The Barrow Group, with Earle Gister, Michael Kahn, Slava Dolgachev, and Olympia Dukakis at the Actors Center and with Walt Witcover, Hal Holden and others at HB Studios. She studied musical theatre auditions with Bob Cline and has taken classes in film from Brette Goldstein and Barbara Garrick as well as commercial acting with Brooke Thomas and Mary Eagen Callahan. Her bachelor’s degree is in Music Education/Voice Principal from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey. Privately, she has studied voice with Marni Nixon, Andrea Greene and Judith Nicosia.
Dr. McEniry has produced and directed theatrical productions in universities, churches and for the U. S. Army and has taught theatre related courses at New York University, University of Maryland’s University College, Armstrong Atlantic University, Palm Beach Atlantic University and the University of Maryland’s European Division in Nurnberg, Grafenwohr and Vilseck, Germany. Favorite roles for her include Emily in Running, Carrie Pipperidge in Carousel, Julie in Show Boat, Fraulein Schneider in Cabaret, Gillian in To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday, Catherine in Pippin, and Maria in The Sound of Music. This past summer, she played Rona in Putnam County’s 25th Annual Spelling Bee and the role of Ellie in the premiere production of Chronic Fatigue. In the fall and winter of 2010 and 2011, Dr. McEniry performed as Dr. Annie Dove Denmark in the play The Denmark Story; the play was performed at Anderson University and then toured to nearby venues. Her television work includes appearing as an extra in several episodes of the TV drama Homicide and extra film work consists of Home for the Holidays, directed by Jodie Foster, and Twelve Monkeys, directed by Terry Gilliam. Dr. McEniry is a member of Actors Equity, SAG-AFTRA and the Society of Choreographers and Directors. (She uses the name Deborah Colleen White as her stage name because it is so much easier to pronounce than McEniry and it is her Equity and SAG-AFTRA name.)
She has been married to her high school sweetheart, Allen, for 30 years this December and they are blessed with two amazing children, Matthew and Cortney.