TU theatre department blends teaching, production for hands-on learning

Sometimes theatre is about taking chances.

At the start of the fall 2025 semester, Towson University theatre professor Stephen Nunns learned he would be directing the Towson University Theatre Arts department's main stage production of “The Cherry Orchard.”

The play, the final work by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, was first staged in 1904 and, through four acts, explores themes of love and denial.

Rather than staging the production in its traditional form, Nunns decided to do something different: Each act would be performed in a completely different theatrical style.

“I always like to do things a little bit different when I direct our main stage productions,” Nunns laughs. “I thought it would be a really interesting challenge for our students. They would be essentially acting in four different plays, in one performance. It really pushes them to try different forms of acting.”

Students take ownership

When it took place this past October, the production’s:

• first act followed the play’s traditional narrative, set in Russia at the start of the 20th century
• second act moved ahead 20 years to pre-World War I Germany and had a dark, experimental vibe
• third act put the production through the lens of a Broadway play, featuring music, singing and dancing
• final act took a contemporary approach, including video production.

With a unique approach to the production, Nunns assumed his students thought he was crazy. But during one performance, when he watched the show as an audience member, he couldn’t help but feel proud of the ownership the cast took in the play.

“At the beginning, you could tell that the students thought I was insane,” Nunns says. “They were saying things like ‘I don’t know why he’s doing this because this is a chaotic mess.’

“And then I stepped away from it for a couple of days and I saw [the show]. And they're doing things on stage, and I was like, ‘That's interesting; I never saw them do that before.’ I think they learned how to take a certain ownership.”

The Towson University Theatre Department's production of The Cherry Orchard had the unique experience of being one show with four acts in different production styles. This included the classic show format (top left), experimental theatre (top right), a Broadway musical (bottom left), and a contemporary production (bottom right). 

Collaboration on and off the stage

Nick Yarnevich ’26 calls himself a “defender of weird theatre.” But even he was thrown off by Nunns’ new direction.

When the senior acting major from Columbia, Maryland, was cast as Yermolai Alexeievitch Lopakhin, he was expecting the "Cherry Orchard's" traditional production.

Then he got the email explaining the new format.

“I was scared out of my mind,” Yarnevich laughs.

But Nunns had bigger plans for him. In addition to acting, Yarnevich was asked to serve as the production’s co-music director for the third act.

“I was honored because this was my very first time dipping my toe into music directing,” Yarnevich says. “I know I’m an acting major, but I think we as theater artists cannot be specialists. We must dip our toes into every aspect of it.

“It's awesome that Nunns trusted me to music direct. But it’s also a great experience I can put in my toolbox that I can bring out later and make a living from.”

Producing production experiences

Luci Thomas, a senior from Cambridge, Maryland, began acting when she was 3 years old but discovered she preferred the work behind the scenes.

“I took a directing class, and it flipped a switch in me, and I realized that this is my thing,” Thomas says.

Thomas, a theatre arts major, mainly took a backstage role in the development of “The Cherry Orchard.” She served as co-music director, vocal coach and assistant projection designer for the fourth act’s video element.  

I think it’s really beneficial that students get this all-encompassing experience in the theatre department

Luci Thomas '26

She says the department’s strength is the range of experience students receive.

“I think it’s really beneficial that students get this all-encompassing experience in the theater department,” Thomas says. “Because directing is what I'd like to do as my career, and I think that it's important for a director to have a firm grasp on all these different fields.

“I now know how to communicate better with my set designers, my actors, my production teams and my producers because I've worked these positions myself.”