JSU Drama's 2008-2009 Season
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FENCES By August Pulitzer Prize winner October
9-12 It is
1957. Troy Maxson
is a former star of the Negro baseball league who is now working as a garbage
man. Bitter because he was fenced out of playing in the major leagues because
of segregation, he now puts fences around his family, especially his son who
is an aspiring athlete who could play now that the league is integrated. We
learn through this play that fences not only keep things out, they lock
things in also. This play won
virtually every major award including the New York Drama Critics, Tony and
Pulitzer Prize. “One of the richest experiences I
have ever had in the theatre. I wasn’t just moved. I was transfixed.”~~ For
Families: Best enjoyed
by young people thirteen and up due to period racial language. |
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TARTUFFE By Moliere (Comedy) Translated by Richard Wilbur November 20-23 The wealthy Orgon
and his mother see what they want to see.
They think that Tartuffe, a beggar, is a fine and upstanding man of
the cloth. However, Orgon’s wife and children see through the pretense
and try to convince him that Tartuffe is not what he seems. Sadly, Orgon is
not persuaded and almost loses everything to this trickster. Were it not for the emissary from King
Louis XIV, who saves the day, Orgon might well have
lost everything. This is a relevant
play for today as we examine the evil which can be committed in the guise of
religious fervor and the dangers that imperil those who believe only what
they choose to believe. For Families: Moliere’s famous farce of
hypocrisy and manipulation is told with biting wit and escalating absurdity.
Themes of sexuality are present, but there is no profanity. Best enjoyed by
young people twelve and up with some exposure to Moliere’s language. |
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SWEENEY
TODD Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim Book by Hugh Wheeler Based on a version of Sweeney
Todd by Christopher Bond February 19-22
& 26-March 1 They were very tasty meat pies!
What was that special ingredient? Sweeney Todd’s plan is to get even for evils done by a
lecherous judge who framed him and then ravaged his young wife. Unfortunately, Sweeney’s desire to
get even with the judge gets a little out of hand and begins to include his
unlucky customers. This is a
sophisticated, macabre, intense drama which is filled with hysterically funny
moments of dark humor as well as frightening surprises. “There
is more artistic energy, creative personality and plain excitement than in a
dozen average musicals.”~New York Times For Families: Best enjoyed
by young people twelve and up because of text of the play. LOST IN |
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By Neil Simon (Comic Drama) Pulitzer Prize Winner Alpha Psi
Omega Student Scholarship Production (not
included as part of the mainstage season package) April
2-5 Fortunately for
the two young brothers it is a temporary exile. Their father, a salesman,
needs to take a long sales trip after their mother dies so he leaves them
with their German grandmother, a very stern and demanding woman. Grandmother
makes it abundantly clear that she is not thrilled that they are with her and
puts them to work in the bakery downstairs. The two boys not only have to
contend with their grandmother, but they have to live with an aunt who is a
bit on the slow side, but shows them the most motherly affection they have
had since their mother’s death.
Then, there’s uncle Louie from whom they learn the shady side of
life. This Pulitzer Prize and Tony
winning play about family is hailed as one of
Simon’s best plays. “Laughter and tears have come
together in a new emotional truth. There are moments in this play when you
experience a new kind of laughter that implodes straight into your heart.”~Newsweek For
Families: Best enjoyed
by young people twelve and up |
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Sylvia A. R. Gurney (Comedy) May
14-17 After
twenty-two years of marriage in the suburbs, Greg and Kate move to an
apartment in “I can only call it one of the
most involving, beautiful, funny, touching, and profound plays I have ever
seen…”~N.Y. Daily News For
Families: This play is
for ages thirteen and due to strong sexual language DEATH BY
DARKNESS By Elizabeth Orndorff
(Drama) Winner of 2008’s Southern
Playwright’s Competition June
25-28 It’s a
spring day in 1842 and slave guide Stephen Bishop, a voice of wit and reason,
is leading the latest party of curiosity-seekers into the Star Chamber of
Mammoth Cave. It is an overnight trek into the depths of the cave. As the
night progresses, the darkness and silence weigh heavily on them. Stephen
warns that they will be changed by the cave, but no one realizes how much the
change will cost. Secrets are uncovered and secrets are buried before Stephen
leads them out of the darkness. For
Families: Best enjoyed
by young people thirteen and up. THE TORTOISE AND
THE HARE Based on the classic children’s
story With original music and lyrics by Eric Traynor (tentative—may be subject to
change) (not
included as part of the mainstage season) July
7-11 Is it fast and
frantic or slow and steady that wins the race? If you’re familiar with
the classic tale, then you know the answer.
However, this is an Eric Traynor adaptation
and anything is possible. Come join us as the Tortoise and Hare and a cast of
zany characters race to an exciting finish. For
Families: Best enjoyed by children of all ages – 2 to 92! |
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