Cutting-edge drama, lost Shakespeare, and singing pirates will take stages across Morgantown courtesy of West Virginia University’s School of Theatre & Dance. The School recently announced its 2016-17 season.
“Our faculty chose the pieces in this season to not only offer a vibrant slate of entertainment for our audiences, but to provide our diverse group of student actors, designers, and technicians with challenges that will help them become professional theatre practitioners,” said Joshua Williamson, director of the School of Theatre and Dance. “Whether it’s a ‘lost’ work by Shakespeare or a contemporary drama by Mamet, we want our season to speak to both our audiences and our students.”
The season will include:
“Race,” by David Mamet, in the Gladys G. Davis Theatre, Creative Arts Center, Sept. 23-Oct. 2: Three lawyers are forced to confront their own feelings about race when they’re offered the chance to defend a white man charged with a crime against a black woman. David Mamet’s customarily crackling dialogue and startling plot twists are the building blocks of a probing and intelligent look at some of the most controversial and important issues of our time. Directed by Jerry McGonigle.“Noises Off,” by Michael Frayn. in the Metropolitan Theatre, Morgantown, Oct. 13-16: Things go from bad to worse to beyond chaotic as a rag-tag theatre troupe prepares for the opening night of a new comedy, “Nothing On.” Onstage mishaps and backstage backstabbing reach laugh-out-loud heights in this classic comedic farce. Directed by Lee Blair.
“The Trojan Women,” by Euripides, Translated and Adapted by Gwendolyn MacEwen, in the Gladys G. Davis Theatre, Creative Arts Center, Nov. 17-18, 29-Dec. 4: A meditation on the true cost of war, “The Trojan Women” raises up the voices of the survivors of Troy’s fall to the Greeks as they learn their fates. Separation, despair, and death—along with sharp and painful lessons—await the women of Troy in this magnificent and timeless tragedy. Directed by Jay Malarcher.
“Dance Now,” in the Lyell B. Clay Concert Theatre, Creative Arts Center, Feb. 2-4, 2017: WVU’s annual dance concert gives audiences the opportunity to experience a wide variety of styles in an eclectic and electric evening of choreography. A mix of student, faculty and guest choreographers join forces with visiting troupes to bring the best of dance to the Creative Arts Center.
“Pericles,” by William Shakespeare, in the Gladys G. Davis Theatre, Creative
Arts Center, March 2-3, 14-19, 2017: The titular prince is in love with a princess,
but dark secrets put Pericles in danger and left him on the run! Terror and
tragedy dog his steps in the years that follow in this mysterious entry into
the Bard’s canon. Follow Pericles as he deals with lascivious royals, treacherous
seas, and a lifetime of surprises.
“The Pirates of Penzance,” by Arthur Sullivan and W.S. Gilbert, Lyell B.
Clay Concert Theatre, Creative Arts Center, April 6-9, 2017: Long before Disney
pirates started to yuk it up in the Caribbean, Gilbert and Sullivan’s seafaring
brigands were blending romantic comedy with glorious song in this beloved operetta.
Join the School of Music and School of Theatre & Dance as they tell a tale
of reluctant pirates, fair maidens, and questionable naval intelligence. Directed
by Lee Blair.
For more information on the School of Theatre & Dance, visit theatre.wvu.edu.