Past Seasons
2010-2011 Season
Frauen im schatten (Women in the Shadow)
a devised theatre piece, conceived and guest directed by Saffron Henke
[presented with generous support from the Julie Ritter Streib Fund]
October 1, 2, 7, 8, 9 at 8:00 p.m.
October 3 (matinee) at 2:00 p.m.
A new play, devised by the cast, that explores the lives and stories of women in the time of the Third Reich. Predominantly a movement piece, Women in the Shadow utilizes music, video, poetry, and improvisation based on historical fact to bring to life the personal struggles and public personae of a few of the women intimately connected with men who were key figures in the rise and fall of Nazi Germany.
The Story of Tea
a special presentation by the DAH Theatre of Belgrade, Serbia
October 18, 19 at 8:00 p.m.
The Story of Tea explores lost languages, lost people, lost innocence, and man’s capacity to persevere through all the changes thrown at him. With Chekhov’s Three Sisters as a starting point, the world-renown DAH Theatre from Belgrade, Serbia highlights and extends that play’s more existential themes in a performance of unforgettable imagery.
The Three Sisters
by Anton Chekhov
directed by Steven Marc Weiss
December 3, 4, 9, 10, 11 at 8:00 p.m.
December 5 (matinee) at 2:00 p.m.
A bittersweet, serio-comic family drama set against the decay of the privileged class in Russia at the turn of the twentieth century. The Prozorovs--Olga, Masha, Irina, and their brother Andre--who spent their refined and cultured youth in Moscow, have been living for more than a decade in a small, colorless provincial town where their now-deceased father, a military general, had been transferred. Over time, their shared dream of returning to the more urbane life in the capital erodes, as the ordinariness of daily living gradually tightens its grip on them.
Copenhagen
by Michael Frayn
a special, all-faculty production
directed by Steven Marc Weiss
cast: Dennis Barnett, Steve Feller, and Barbara Feller
January 27, 28, 29 at 8:00 p.m.
January 30 at 2 p.m.
In this Tony Award-winning play from, Michael Frayn investigates a meeting that took place in 1941 between two Nobel laureates, the physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg--friends who found themselves on opposite sides of World War II. Copenhagen offers a clever "dramatic" demonstration of Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle as it might be applied to human intentions, calling all presumed convictions into question.
Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992
by Anna Deavere Smith
directed by Dennis Barnett
April 8, 9, 14, 15, 16 at 8:00 p.m.
April 10 (matinee) at 2:00 p.m.
A contemporary morality tale that unflinchingly takes on
the complexities and the resultant tensions of our diverse world. Based
on a collection of interviews with participants and bystanders during
the riots that raged in L.A. following the Rodney King beating, this is
a multimedia and movement-oriented piece for an ensemble of actors, filled
with provocative images and evocative music, recalling that turbulent
episode in our recent history.
2009-2010 Season
Uncertainties about past events and future possibilities play themselves out in this bittersweet comedy by one of our most literate playwrights. With three actors portraying six characters who represent two generations of the same families, Greenberg counterpoints the innocent optimism of the early 1960s with the neurotic self-absorption of the mid-1990s. In the process, he shows how easily any of us can misinterpret somebody else's past.
This play's journey is a riotous romp through the licentious ways of 17th century London. It is the Restoration: the monarchy has been reestablished after twenty years of Puritan repression, and all the fetters have been broken. A delightful comedy of sexual dalliance and intrigue, one that displays the spirit of the time--replete with ostentatious dress, hypocritical raillery, and bawdy songs.
"One's impossible, two is dreary, three is company, safe and cheery." On his thirty-fifth birthday in the Big Apple, desirable bachelor Bobby is forced to examine his resistance to wedlock, when all his friends are either married or getting married. In Sondheim's 1970 breakthrough musical, extensively revised in the 1990s, Bobby learns (or does he?) that, while relationships aren't perfect, they are a necessary part of "Being Alive."
2008-2009
A trip by train can be derailed by many things: a break in the track, schedules delayed or missed, the threat of a suicide bombing. But it is a deep-rooted American phenomenon, called racism, that has derailed the two train journeys in Florence and Dutchman, set respectively in the 1950s and the 1970s . . . and, as we move into the general election of 2008, these plays remind us of the ways in which racism still may be derailing our interior journeys within the U.S.
A story as old as time and as shocking as today’s headlines, Sophocles’ Electra is a larger-than-life tragedy of family betrayal, cold-blooded murder, civil war, and political intrigue. In Frank McGuinness’ terse, tense, and vibrant English adaptation, this ancient Greek revenge play exposes the pain of emotional loss and crippling, obsessive sorrow.
A central theme of this erudite, witty comedy is the interrelationship between the past and present, and the unpredictability of either. The play explores both the passage and the juxtaposition of time—from the Age of Enlightenment to the Romantic Era, from Newtonian determinism to chaos theory, from 18th century neoclassical landscape architecture to the picturesque wildness of 19th century gardens—all within the context of a contemporary detective story about sexual and academic philandering.
2007-2008
A subtle and domestic tragicomedy about the intersection of dysfunction, dependency and romance. The ever-changing mysteries of human interaction are carefully illustrated in this award-winning Italian play from 1965.
