PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE 2009-10

Next Mainstage Show -

CRIMES OF THE HEART by Beth Henley

Warm-hearted, irreverent, zany and brilliantly imaginative, BETH HENLEY’S play teems with humanity and humor as it examines the plight of three young Mississippi sisters betrayed by their passions. An astonishing first play, initially presented by the Actors Theatre of Louisville, then Off-Broadway, and then on Broadway, where it established the author as a major voice in our theatre. "While this play overflows with infectious high spirits, it is also, unmistakably, the tale of a very troubled family. Such is Miss Henley's prodigious talent that she can serve us pain as though it were a piece of cake." —NY Times. "It has heart, wit and a surprisingly zany passion that must carry all before it…it would certainly be a crime for anyone interested in the theatre not to see this play." —NY Post. "From time to time a play comes along that restores one's faith in our theatre…" —NY Magazine.

Winner of the 1981 Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award.

Crimes of the Heart is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York

Directed by Glenn Gauer

Scenic Design by Glenn Gauer

Costume Design by Margaret Chapman

Performs Friday, May 28 - Saturday, June 5, 2010
at 7:30 p.m. on Tues. through Sat. performances
and 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 30
at PCPA - Winningstad Theatre - FREE for PSU Students!

Complete 2009 - 2010 Performance Season

Fall 2009

THE TEMPEST by William Shakespeare

Part dream, part nightmare, The Tempest creates a world in which nothing can be taken for granted, where nothing is as it seems. The play begins with a terrifying storm, moves through acts of treachery and romance, and ends in forgiveness and reconciliation. Or does it?

Ethereal and earthbound at once, Prospero’s enchanted isle is a laboratory in which the full capacity of human beings for good and ill is put under the theatrical microscope. An exiled duke, his daughter, his servants, a spirit and a savage slave, encounter a diverse set of castaways—among them a king, his son, Prospero’s treacherous brother, and two lowlifes, a drunken butler and a disreputable court jester. The island is suspended between spirit and beast, between Ariel and Caliban, between magic and the aspiration for freedom, on the one hand, and conspiracy and a desire for vengeance, on the other.

The Tempest reveals a poet and theatrical giant at the height of his powers.

Directed by William Tate & Carolyn Holzman
Scenic and Lighting Design by Bruce Keller
Costume Design by Margaret Chapman

Performs Friday, Nov. 20 through Saturday Nov. 28, 2009
at Artists Repertory Theatre - Morrison Stage

Winter 2010

PROOF by David Auburn

David Auburn’s Proof explores the unknowability of love as much as the mysteries of mathematics. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2001, as well as other major drama awards, Proof was the first major production by Chicago-born playwright Auburn.

FESTIVAL OF SHORT PLAYS

Student Projects from Directing II, February 9-27 at Noon and 7:30 in the New Studio Theatre. Free.
General seating. Doors open 1/2 hour before performance.
Performances are scheduled as follows:

Group A: T-R (Feb. 9 - 11) at 12:15 - 1:15
Before Breakfast by Eugene O'Neil
A classic Eugene O'Neil glimpse into the disturbing world of alcoholism, poverty and infidelity.

Naomi in the Living Room by Christopher Durang
Christopher Durang's absurdist take on dysfunctional family dynamics.
^{Naomi in the Living Room is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York}

Group B: F-S (Feb. 12 - 13) at 7:30
Night Visits by Simon Fill
An intern has been working for over thirty hours on the anniversary of his wife's death in a car accident when
an unusual patient comes into the hospital.

Wedding Duet by Lauren Wilson

Group C: T-R (Feb. 16 - 18) at 12:15 - 1:15
Idiot's Guide by Miranda Million
A crazy mix-up results in gender-bending hilarity as two awkward individuals look to Dr. Date's best-selling Idiot's
Guide to Dating for the fine points of sparking up a successful relationship.

Alone at Last! by Gina Barnett
A teen couple try to explore their burgeoning sexuality while being accosted by the voices of their parents, friends
and therapist. Hilarity ensues.

Group E: T.-R. (Feb. 23 -25) at 12:15 - 1:15
This Property is Condemned by Tennessee Williams
^{This Property is Condemned is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York}

That All of Us Should Be Fed by Eliza Anderson
^{Produced by special arrangement with Samuel French}

Group F: F-S (Feb. 26 - 27) at 7:30 p.m.
Three More Sleepless Nights by Caryl Churchill
^{Produced by special arrangement with Samuel French}

WORKING A Musical

From the book by Studs Terkel
Adapted by Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso

The hopes, dreams, joys and concerns of the average working American are the focus of this unique, extraordinary musical. That the everyday lives of “common” men and women should be so compelling and moving will surprise and inspire anyone who has ever punched a time clock. Based on Studs Terkel’s best-selling book of interviews with American workers, “Working” paints a vivid portrait of the men and women the world so often takes for granted: the schoolteacher, the parking lot attendant, the waitress, the millworker, the mason, the trucker, the fireman, the housewife, just to name a few. It’s a highly original look at the American landscape that’s simply impossible to forget.

