2008 - 09 Season

The Little Dog Laughed

By Douglas Carter Beane
Nov. 6 - 11, 2008
Studio Theatre
Directed by Adam Conrad

Yes, we love the cinema for its great auteurs, its glorious faces and its daring images. But in this tabloid age where big stars go on Oprah and jump around like heartsick schoolboys, what we really love is all that dish! The players here include a hard-driving Hollywood agent, her budding screen idol client, a sexy young drifter, and the drifter's naive, needy girlfriend.

The Little Dog Laughed follows the adventures of Mitchell Green, a movie star who could hit big if it weren't for one teensy -weensy problem. His agent, Diane, can't seem to keep him in the closet. Trying to help him navigate Hollywood's choppy waters, the devilish Diane is doing all she can to keep Mitchell away from the cute rent boy who's caught his eye and the rent boy's girlfriend (wait, the rent boy has a girlfriend?). Will there be a happy ending as the final credits roll?

Proof

By David Auburn
February 12 - 17, 2009
Studio Theatre
Directed by Kyle Romero

Proof, a play by David Auburn, won the Pulitzer Prize in 2001, as well as several other major awards for drama. The play is set in Chicago, where Robert, a former genius of a mathematician who suffered from mental illness, has recently died. Robert appears in the play talking with his daughter Catherine, a depressed college drop-out who stayed at home and cared for her father over the last few years of his life. As preparations are made for the funeral and Catherine’s sister Claire returns from New York, Catherine forms a tentative friendship with Hal, a mathematician who is one of her father’s former students.

The plot moves into high gear when Hal discovers in one of the notebooks that Robert left behind a proof of a mathematical theorem that mathematicians had thought impossible. It is a sensational discovery, but Catherine stuns Hal by claiming she wrote the proof. But did she? The handwriting in the notebook looks very like her father’s. As the mystery develops and resolves, the playwright explores issues such as what the link may be between genius and madness and whether either or both can be inherited. But Proof is also a story about human relationships, suggesting that developing trust and love can be as difficult, and just as uncertain, as establishing the truth of a mathematical proof. (Source: "Proof: Introduction." Drama for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 21. Detroit: Gale, 1998. eNotes.com. January 2006. 3 October 2008.)

Merlin’s Tale of Arthur’s Magic Sword

By Keith Enger
March 2 - 7, 2009
University Theatre
Directed by Lynae Sanford

An exciting and spectacular new version of a favorite classic in which a wonderfully eccentric Merlin magically transports us to the shining world of King Arthur. Merlin matches wit and magic with Arthur's formidable sister, Morgan le Fay, in an epic battle for the kingdom. Suspense and adventure mark every scene as Merlin hides Arthur from Morgan's reach until Morgan herself leads Arthur to the magic sword that makes him king. Arthur is an appealing lad whose inner strength ultimately proves to be more than a match for Morgan. Strong characterizations, fast-moving action, charming easily understood dialogue bring new life to this beloved tale for all ages and seasons. (Source: Anchorage Press Plays)

The Rocky Horror Show

Book, Music & Lyrics by Richard O’Brien
April 30 – May 2, 2009
University Theatre
Directed by Adonia Placette and Adam Conrad

The Rocky Horror Show is a 1970's cult classic that tells the story of Brad Majors and his fiancee Janet Weiss, a young couple who run into car trouble and seek help at the Frankenstein Manor. Little do they know that the manor is actually inhabited by alien transsexuals from the planet Transylvania. As they arrive, Dr. Frank 'N' Furter is in the midst of one of his maniacal experiments. Directed by Adonia Placette and Adam Conrad, The Rocky Horror Show is at once an homage to Rock 'n' Roll, science fiction, and a rollicking, hysterical good time for mature audiences.