November 9, 10, 15, 16, 17 at 8:00 PM
November 11 at 2:00 PM
An inverted love story, in which a lowborn beauty exploits kingly favor and subterfuge to win the hand of the highborn man who spurns her, this remarkable play blends fairytale and romance with (perhaps not surprisingly) a heavy dose of cynicism.
March 21, 22, 27, 28, 29 at 8:00 PM
March 30 at 2:00 PM
A brilliant German musical from the 1930s. Based on John Gay's Beggar's Opera of the 18th century, this is the story of Mack the Knife, lies, deception, and the criminal collaboration that suppresses truth at all levels of society.
2006-2007
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Desdemona: A Play About a Handkerchief by Paula Vogel September 22, 23 & If you’ve ever wondered what the women of Othello would do if they had their way, wonder no more. In this clever deconstruction of Shakepeare’s classic, Paula Vogel reimagines Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca--using humor and pathos to give new voice to the Wife, the Maid, and the Whore and to raise serious questions about the role of women throughout the ages. |
A Month in the Country by Brian Friel (after Ivan Turgenev) November 10, 11, 16, 17, 18 at 8:00 pm A modern adaptation of the Russian classic about the illusions of love, the seductions of romance, our perceptions of aging, and the intersection of all. It is a funny and thought-provoking work that prefigured Chekhov by 40 years, yet is easily just as insightful, challenging and memorable. |
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Aunt Dan and Lemon by Wallace Shawn April 20, 21, 26, 27, 28 at 8:00 p.m. This provocative and challenging drama tracks the seemingly innocuous way in which insidious ideology may be spread, both individually and collectively, as Lemon--a sickly and reclusive young woman--takes us on a spiritual journey into her unusual childhood memories. Via flashbacks and flashbacks-within-flashbacks, we view an unrelenting retreat from social responsibility, a moral withdrawal that can lurk behind the most innocent-appearing façade. |
2005-2006
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Danny and the Deep Blue Sea by John Patrick Shanley September 23, 24 & A powerful and gritty story of two angry loners, each of whom has been psychologically wounded by repeated abuse and neglect. But when they encounter one another in a New York dive, they experience—against all the odds—an elusive glimmer of hope. Love overcomes all in this tightly paced, emotional maelstrom of a play by the screenwriter of the films Moonstruck and Five Corners. |
The Learned Ladies by Molière November 11, 12, 17, 18, 19 at 8:00 pm Set in France during the late 17th century, this frothy comedy offers a witty and satirical examination of pseudo-intellectualism and the hypocritical pretentiousness of well-meaning, albeit misguided, women in “salon” society of that period. Richard Wilbur’s rhyming verse translation closely approximates the original French and brilliantly captures its elegance and grace. |
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Gypsy Book by Arthur Laurents March 17, 18, 23, 24, 25 at 8:00 pm Suggested by the memoirs of burlesque stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, this fast-paced “musical fable” set in the vaudeville circuit of the 1920s and 1930s centers on the ruthless attempt of a stage-mother-to-end-all-stage-mothers to transform her daughters into stars. Featuring an exceptionally strong score that includes such “hit” songs as “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” “Together, Wherever We Go,” “Let Me Entertain You,” and “Small World,” this perennial favorite is sure to have you humming in the aisles. |
2004-2005
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Far Away by Caryl Churchill Sept. 24, 25, 30, and Oct. 1, 2 at 8:00 PM Set in an unknown time, this slightly absurd but ultimately chilling vision of a world at war packs a powerful punch. Never has theatre made better use of dramatic poetry to address the issues of our age. By the author of Cloud Nine, Top Girls, and Serious Money. |
Euripides’ The Trojan Women a
new version by Brendan Kennelly Nov.
5, 6, 11, 12, 13 at 8:00 PM One of the most powerful indictments of war ever conceived for the stage, The Trojan Women is less a tragedy than a lament in the wake of tragedy. After the fall of Troy, the women of the city are doled out to the conquering Greek heroes to be concubines and slaves. The principal characters—Hecuba, Andromache, and Cassandra—are usually seen as passive victims of their male conquerers. But Irish poet Brendan Kennelly’s version transforms the play, giving it a fresh, contemporary perspective. He draws from these women a strong note of active resolution to maintain their dignity in the face of humiliation—knowing that in the end, they will be the moral and emotional victors in the ongoing struggles between men and women. |
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Don Juan Comes Back from the War by Odon von Horvath April
15, 16, 21, 22, 23 at 8:00 PM World War I has ended. The ultimate anti-hero returns in search of his ideal woman. He thinks that war has changed him, but a string of encounters with real women confronts him with the truth. Written in 1934, but not performed until 1952, Don Juan Comes Back from the War continues the recent renascence of the works of Odon von Horvath. Timely and powerful, this incisive exploration of wars, both petty and universal, is destined to be a classic. |
2003-2004
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Boston Marriage by David Mamet |
As You Like It by William Shakespeare November
14, 15, 20, 21, 22 at 8:00 PM
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Bat Boy: The Musical Book by Keythe
Farley and Brian Flemming March 19, 20,
25, 26, 27 at 8:00 PM Watch for this amazing event! A hit in New York during the 2001-2002 season, Bat Boy is a rock musical based on the Weekly World News discovery of a baby in a West Virginia cave who was half-bat! It includes some of the best new music in years and loads of fun! |