Alluvion and Academy of Fine Arts collaborate in ‘Kindertransport’

The cast of “Kinderstransport” includes Liberty University alumni and current students (from left) Erica Mini (as Young Lil), Sarah Seaman (as Eva), Carson Burkett (as The Station Guard), Cody Carwile (as The Ratcatcher), and Whitney Tatum (as Evelyn).

Liberty University’s Alluvion Stage Company will collaborate with the Lynchburg, Va., Academy of Fine Arts in the presentation of “Kindertransport,” a psychological drama based on the transportation of Jewish children to the United Kingdom during World War II. The program will run Jan. 30-Feb. 2 at the Academy’s Warehouse Theater in downtown Lynchburg. Alluvion is the professional branch of Liberty’s Department of Theatre Arts.

“Kindertransport” will be Alluvion’s first joint venture with the Academy of Fine Arts, which Alluvion Artistic Director Linda Nell Cooper hopes will help create a bridge between Liberty and the local community.

“We want to show them that we do works of sophistication here. We’re training our actors to be true professionals, which is why we’re showcasing it with Alluvion (and) our professional actors,” Cooper said.

The program will also be accompanied by an original, orchestrated score composed by Tim Ross, a Liberty senior.

The Academy of Fine Arts has had a presence in Lynchburg for more than 40 years and primarily attracts an older audience. The partnership will allow Alluvion actors to display their performance style to a different crowd. Alluvion’s involvement will also draw Liberty students to downtown Lynchburg, bringing two diverse audiences together for a single show.

“(The Academy of Fine Arts) is a huge venue that likes to show different artist groups, and we’re an artist group they’ve never shown,” Cooper said. “It will be fun, this whole idea of ‘bringing new people to downtown.’”