Current Production Season 2008-09

Last Five Years
Book, music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown

Directed by David Schuler
September 25, 26, 27 at 7:30pm (Special matinee Sept. 24 at 11 am)
CFA Theatre

From the Tony Award-winning composer/lyricist Jason Robert Brown, The Last Five Years tells the story of a marriage, chronicling the relationship of Jamie and Cathy entirely through song. We experience their first date, their wedding and their eventual break up. Brown uses the unconventional technique of telling Jamie’s side of the story from the beginning of the relationship going forward, while Cathy starts at the end of their relationship and works backwards. Funny and touchingly human, this highly theatrical journey of the inevitable "marital toboggan crash . . . will linger in your heart and mind, changing the way you look at life."


Dancing at Lughnasa by Brian Friel

Directed by David Schuler
November 6, 7, 8 at 7:30pm (Special matinee Nov. 5 at 11 am)
CFA Theatre

Told through the memory of Chris’ son Michael, Brian Friel’s Tony Award-winning play Dancing at Lughnasa weaves an unforgettable tale of five unmarried sisters eking out their lives in a small Irish village in l936. Their simple existence is interrupted by brief, colorful bursts of music from a radio, providing their only connection to the romance and hope of the outside world. Friel’s tribute to the spirit and valor of Ireland’s past is a haunting drama, simmering with an unfulfilled longing that eventually destroys the foundation of the Mundy family forever.


A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare

Directed by Ann Dillon Farrelly
December 4, 5, and 6 at 7:30pm (Special matinee Dec. 3 at 11 am)
CFA Theatre

One of William Shakespeare's most popular and widely-performed plays, A Midsummer Night's Dream is a romantic comedy that follows the misadventures of four young Athenian lovers as they find themselves in an enchanted forest populated by fairies choosing sides in a battle between the queen and king of the forest. Leading the misrule is Puck, one of Shakespeare’s most engaging characters. This play explores the nature of love and blurs the lines between what is real and what is fantasy.


The Laramie Project
By Moisés Kaufman and the Tectonic Theater Project

Directed by David Schuler
February 19, 20, 21 at 7:30pm (Special matinee Feb. 18 at 11 am)
CFA Theatre

Ben Brantley of The New York Times called The Laramie Project “Our Town with a question mark, as in `Could this be our town?’” This searing docudrama chronicles the life of Laramie, Wyoming in the year following the savage beating and brutal murder of Matthew Shepard. The play examines the complexities of hate crimes through media stereotypes, and confronts modern America’s notions about homosexuality, sexual politics, violence and basic human rights, asking the difference between tolerance and acceptance. The Laramie Project is a breathtaking theatrical collage that explores the depths to which humanity can sink and the heights of compassion of which we are capable.


Thoroughly Modern Millie
Music by Jeanine Tesori, Book and lyrics by Dick Scanlan and Richard Morris

Directed by Ann Dillon Farrelly
Musical Direction by Susan Savage Day
April 2, 3, 4 at 7:30pm, April 5 at 2pm (Special matinee April 1 at 11 am)
Brodbeck Concert Hall

Based on the 1967 film, Thoroughly Modern Millie won the Tony Award for best musical in 2002. Thoroughly Modern Millie tells the story of a small-town girl, Millie Dillmount, who comes to New York City to marry for money, not for love—a very modern idea in 1922. Millie soon finds herself a part of the flapper lifestyle, but problems arise when she checks into a hotel owned by the leader of a white slavery ring in China. With wonderful musical numbers, such as the instant classics “Gimme Gimme” and “Forget About the Boy” and high energy dancing, Millie is sure to please any audience.


One Act Festival

Directors TBD
April 29, 30, May 1, 2
CFA Theatre

Variety is the spice of life! Join us as we present a festival of short plays directed entirely by students.