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MC Theatre Department to present staged reading of “An Easy Heaven”

April 14, 2021

"An Easy Heaven" poster

The Maryville College Theatre Department and Alpha Psi Omega will present a staged reading of “An Easy Heaven” by Eric Peter Schwartz on Fri., April 23, 2021 at 8 p.m. The virtual event will be live streamed and available for viewing at no charge through Broadway on Demand.

The play is about a 17-year-old named Toby Landers, who recently lost his father, and the loss of his motivation and joy came soon after. His family and friends try to help the best they can, but he doesn’t seem to listen. Suddenly, a real-life angel crashes into his house and with one swift move, Toby handcuffs himself to the angel, hoping to get an easy ride to Heaven and skip the rest of his life. People try to talk him out of it, but will he listen now?

Riley Hamant ’21, a theatre studies major from Liberty Township, Ohio, is directing the production as part of her Senior Study.

“I picked this play because, while my thesis centered around clinical depression representation, grief is a type of depression that everyone can relate to,” Hamant said. “Not only that, but this play allows me to raise awareness for suicide prevention, which is a cause that is very near and dear to my heart. While the show does have some heavy themes, the characters are charming and the story is sweet. I think audiences will fall in love with it like I did.”

A Q&A session with Claudia Werner, director of counseling at Maryville College, will follow the performance. She will answer questions about grief, anxiety, and depression, and share resources for supporting mental health.

The cast includes Christopher Rodriguez ’21, a theatre studies major from Kodak, Tenn., as Toby Landers; Hudson Perrine ’21, a theatre studies major from Sugar Hill, Ga., as Audry Landers; Jacob Hudson ’23, a theatre studies with teacher licensure major from Lyles, Tenn., as Rev. David Landers; Jenni Cate Rhodes ’24, a theatre studies major from Hartselle, Ala., as Stephanie Ackles; and Aaron Capps ’23, a theatre studies major from Lyles, Tenn., as Clyde.  

Maryville College is a nationally-ranked institution of higher learning and one of America’s oldest colleges. For more than 200 years we’ve educated students to be giving citizens and gifted leaders, to study everything, so that they are prepared for anything — to address any problem, engage with any audience and launch successful careers right away. Located in Maryville, Tennessee, between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the city of Knoxville, Maryville College offers nearly 1,200  students from around the world both the beauty of a rural setting and the advantages of an urban center, as well as more than 60 majors, seven pre-professional programs and career preparation from their first day on campus to their last. Today, our 10,000 alumni are living life strong of mind and brave of heart and are prepared, in the words of our Presbyterian founder, to “do good on the largest possible scale.”