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IPFW Department of Theatre
2101 E. Coliseum Blvd. Ft. Wayne, IN 46805-1499 (260) 481-6551
Where's Charley Flora the Red Menace –August 29, 30, 2003
IPFW Department of Theatre Announces 2003-04 Season Judy & Me – A Judy Garland Tribute The Plogsterth Visual and Performing Arts Series presents an evening of cabaret featuring Rhonda Woods, hailed as one of the leading Judy Garland tribute artists in the nation. From the Trolley Song to Over the Rainbow and back, you’ll be enthralled from beginning to end. Ms. Woods’ striking physical resemblance to Judy Garland and incredibly accurate vocal styling have garnered rave reviews for her gifted performance as Judy. Tickets for Judy & Me are only $10 and FlexPass members receive one free ticket for each membership. This show is a Plogsterth event and not included in the regular season, but what a great way to start the year at Williams Theatre. Sept. 13 at 8 p.m. and Sept. 14 at 2 p.m. All in the Timing In this lively and clever evening of one-act "play
lets," playwright David Ives threads together an elaborate stress test of
the English language as well as the audience's capacity for disorientation and
delight. From philosophizing chimpanzees trying to recreate Hamlet to buying
bread in the style of Philip Glass' music, these eccentric personalities will
personify an adventure of wit, hilarity and just plain FUN! "Utterly
delightful one-act plays that percolate with comic brio....There is real heart
beneath Ives's intellectual tomfoolery." -The New York Times. If you
enjoyed our production of Picasso at the Lapin Agile this is the
show for you!! Love, Passion and Redemption—A Dance Showcase An evening of "total" theatre. Theatre majors and
dance minors of the IPFW Department of Theatre take the stage with song, dance,
and drama that create a spectacle juxtaposing gritty realities with liberating
fantasies. A musical production with a wild heart and a fresh eye, filled with
songs, poems, musings, wit and wisdom. Suddenly Last Summer Tennessee Williams called Suddenly Last Summer,
"a moral fable of our times". A young woman witnesses the shockingly
violent murder of a man. In order to clear herself of suspicion, she tells a
story of the death, which damages the man’s reputation. The man’s wealthy
and powerful mother has the girl locked up in an insane asylum and a
psychoanalyst is called in to straighten out the tangle. Arms & the Man In this timeless comedy, Shaw's blending of farce and drawing
room comedy will appeal to everyone. Audiences will enjoy the exaggerated
exploration of the absurdity of war and the ideal of romanticized love. Shaw's
extravagant characters each take a wonderful journey of self-discovery. All in
all, Arms and the Man is an optimistic view of the haven of life
and love in the face of war's desolation. The characters embrace life with the
confidence that basic human values will always find a way to prevail. Once Upon a Mattress If you thought you knew the story of "The Princess and
the Pea," you may be in for a walloping surprise. Did you know, for
instance, that Princess Winnifred the Woebegone actually swam the moat to reach
Prince Dauntless the Drab? Or that all the Ladies-in-Waiting of the court are in
a "family way", but none of them can marry until Dauntless
"shares his wedding bed"? Carried on a wave of wonderful songs, both
raucous and romantic, Once Upon a Mattress provides non-stop
side-splitting shenanigans. American Classic Summer Theatre XI "It’s showtime, folks!" The IPFW Department of
Theatre’s celebrates a decade of the greatest summer musicals in the Williams
Theatre. This high-kicking, fast-paced revue features songs from America’s
greatest musicals: Gypsy, Damn Yankees, Funny
Girl, Hello Dolly, Company, How to
Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Dreamgirls and Bye
Bye Birdie. The show guarantees a rousing patriotic salute to one of the
greatest of American institutions: The Broadway Musical! Studio Showcase 2003-2004 2002 - 2003 Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne Theatre Season Macbeth As the last of Shakespeare’s four great tragedies, Macbeth reveals a world of bloody deeds. Darkness and supernatural forces loom over a hero’s triumphant return from war. Witches conspire to wreak vengeance against the unsuspecting Macbeth. Human reason is weak and the lust for ambition and power becomes an all-consuming sickness for this would be king and his scheming wife. Evil begets evil, murder begets murder and war begets war. Ultimately, the dark side of human nature prevails and madness leads to chaos and ruin. October 11, 12, 17, 18, 19 at 8 p.m. October 13, 20 at 2:30 p.m. High School Matinees Oct. 16, 17 at 10:30 a.m. Williams Theatre Family Holiday Musical She Loves Me This romantic, musical romp through the seasons of love was the basis for the films "The Little Shop Around the Corner" and "In the Good Old Summertime" starring Judy Garland. Two co-workers at the same shop are involved in secret romances, with each of them writing secret letters to a "Dear Friend". The seasons change, along with their romantic prospects, both in person and by post. Beautiful holidays are in store when everyone’s heartfelt desire is finally revealed. December 6, 7, 12, 13, 14 8 p.m. December 8, 15 2:30 p.m. Williams Theatre The Mai A hauntingly beautiful and disturbing story, The Mai is told from the perspective of a young woman desperately struggling to free herself from her dysfunctional families’ past. A mix of tragedy and comedy, The Mai explores the destructive forces at work in a matriarchal Irish family who approach life with a fiery passion but seem always to falter in their relationships with men. Winner of top honors at the 1994 Dublin Theatre Festival for The Mai, Ms. Carr is considered Ireland’s leading contemporary female playwright who has been compared to such writers as Tennessee Williams and Eugene O’Neill. February 21, 22, 27, 28, March 1 at 8 p.m. Williams Theatre Studio Showcase presents…
