UWSP Department of Theatre & Dance

Lend Me a Tenor
by Ken Ludwig

October 12-14 and 18-21, 2007
Noel Fine Arts Center Studio Theatre

This night in September of 1934 is the biggest in the history of the Cleveland Grand Opera Company world famous tenor Tito Morelli is to perform Otello, his greatest role, at the gala season opener. Saunders, the General Manager, hopes this will put Cleveland on the operatic map. Morelli is late; when he finally sweeps in it is too late to rehearse with the company. Through a hilarious series of mishaps, Il Stupendo is given a double dose of tranquilizers which mix with the booze he has consumed and he passes out. His pulse is so low that Saunders and his assistant Max believe he is dead. What to do? Max is an aspiring singer and Saunders persuades him to get into Morelli's Otello costume and try to fool the audience into thinking he's Il Stupendo. Max succeeds admirably, but Morelli comes to and gets into his other costume. Now two Otellos are running around in costume and two women are running around in lingerie, each thinking she is with Il Stupendo! A sensation on Broadway and in London's West End, Lend Me a Tenor is guaranteed to leave your audiences teary eyed with laughter.

Urinetown - The Musical
by Gret Kotes
Music and Lyrics by Mark Hollman

November 2-4 and 7-10, 2007
Noel Fine Arts Center Jenkins Theatre

One of the most uproariously funny musicals in recent years, URINETOWN is a hilarious tale of greed, corruption, love, and revolution in a time when water is worth its weight in gold. In a Gotham-like city, a terrible water shortage, caused by a 20-year draught, has led to a government-enforced ban on private toilets. The citizens must use public amenities, regulated by a single malevolent company that profits by charging admission for one of humanity's most basic needs. Amid the people, a hero decides he's had enough, and plans a revolution to lead them all to freedom! Inspired by the works of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, URINETOWN is an irreverently humorous satire in which no one is safe from scrutiny. Praised for reinvigorating the very notion of what a musical could be, URINETOWN catapults the “comedic romp” into the new millennium with its outrageous perspective, wickedly modern wit, and sustained ability to produce gales of unbridled laughter.

Afterimages

December 6-8, 2007
Noel Fine Arts Center Jenkins Theatre

Extraordinary student choreography and performance. Varied, inspired and entertaining.

The Fifth of July
by Lanford Wilson

February 8-10 and 14-17, 2008
Noel Fine Arts Center Studio Theatre

The scene is a sprawling farmhouse in rural Missouri, which is home to Ken, a legless Vietnam veteran, and his lover, Jed, a horticulturist. They are visited by Ken's sister, June, and her teenage daughter, and by Gwen and John—the former a hard-drinking, pill-popping heiress who aspires to be a rock star, the latter her wary-eyed husband and manager. All are old friends from college days, and former activists who agitated for what they hoped would be a better world. The action centers on Gwen's offer to buy the farm, which she plans to convert into a recording center, and on Ken's Aunt Sally, who has come to the family homestead to scatter the ashes of her late husband. Their talk, as the play progresses, is sharp and funny and, in the final essence, deeply revealing of lost hopes and dreams and of the bitterness that must be fought back if one is to perceive the good that life can offer.

Julius Caesar
by William Shakespeare

February 29-March 2 and 6-8, 2008
Noel Fine Arts Center Jenkins Theatre

Shakespeare’s masterpiece of conspiracy and ambition made vital and immediate.  A contemporary adaptation of the classic tragedy of honor, patriotism and friendship

Disclaimer: Not recommended for young audiences

Danstage 2008 | Danstage slideshow
three new choreographic collaborations
by Michael Estanich, Jeannie Hill and Joan Karlen

April 11-13 and 17-20, 2008
Produced for the first time in the new
Noel Fine Arts Center Studio Theatre

Baby
by Sybille Pearson
Lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr
Music by David Shire

May 2-4 and 7-10, 2008
Noel Fine Arts Center Jenkins Theatre

Is there anything more exciting, frightening and utterly transformational than impending parenthood? “Baby” tells the story of three couples on a university campus as they deal with the painful, rewarding and agonizingly funny consequences of this universal experience. There are the college students, barely at the beginning of their adult lives; the thirty-somethings, having trouble conceiving but determined to try; and the middle aged parents, looking forward to seeing their last child graduate from college when a night of unexpected passion lands them back where they started.

DIsclaimer: Deals with matters of conception, pregnancy and birth; may not be suitable for young children.