WHEELING, W.Va. (March 17, 2015)- – Nature of the Beast — poetry and prose reading– will take place at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 28 at Oglebay Institute’s Towngate Theatre. The performance is part of Towngate’s Second Season, which aims to enhance Wheeling’s arts landscape with literary programming, theatrical readings, improvisation and more. Programs often feature works by emerging and/or local playwrights and poets.
Maribeth Thompson will host the literary and musical program, which examines human and animal nature from a variety of perspectives, explores socio-cultural issues and ponders the age-old question, “what makes us tick?”
The program is presented in three acts with the first act featuring Wheeling native Charles Rogerson reading his own work. Rogerson is a professor of English at West Virginia Northern Community College, a guest columnist with the Wheeling News-Register and has given fiction and poetry readings at numerous forums in Wheeling.
Act Two combines poetry and music and features Towngate veterans Rick Call, Isa Campbell, Valery Staskey and Jennifer Kellner-Muscar reading both modern and classical works from poets such as William Blake, Gregory Corco, James Wright and Thomas Harding. Instrumental music including guitar, clarinet, flute and recorder will accompany the readings and complement the selections.
Act Three is an open mic session. Poets –new and experienced, shy and bold– are invited to bring their poems and read aloud to the audience.
There is a nominal admission fee of $5. For more information, call 304-242-7700 or visit www.oionline.com. Towngate Theatre is located in Wheeling’s Centre Market district at 2118 Market Street.