The Heiress Set in fashionable 1850s New York, The Heiress is a classic love story, with a twisting plot, dangerous emotions and subtle, complex characters. At twenty-two, Catherine Sloper is neither clever or beautiful, but to her delight she finds herself courted by the handsome and charming Morris Townsend. Is it her good and gentle heart that he desires, or her inheritance? For her father, Dr. Sloper, keeping his daughter away from her lover is a duty, a challenge and an entertainment. AUDITIONS: Sunday, November 24, 2002, starting at 12 noon with student monologues and at 1:30 p.m. with readings from the scripts. Auditions for THE MAI, by Marina Carr and THE HEIRESS by Ruth and Augustus Goetz, will be held in Williams Theatre. April 25, 26, May 1, 2, 3 8 p.m. April 27 and May 4 2:30 p.m. High School Matinee - May 1 10:30 a.m. Williams Theatre American Classics Summer Theatre Where's Charley Ray Bolger became an enduring star after playing the lead in Where’s Charley, a musical comedy of errors based on the beloved comedy Charley’s Aunt. At the turn of the century, the only way two decent young ladies, like Kitty and Amy, would stay in the company of two young men for the weekend, like Jack and Charley, would be with a chaperone, like Charley’s aunt. But what if Charley’s aunt never arrived and the boys were desperate to keep the young ladies around. When Charlie is mistaken to be his Aunt Donna Lucia while rehearsing for his graduation play in costume, Where’s Charley takes the audience on one musical fast-change after another. July 11, 12, 17, 18, 19 at 8 p.m. July 13, 20 at 2:30 p.m. Williams Theatre Studio Showcase 2002-2003 A new and exciting addition to our season. The IPFW Department of Theatre will feature a number and variety of performances throughout the season that will afford student and faculty theatre artists the opportunity to realize minimalistic productions of original works and ideas that will be developed through production process. Selection of pieces will be based upon a careful assessment of individual needs and potential and assurances that all involved will have ample opportunity for growth and development. Plans are underway for presentation of 5 to 6 pieces to be presented in the Studio Theatre during the 2002-03 season, ranging in genre from dance to drama. Season Flex-Pass holders will be admitted free of charge to any of the presentations in the Studio Showcase. 2002-03 Season Bye, Bye, Birdie
Corpus Christi is a go .. Read the Docket & the Judge's decision
American Classics Summer Theatre (Series IX) Dreamgirls Dreamgirls is the greatest high-voltage concept musical about the conventional American dream of "Making It Big In Show Business." This black musical traces the success of a vocal trio loosely based on The Supremes from the early days of 1962 Motown to their ultimate fame and success in Hollywood. Follow "The Dreams" meteoric rise to stardom with the "help" of their agent and experience how their personal and professional demons take them on the musical ride of a lifetime. July 12, 13, 18, 19, 20 at 8 p.m. July 14, 21 at 2:30 p.m. Williams Theatre
American Classics Summer Theatre (Series VIII)
Bye Bye Birdie featured at IPFW during Three Rivers Festival The IPFW Department of Theatre presents the American Classics Summer Theatre Series featuring the musical Bye Bye Birdie at the Williams Theatre from July 15 - 22. Set in the 1950's, Bye Bye Birdie tells the story of a rock and roll singer who is about to be inducted into the army. Conrad Birdie will bid a typical American teen-age girl goodbye with an all-American kiss on the Ed Sullivan Show. Bye Bye Birdie is a satire done with the fondest affection. IPFW's production will feature outstandin g high school talent in the area.20 Bye Bye Birdie features invited community guest artist Susan Domer in the role of Mae Peterson and faculty artist Craig A. Humphrey in the role of Harry McAfee. Unforgettable musical numbers from the show include "The Telephone Hour," 'Put On a Happy Face," "Kids," and "One Last Kiss." The IPFW production of Bye Bye Birdie, directed and choreographed by Larry L. Life, with musical direction by Stephen W. R. Sheftz, will feature Mark Dunn as Albert Peterson, Leslie Beauchamp as Rose Alvareza, Bridgett Bannec as Kim MacAfee and Daniel Ambrose as Conrad Birdie The cast is comprised of IPFW students, community actors and area high school students as the Sweet Apple, Ohio teenagers. (See cast list) The musical begins at 8:00 p.m. on July 13, 14, 19, 20, 21, 2001 and at 2:30
p.m. on July 15, 22, 2001 in Williams Theatre. Admission prices are as follows:
For more information, call the department of theatre, at 219-481-6555. Cast List for Bye Bye Birdie at IPFW
American Classics Summer Theatre (Series VII) COMPANY
SOUTH PACIFIC
MISS JULIE
AH, WILDERNESS!
