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Tuesday, March 26, 2013
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Mavericks on Broadway
Tournament time for MSU
MSU theater alum Claire Wellin set to star in ‘Once’ until Mid-April.
Men’s hockey team advances to first NCAA tournament since 2003. RYAN LUND
news editor
web photo WESS MCCONVILLE
staff writer
Since gracing the stage at Minnesota State University, Mankato five years ago, Claire Wellin has already built a resume any aspiring actor would be proud of. She has a handful of plays under her belt in Chicago, took part in television pilot season in Los Angeles, and will now tackle Broadway to perform the role of “Reza” in the Tony Award winning musical “Once.” “It’s been quite a whirlwind and I wouldn’t have it any other way,” said Wellin, who will play the role of “Reza” until mid-April, while regular performer Elizabeth Davis goes on hiatus. “Once” is a musical about a Dublin singer/songwriter who repairs vacuums in his father’s shop by day. His girlfriend, and inspiration for songwriting, leaves Dublin for New York. Despondent, he nearly quits his
musical aspirations until meeting another girl who keeps that dream alive. Wellin will play the roommate of that girl; she will also play the violin as part of her role in “Once.” Wellin began playing the violin at age 5, and acting shortly thereafter. Her father, the conductor of the BismarckMandan Symphony Orchestra, landed his daughter the roll of a “troll child” in her first play, so it’s no mystery that this immersion into acting and music at an early age led to a lifelong passion. “I’ve always been attracted to musicals because singing is my first love,” she said. “I have also always loved classical musicals, standards, so that’s how I entered the musical world.” At MSU, Wellin starred in “Hamlet,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “Peter Pan” among others. She decided to attend college in Mankato on recommendations from her friends. “I had friends who had attended MSU and were very
happy with the theatre program,” Wellin said. “I’ve never been a person who wanted to necessarily stay close to home, but I liked the way [MSU] felt. So, that was part of the choice to go there.” After graduating in 2008, Wellin earned acting roles in Chicago at Looking Glass Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre and at the Goodman. In between acting jobs she also finds time for her musical side projects Youth in a Roman Field and Glad Fanny. Both Chicago-based groups feature traditional folk, jazz influenced and gypsy-style arrangements with Wellin as the songwriter for Youth in a Roman Field, and partner Tiffany Topol as the songwriter for Glad Fanny. Topol also accompanies Wellin and multi-instrumentalist Scott Stangland for Youth in a Roman Field, and their first fulllength record is set to release May 13.
Broadway / page 5
It may not have happened quite the way that head coach Mike Hastings and the Minnesota State University, Mankato men’s hockey team had initially envisioned it, but for the first time since 2003 and just the second time as members of Division I, the Mavericks are headed to the NCAA tournament. The no. 11 Mavericks advanced to the tournament despite a lopsided 7-2 loss to the tournament-winning University of Wisconsin Badgers last Thursday in the quarterfinals of the WCHA Final Five in St. Paul, MN. The 16-team tournament field was announced Sunday night on ESPN sister network ESPNU, following a raucous weekend of postseason action across the country, including an improbable WCHA title game between streaking no. 14 Wisconsin, and unranked Colorado College. The Badgers extended their season with twin upsets of Minnesota State and MacNaughton Cup champion St. Cloud, before downing the similarly surprising Tigers 4-3 Saturday night at Xcel Energy Center. The status quo came under attack across the country over the weekend, as Notre Dame became the final league champion in CCHA history, downing Michigan 3-1 in the league’s penultimate title game and ensuring that the state of Michigan will go unrepresented in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1979. The win earns the no. 4 Fighting Irish a matchup with no. 13 St. Cloud State in the
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Midwest Regional, while the no. 13 Mavericks square off against the Miami (Ohio) University RedHawks. The CCHA regular seasonwinning RedHawks (24-11-5 overall), are led by freshman forward Riley Barber and Hobey Baker Award finalist Austin Czarnik. Out East, Jack Parker’s unranked Terriers rallied from a two-goal deficit, upending their Commerce Avenue compatriots for a final time, as Boston University bounced Boston College 6-3 in the Hockey East semifinals. For the first time since 1996 however, Hockey East’s elite were conspicuously absent at TD Garden, as the University of Massachusetts-Lowell followed its regular season crown with a 1-0 ousting of the Terriers, ending Parker’s nearly half-century behind the bench. Canisius captured its first Atlantic Hockey championship with a 5-3 victory over top-seeded Niagara, punching a ticket to Providence, R.I. and a date with no. 1 Quinnipiac in the process. The Bobcats and Purple Eagles will be joined by no. 16 Canisius and no. 6 Boston College in the East Regional, as Jerry York and his defending national champions look to bring a second straight NCAA title back to Chestnut Hill. Boston College will once again look to Hobey Baker candidate Johnny Gaudreau, as the program makes a bid to secure its third national title in four years. The real theatrics however, appear to the in the west, where no. 2 Minnesota is set to square
Tournament / page 3 SPORTS A&E
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