This February, Ashland University’s Theater Department brings to the stage a powerful, Pulitzer prize- winning play, “Sunday in the Park with George,” by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine.

The play will be showing from Feb. 17 through 19 and 23 through 26, at 7:30 p.m. Its final performances will be Feb. 20 and 27 at 2 p.m.

“Sunday in the Park with George” revolves around the struggling artist George Seurat, his life and the life of his great grandson, also named George.

Seurat is famous for his revolutionary methods of painting by use of dots and basic optic techniques to mix color in your eye rather than on the canvas.

“Sunday in the Park with George” opens Feb. 17 in the Center for the Arts studio theater and is the first theater production of the spring semester. The play is directed by Fabio Polanco.

Act one tells the story of George Seurat, the nineteenth-century pointillist painter during the time he is working on his famous painting, “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte,” and his relationship with his girlfriend Dot.

Director Fabio Polanco talks about the relationship between Seurat and Dot in the play.

“For him, it’s Dot versus his work, and for Dot, it’s George versus the other things she wants from life that George cannot give her like attention and security,” Polanco said.

The second act takes a 100-year leap into the future to the great grandson of George Seurat, also called George, who is trying to find himself as an artist.

Senior student Jake Kinney plays the role of both Georges in the play, which is his final main stage performance at Ashland.

In order to get into the role of the artist, the director gave him an interesting way to gain insight into the mind of Seurat.

“I had to have a drawing pad with me at all times. Over the entire break I have been carrying a drawing pad sketching everything I see because the audience is actually able to see a lot of the things that I draw on stage so they need to look good,” Kinney said.

“He has also asked me to look into pointillism and how to paint like Seurat did so I can really walk into his ideas.”

While this show will be his last as an Ashland student, Kinney feels like this is the perfect last role.

“I think that this is an exceptionally difficult role. It’s the kind of role I have always wanted to play. I am able to challenge myself and do a lot of things that I wouldn’t be able to do with any other role. The music is beautiful and difficult, but I love it,” Kinney said.

Kinney talked about what he has learned from this role and what he believes the show to be about.

“You really do see that when you lose your sense of inspiration you really just keep pushing on until you get to what you are trying to get to,” Kinney said.

This show is currently co-sponsored by AU’s theater and art departments.

“If you come to any show at AU in your four years here, this would be one of the ones you don’t want to miss,” Kinney said.