‘Unplugged’ to connect with audience

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January 17, 2015 - 12:00 AM

An Iola alumni trio will bring their diverse talents home to the Bowlus Fine Arts Center tonight.
Jasmine Bannister, Jordan Strickler and Maggie Wilson will perform “Unplugged and Unrehearsed,” at 7 p.m. in the Creitz Recital Hall. The event is free to the public. The show will feature music and improv acting.
Bannister and Strickler began working together in middle school at the Children’s Summer Theater Workshop. Throughout their high school careers they did improv together in Forensics, an acting competition.
Bannister graduated from IHS in 2011 and went off to Kansas State University to major in music education. Strickler joined her at KSU after he graduated in 2013. Now the duo is acting together at K-State  with “On the Spot,” a college improv group.
When Susan Raines, executive director at the Bowlus, asked the duo to come back to perform they were more than happy to say yes.
“The Bowlus is a second home to me,” Strickler said. “I spent a lot of my evenings there and I took as many classes as I could during school to be there.”
Bannister also grew up inside the Bowlus. She danced in recitals and acted in plays ever since she was young. Both were encouraged by their parents to get into the fine arts.
Strickler said since they have begun working with On the Spot they’ve learned a lot more about mastering the art of improvisation.
“We have good chemistry and have the same kind of humor so that helps,” Bannister said.
Wilson, also a 2011 IHS graduate, will join them on stage with her music talents. Wilson studies at Emporia State University and is a standout pole vaulter for the ESU Hornets.
“I will be performing 10 original songs,” Wilson said.
She said the show will mix her music in with Bannister and Strickler’s acting. Bannister said they wrote a few original, funny songs with Wilson and will perform them.
Bannister said the show will have a family friendly atmosphere and there will be audience participation.
“There will be surprises around every corner,” she said.

THERE will also be an artist exhibit in the Mary L. Martin Gallery tonight. Jacqueline Laurenzana Haltom, a IHS 1996 graduate, is showcasing her artwork from award winning pieces of pictures, objects, an illustrated book and commercial products that are found at Target and Joann’s. The public can meet the artist at the exhibit at 6 p.m. The exhibit will be on display through Feb. 13.

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