AUBURN UNIVERSITY 2008-2009 SEASON
Picasso at the Lapin Agile
by Steve Martin
Director: Scott Phillips
Mainstage-- Sept. 24-26, 28, Oct. 1-4, 2008.
“The moment is coming. I can feel it.”
Steve Martin’s Picasso at the Lapin Agile has attracted audiences in droves and set records as a "longest running show" in theaters throughout the country. It won the 1996 Outer Critics Circle Awards for best play and best writer, having begun at an informal reading that took place Steve Martin's Beverly Hills home with Tom Hanks and Chris Sarandon reading the leading roles.
The story is a fantasy in which Picasso, Einstein and others meet in a bar before Picasso's and Einstein's larger fame sets in. Steve Martin has said the play is "really about how exciting it is when you're on the verge of something." The play combines two of Martin's passions—art and science. When a visitor from the future arrives in the form of a hip-swiveling singer from Memphis, Martin adds a third major influence of the 20th century. But which will have the biggest impact on humanity? Art, science, or pop culture?
Lady Windermere’s Fan
by Oscar Wilde
Director: Daydrie Hague
Mainstage—Nov. 13-14, 16, 19-21, 2008.
“With the proper background, women can do anything.”
Set amidst the drawing rooms of Victorian high society, Oscar Wilde's 1892 classic has spawned a hatful of oft-quoted witticisms, but also juxtaposes stylish comedy with sly commentary on the morals of the day, particularly regarding women and marriage. When Wilde was asked about the opening performance of the play he said, "Oh, the play was a great success, but the audience was a total failure!" In fact Lady Windemere's Fan was a great hit and made the playwright £7,000 in its first year.
The play takes a witty, but fully honest look at the strict rules governing the upper class—and the considerable consequences of breaking those rules. Suspecting her husband of infidelity with a woman of ill-repute, Lady Windermere decides to strike back at him with her own unfaithfulness. An unlikely rescuer prevents her from committing this act, saving her from the deed and its damage to her reputation.
Into The Woods
by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine
Director: Dan LaRocque--
Mainstage—Feb. 18-22, 25-28, 2009.
“Careful the things you say, children will listen.”
Does marrying a prince really lead to a happy ever after? And just
what does one do with a dead giant in the back yard?
Questions from these and other familiar fairy tales are cleverly and
heartfully addressed in this 1987 Tony Award-winning musical by
Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine.
Featuring a number of Grimm’s fairy tales including “Jack and the
Beanstalk,” “Cinderella,” “Little Red Riding Hood,”
“Sleeping Beauty,” “Snow White” and “Rapunzel,” Into The
Woods deals with consequences that traditional fairy tales
conveniently ignore. Ultimately, all of the characters in the stories
must deal with what happens after “happily ever after.”
The America Play
by Suzan-Lori Parks
Director: Heather May
Mainstage—April 1-5, 2009.
“I need tuh know thuh real thing from thuh echo. Thuh truth from thuh hearsay.”
What happens when our history is reduced to soundbites and sidebars?
“Cant stop diggin till you dig up somethin.”
What happens when your history was never recorded?
“A wink to Mr. Lincoln’s pasteboard cut out.”
Join The Lesser Known as he searches for answers in the Great Hole of History, fulfilling his calling as a Digger and walking in the footsteps of the Great Man.
He digged the hole and the whole held him.
Surrealistic sideshow, troubled dream, poetic riff on black identity: The America Play by Suzan-Lori Parks, defies easy categorization.
It also defies easy explanations.
If, however, you like the freedom to wonder (and wander) about works of art, if the space between words intrigues you as much as words themselves, then The America Play is definitely worthy of your concentrated attention. Ms. Parks has written a script that is American through and through. Inverting conventional patriotic imagery and fragmenting famous proclamations, she is taking metaphorical account of the very country itself.
Parks brings a powerful African American female perspective to contemporary theatre. The America Play traces the travels of a black man across the U.S. reenacting the assassination of Abraham Lincoln over and over, as other characters try to extricate themselves from the giant pit of history (and try to figure out how they got into it).
One of the contemporary American theater's most innovative wordsmiths. Ms. Parks is also a screenwriter, novelist, Pulitzer Prize winner, and MacArthur "Genius" grantee.
King Henry V
The Acting Company / Guthrie Theater Production of
Henry V
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Davis McCallum
April 15, 2009
“Once more unto the breach, dear friends...”
Minneapolis’ Guthrie Theater and The Acting Company will co-produce a national tour Shakespeare’s King Henry V in 2009 combining the artistry and passion of two of America’s pre-eminent theaters. Young, restless and ambitious, Henry V inherits a troubled crown and seeks to secure his position at home by turning the country’s attention abroad, launching a hasty invasion of France. Shakespeare’s charismatic warrior King’s aggressive pursuit of the French crown earns him iconic status, uniting England and France and briefly banishing the civil strife that will long outlive him.
This Shakespearean epic follows Henry and his men through the brutality of warfare as the ragtag “band of brothers” confronts heavy opposition and their own destinies. Featuring the combined artistic resources of two of the country’s most respected professional theatre companies, the production is a superb portrait of one of the world’s great playwrights at the height of his powers-- expertly balancing the thrilling heroics of battle with the painful and complex reactions of men who are sometimes unsure of the justice of their cause. A rousing, fascinating story of the power of courage and the price of glory.
dAUnce VII
Director: Adrienne WIlson
Mainstage—April 23-26, 2009
Dancing faces you towards Heaven, whichever direction you turn.
Our seventh annual celebration of dance featuring a festival of performances and master classes conducted by internationally acclaimed artists working side by side with Auburn University students in a thrilling event that has become a regular feature of our theatre season. |