BLOOD WEDDING
ON THE VERGE (OR THE GEOGRAPHY OF YEARNING)
THE TEMPEST
IPFW Department of Theatre
Assassins
Assassins is one of American Musical Theatre's most brilliant and dazzling achievements. Assassins is part history lesson, carny show, and vaudeville all Swirled into one. It is a controversial and surreal dissection of political assassination in America – a schizophrenic journey from John Wilkes Booth to Lee Harvey Oswald and beyond. Assassins is provocative entertainment that illuminates as it shocks and educates as it entertains. A work of unimpeachable craftsmanship and integrity, it views America's history of assassination as a perverse tradition, but an American one nonetheless. Instead of viewing the assassins as freaks and misfits outside the American experience, Sondheim and Weidman see them as products of it, victims of it, people who misread the guarantee of the right to pursuit of happiness as the right to be happy.
Spike Heels
Spike Heels is a modern-day Pygmalion attempt that goes awry in this contemporary comedy of manners which explores sexual harassment, misplaced romance and the endless possibilities in a four-sided love triangle. The characters are a volatile young woman named Georgie from the wrong side of the tracks, a writer with Professor Higgins tendencies, a less-than-ethical lawyer, and a fiancée in sensible shoes. Georgie's spike heels are her weapon to gaining the upper hand. By slipping into some shoes that give her height and show off her legs, Georgie takes charge and demands that the characters reevaluate assumptions about gender, work and class. "Spike Heels is a modern satire in which the battle of desire waged between the sexes finds redemption in affectionate equality." (from New York Times) You Can't Take It With You
Begin the holiday season with a bang! Bring the entire family to see the most successful and popular comedy ever written for the American Theatre. Let your family join the delightful Sycamore family on the maddest romp ever to hit the stage. The zany cast of characters include Grandpa who doesn't believe in income tax; Boris Kolenkhov, a Russian ballet dancer who is teaching Essie to dance even though he knows she stinks; Penny, who paints and is trying to write a play; Alice, who is in love with Tony Kirby whose parents are outrageous snobs; and Paul and Mr. DePinna, who are making fireworks in the basement if this group doesn't sound crazy enough, throw in an inebriated actress who keeps having hallucinations and a grand duchess who has defected from Russia and you have non-stop laughter. You Can't Take It With You is a warm and wonderful holiday delight that celebrates the joys of nonconformity. We will feature two high school matinee of You Can't Take It With You on December 8 and 9 at 10:30 p.m. High schools bringing groups will receive a special rate of $4.00 per student, and teachers who accompany the group will be admitted free. Arcadia
"The unpredictable and the predetermined unfold nature creates itself on every scale...the ordinary-sized stuff which is our lives, the things people write poetry about clouds, daffodils, waterfalls, and what happens in a cup of coffee when the cream goes in these things are full of mystery, as mysterious to us as the heavens were to the Greeks." (from Arcadia) This brilliant play takes us back and forth between the 19th and 20th centuries and explores the nature of truth and time, the difference between the classical and romantic temperament, and the disruptive influence of sex on our orbits in life.