Adapted by Stephen Schwartz (Pippin, Godspell, Wicked) with songs by James Taylor, Craig Carnelia, Micki Grant, Mary Rodgers and Susan Birkenhead.

Directed by Sarah Andrews-Collier
Musical Direction by Mike Van Liew
Lighting Design by Glenn Gauer
Costume Design by Margaret Chapman
Scenic Design by Jeff Seats
Choreography by Carolyn Holzman

Performs Friday, Mar. 5 - Saturday, Mar. 13, 2010
at 7:30 p.m. on Tues. through Sat. performances
and 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, Mar. 7
at Artists Repertory Theatre - Morrison Stage

SEATING IS LIMITED. BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW!

FESTIVAL OF NEW WORKS

Student dramatic writing projects in day and evening workshop performances in February and May. Free.

Spring 2010

The Maids

By Jean Genet
Translated from the French by Bernard Frechtman
Produced by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.

Two maids escape their doldrums by entering into a vicious game of role play and fantasy. When they attempt to transcend their position in society and overthrow their mistress, they find themselves reeling out of control. Illusion, deception, and murder collide in this taut psychological drama by Jean Genet.

Directed by Mark Hayes
Lighting Design by Kevin Crowe
Prop Design by Katelyn Redinger
Performed by Noelle Eaton, Anneke Wisner, and Zoee Garza

Performs Friday April 9 & Saturday April 10 at 8pm
at the New Studio Theater, Market Center Building, Suite 110, 1600 SW 4th

Tickets at the Door
$7 General Admission
$5 Students & Seniors
Cash Only

CRIMES OF THE HEART by Beth Henley

Warm-hearted, irreverent, zany and brilliantly imaginative, BETH HENLEY’S play teems with humanity and humor as it examines the plight of three young Mississippi sisters betrayed by their passions. An astonishing first play, initially presented by the Actors Theatre of Louisville, then Off-Broadway, and then on Broadway, where it established the author as a major voice in our theatre. "While this play overflows with infectious high spirits, it is also, unmistakably, the tale of a very troubled family. Such is Miss Henley's prodigious talent that she can serve us pain as though it were a piece of cake." —NY Times. "It has heart, wit and a surprisingly zany passion that must carry all before it…it would certainly be a crime for anyone interested in the theatre not to see this play." —NY Post. "From time to time a play comes along that restores one's faith in our theatre…" —NY Magazine.

Winner of the 1981 Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award.

Crimes of the Heart is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York

Directed by Glenn Gauer

Scenic Design by Glenn Gauer

Costume Design by Margaret Chapman

Performs Friday, May 28 - Saturday, June 5, 2010
at 7:30 p.m. on Tues. through Sat. performances
and 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 30
at PCPA - Winningstad Theatre - FREE for PSU Students!

Movement Performance

Carolyn Holzman, Director
Three different plays are combined to create this performance: Wandering by Lanford Wilson, Interview by Jean-Claude van Itallie, The Nose by Nikolai Gogol (adapted by Carolyn Holzman).

Wandering. Written in 1968 by one of the founders of the Off-off Broadway theater movement, Wandering is a poetic distilled play that in ten minutes covers forty years of a man's life. Wilson's Pulitzer Prize winning drama is perhaps an anti-war piece, but more than that it suggests that this unnamed everyman lives a conventional life but is suffocated by it.

Interview. The first part of a trilogy of plays called America Hurrah, Van Itallie's work premiered in 1966 to great acclaim. In this strongly ensemble piece, the eight actors never leave the stage. It is, at heart, a protest play but elegantly presented with a tapestry of shifting scenes and characters , all united by a sense of searching, of yearning, and confrontation with unsympathetic authorities

The Nose. Collegiate Assessor Kovalyev wakes up without his nose. In another part of the city, a barber cuts open his morning bread and finds the missing nose. Soon the nose appears as a separate character, at first refusing to be reunited with Kovalyev. The absurdity of Gogol's mysterious story is, as one critic called it: "a rich comedy that suddenly turns into a metaphysical horror."

Wandering and Interview are presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York

Performs at the New Studio Theater, Market Center Building, Suite 110, 1600 SW 4th

June 3, 4, 5, 6 at 7:30pm.June 5 and 6 will also have matinee showings at 2pm.

Tickets are $8 for Adults, $5 students and seniors.
Cash only at the door

FESTIVAL OF NEW WORKS

Student dramatic writing projects in day and evening workshop performances in February and May. Free.

Ticket Information

PSU BOX OFFICE: 503-725-3307

Ticket Prices for Mainstage Productions:
*PSU Students: $8.00 ($5.00 tickets available for Tuesday, Wednesday night shows ONLY)
*Students/Seniors/PSU Staff: $8.00
*Adults: $10.00
*Groups of 20 or more: $7.00
(*Includes Service Charge)

Parking free in PSU Lots after 7 p.m. and on Sundays

Festival of Short Plays, Festival of New Works, and Dance Performances Series: Free of Charge