Building on its mission to work toward social justice through performance, the Department of Theatre/Dance at Gustavus Adolphus College announces the 2009-2010 Anderson Theatre season. The season opens with three one-act plays — Far Away and Seven Jewish Children by Caryl Churchill and Seven Palestinian Children by Deb Margolin and continues with New Horizons, a dance concert featuring works choreographed by students in the department. December brings a physical theatre project directed by Henry MacCarthy to the stage. The spring semester opens in February with the musical Urinetown with book and lyrics by Greg Kotis and music by Mark Hollman, followed by Mary Zimmerman’s The Arabian Nights in April and Time to Soar: The Gustavus Dance Company in Concert, with faculty, guest and student choreographers in May.
Playwright Caryl Churchill’s provocative one-act plays, Far Away and Seven Jewish Children, A Play for Gaza, and Deb Margolin’s response, Seven Palestinian Children, directed by Amy Seham, open the new season in Anderson Theatre October 30 – November 7. The Churchill texts bring the audience frighteningly close to the reality of life in the dark humor and stunning images of Far Away. That reality continues with the challenge to examine our complicity in world oppression through the dialogue of parent to child in Seven Jewish Children and Seven Palestinian Children. Post-show discussions with cast, director, and guest experts are planned after most performances.
The department brings two dance concerts to the 2010 season. The fall concert, Choreographers’ Gallery: New Horizons, runs November 19-22, 2009, and features dances conceived by a number of the department’s most gifted student choreographers. Choreographers’ Gallery: New Horizons is directed by Melissa Rolnick.
Director Henry MacCarthy brings the Physical Theatre Project to the Black Box Theatre, December 10 – 13, 2009. Free from the limitations of the spoken text, this production will explore the expressive possibilities of the body in the construction of commonplace narratives for an exhilarating theatre experience.
The sassy, Tony-award-winning musical, Urinetown, combines sharp social satire with great music on the Anderson Theatre stage, February 19 – 28, 2010. With direction by Amy Seham and music direction by Christina Smith, Urinetown connects the department’s social justice mission with the theme of this year’s Nobel Conference — WATER. In a nightmare future parched by decades of drought, private toilets are outlawed and the “privilege to pee” is controlled by an evil and corrupt corporation. Watch as our heroes sing their way to freedom with hilarious parodies of show tunes in this delightful spoof of the Broadway musical.
Mary Zimmerman’s The Arabian Nights is a brilliant adaptation of the classic tale of One Thousand and One Nights and has been acclaimed as “a celebration of the salutatory powers of storytelling.” These ancient stories come to the Anderson stage, April 22-25, 2010, as Henry MacCarthy directs the cast through the efforts of Sheherazade to save her life, and the life of her sister, by telling stories to Shahryar, the Ruler of Baghdad. The result is enchanting, humorous, erotic and irreverent.
Time to Soar: The Gustavus Dance Company in Concert, concludes the season May 14 – 16, 2010, with performances by the highly acclaimed Gustavus Dance Company. Time to Soar, directed by Michele Rusinko and Melissa Rolnick, features works choreographed by Rolnick and Jeffrey Peterson, nationally recognized guest artists and selected student choreographers. It is a night of choreography, music and movement combined for a riveting dance experience.
Tickets for the 2009-2010 Anderson Theatre performances go on sale two weeks prior to opening night and can be purchased by calling the Gustavus Ticket Center, 507-933-7590. Tickets remaining unsold on the day of the event will go on sale one hour prior to show time at the box office in Anderson Theatre. For performance times, please check the Gustavus Fine Arts Calendar or call the Ticket Center for information.
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