How I Learned to Drive
How I Learned to Drive, the recipient of 1997 Lortel, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, New York Drama Critics and OBIE awards for best new play is the story of a young woman's coming-of-age in the 1960s and '70s. In flashback, Li'l Bit recounts growing up in a small Maryland town. Trapped in a comically dysfunctional family, Li'l Bit turns to the only person she feels she can trust – her Uncle Peck. Peck takes the young girl under his wing, listens to her, gives her driving lessons...and sexually abuses her. What follows is a complex and very troubling portrait of how this "relationship" changes over the years, and, ultimately, how it damages both people involved. Edith Stein
Edith Stein is a powerful and moving story of a remarkable Jewish woman who converted to Catholicism, became a Carmelite nun, achieved remarkable success in the male-dominated world of German philosophy, and was sent to a Nazi death camp when she refused to deny her Jewish heritage. A prayerful woman of deep spirituality and authentic mystical experience, Edith Stein remained an influential, active philosopher all her life. She vigorously opposed Nazism from the outset. A model Catholic, a brilliant intellectual, yet a profoundly humble soul, she affirmed her solidarity with her suffering Jewish people no matter the cost. Edith Stein was arrested by the Nazis at a Carmelite convent at Echt in Holland and sent to her death at Auschwitz. On October 11, 1998, Pope John Paul II canonized Edith Stein making her the first Jewish-born woman saint of the Roman Catholic Church since the Virgin Mary. SPECIAL HIGH SCHOOL MATINEES We will feature two high school matinees of Edith Stein on April 26 and 27, 2000 at 10:30 a.m. High schools bringing groups will receive a special group rate of $4.00 per student, and teachers who accompany the group will be admitted free.
Babes in Arms 1937
Performances are 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday in Williams Theatre, unless otherwise noted, on the campus at 2101 Coliseum Blvd. E.
1998-99 Season How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying
Auntie Mame
Go on a wonderful and heart-warming adventure with the sparkling and scatterbrained Auntie Mame. Mame Dennis Burnside has brightened the landscape of American theatre for many years with her whimsical gaiety, her slightly madcap adventures, and her devotion to her young nephew. Through fortunes that rose and fell and a pleasant but brief marriage to a likeable Southerner (who had the bad luck to tumble down from the Matterhorn) Auntie Mame's chief concem was raising her young nephew. Auntie Mame is a woman of spirit, innate kindness, and undefeatable courage. Our production will feature WPTA Channel 21 Alive anchor Melissa Long in the title role. Buried Child
Sam Shepard, playwright, film actor, and screenwriter won the Pulitzer Prize in 1979 for Buried Child, a play critics have described as "American Gothic." Buried Child is a comedy that emphasizes the rootlessness of the American family, its emotional chill, and its capacity for violence. The play is set in a shabby Midwestern farmhouse and focuses on a young man's attempt to rediscover his heritage and his identity within a family in the grip of sordid secrets, betrayals, coercion, infidelity, and exploitation. Buried Child is lyrical in its powerful images, comic in its truthfulness, and tragic in its harsh representation of traditional values and the American family. Oleanna
A college student, Carol, drops by her professor's office in an effort to gain his help to do better in class. John, the professor, in the midst of buying a house to celebrate his nomination for tenure, at first seems distant. As the first meeting progresses, the two discuss the nature of understanding and judgment in society, as well as their very own natures and places in our society. It seems as if a bond has been made. When next they meet we find that a report has been filed to the tenure committee. Carol has joined a "group" and has decided that John sexually harassed her during their first meeting. Their second meeting dissects the first; every word, every nuance of the first meeting has been twisted into something else. Or has it? John's unsuccessful attempts to convince Carol to retract her accusation escalate to a more dangerous level. The third meeting, one the court officers warned against, climaxes violently and leaves John and Carol both physically and emotionally devastated. As You Like It
As You Like It is one of Shakespeare's greatest comedies, and definitely one of his most sublimely serene. It includes dances, weddings, masques, and a wrestling match, yet it is beautifully stylized and philosophically eloquent.
Our heroine, one of the best women's roles Shakespeare ever wrote, is the indomitable Rosiland, in disguise as the young lad Gannymede. She eventually manages to straighten out all the twisting plots of love, revenge, and usurped dukes, but not before she waxes philosophical on life, love, marriage, and the trustworthiness of young men in love. As You Like It is a delightful pastoral comedy with something for everyone. In the Forest of Arden, all find respite from the exhausting and corrupting nature of court life, and by the end of the play all are renewed and restored to life. Mass Appeal
Father Tim Farley, a lover of the good things in life, is comfortably ensconced as priest of a prosperous Catholic congregation. Almost without realizing it, he has resorted to flattering his parishioners and entertaining them with sermons that skirt any disturbing issues--all in order to protect his Mercedes, his trips abroad, and the generous supply of fine wines which grace his table (and his desk drawer). His well-ordered world is disrupted by the arrival of Mark Dolson, an intense and idealistic young seminarian whom Father Farley reluctantly agrees to take under his wing. There is immediate conflict between the two as the younger man challenges the older priest's secular ways, while Father Farley is appalled by Mark's confession that he had led a life of bisexual promiscuity before entering the priesthood. Their final confrontation is a touching, yet very funny, examination of the nature of friendship, courage, and the infinite variety of love, as the older man is reminded of the firebrand he once was, and the younger comes to realize that forbearance is as vital to the Christian ethic as righteousness. The Hot L Baltimore
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