Plays with OU connections produced in Ukraine

Oakland University Associate Professor of Theatre Michael Gillespie traveled to Ukraine this summer to direct two plays written by theatre adjunct Kitty Dubin.

Gillespie worked with performers at the Little Globe Theatre, founded by Assistant Professor Pavlo Bosyy. They presented "The Prom Dress," about a mother and daughter who battle for control in a department store fitting room over who will decide which dress to buy for the prom, and "Mimi and Me," which features a perky young volunteer who tries to cheer up a ninety year old nursing home resident who has lost the will to live.

Dubin was thrilled when she heard both plays were very well received and transcended the different cultures. She is an award winning playwright whose productions include "Mirrors," "The Last Resort," "Change of Life," "The Day We Met," "Dance Like No One's Watching" and "Coming of Age." In 2007, she was named Playwright in Residence at the Jewish Ensemble Theatre where four of her plays have premiered. Her work has been performed in theaters throughout Michigan as well as New York, Texas and California. She has also been the recipient of two individual artist grants from the Michigan Council of the Arts. Kitty has been teaching classes in Playwriting at Oakland for the past eleven years. Her latest play, "The Blank Page," will be having staged readings at the Lansing Theatre Festival and the Fireside Festival at Performance Network in August.