The 2011/2012 Production Season
Group Project: Zombie Apocalypse
Group Project: Zombie Apocalypse, a devised theatre piece by students of THAR250
Instructor: David O’Connor
A sextet of graduating Penn students think they are competing for an internship by participating in a Reality TV Gameshow, but find themselves competing to determine who is best prepared to survive the upcoming Zombie Apocalypse. You play the studio audience, and participate in determining who wins, and who is left behind.
Performances at:
Kings Court English College House
Game Room
Saturday, April 21 at 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.
Sunday, April 22 at 12:00 noon
Free and open to members of the University of Pennsylvania community with Penn ID cards.
A Year of Games Project
Co- sponsored by:
Kings Court English College House
Theatre Arts Program
Previous 2011-2012 Productions
On The Town
Music by Leonard Bernstein
Book and Lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green
March 14 – 17, 2012
HAROLD PRINCE THEATRE
ANNENBERG CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
Directed by David A. Fox and Dr. Rosemary Malague
Musical Direction by Zachary Wiseley
Lighting Design by Peter Whinnery
Costume Design by Millie Hiibel
Scenic Design by Eric Baratta
On the Town is a classic American musical, composed by Leonard Bernstein, with libretto and lyrics by the famous writing team Betty Comden and Adolph Green. The setting is New York in World War II, when three young sailors hit the town for a day’s leave in the big city (the show’s most famous song is “New York, New York”). Over the course of the day, they encounter three young women, an anthropologist, a taxi driver, and an aspiring performer—and adventures ensue.
The musical is both exuberant and poignant, featuring six vibrant young people, eager to embrace life; their exciting day in New York is set against the backdrop of war—and their own uncertain futures.
Penn’s Theatre Arts Program is very pleased to produce this musical, which has not had a revival in Philadelphia for a great many years. The production was directed by faculty members David Fox and Rose Malague.
Production photos (by Michael Marfione, photographer. marfione@me.com)
Subway Scene
At the Museum
"Carried Away"
"Come Up To My Place"
Chase Scene
Raja Bimmy's Harem
Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992
By Anna Deavere Smith
A Workshop Production
February 16 and 17, 2012
7:30pm
Bruce Montgomery Theatre, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
Ticket information for Twilight Los Angeles,1992:
For members of the Penn community, tickets available for purchase on Penn's 'Locust Walk' at various times during the week of the performance and for the general public at the Theatre at 7pm on each night of performance (while supplies last).
No internet or phone sales are available for this production. Tickets will be sold at the venue, not the Annenberg Center Box Office.
Directed by Danielle Bainbridge
Faculty project advisor: Cary M. Mazer
Featuring a company of senior Theatre Arts majors.
Stage Manager: Noah Levine
A documentary theatre piece that critically evaluates American racial politics in the wake of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, Anna Deveare Smith’s Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 presents as many problems as it refuses to offer solutions. Originally researched, written and performed by Deveare Smith as a one woman show, Twilight is a series of candid interviews with LA residents in the aftermath of the events that shook this nation. The trial of the police officers responsible for beating Rodney King, a young African American man, was widely televised. The events surrounding King’s arrest and the subsequent trial sparked national debate about the nature of race, privilege and police brutality in America. Here Deveare Smith seamlessly represents the full spectrum of experiences, interviewing such diverse candidates as famed opera singer Jessye Norman, former Black Panther Party member and activist Elaine Brown, philosopher and critic Cornel West alongside a juror from the court case, the aunt of Rodney King and one of the police officers responsible for the attack on King. This piece is equal parts gripping, horrifying and empathetic as it grapples with an American landscape, irreparably changed by the controversial trial and the reverberations of the aftermath.
Production photos (by Michael Marfione, photographer. marfione@me.com)
THE ROVER
By Aphra Behn
Directed by Dr. James F. Schlatter
Bruce Montgomery Theatre
November 16-19, 2011
**Please note the start time for this production is 7pm
Tickets available at www.pennpresents.org or by calling 215.898.3900
In her brilliant, witty, and provocative play, Behn, England’s first professional female playwright, sets her young characters free--or rather turns them loose--at Carnivale to seek libertine pleasures, fantastic new identities, and, just possibly, true love. Capturing her own time, Restoration London, Behn speaks very much to ours, when the boundaries between the faces of reality and the masks of reality T.V., between love and the games of seduction, and between who we are and who we pretend we are become dangerously blurred. Students earn academic credit as members of the cast and also as members of the production staff.
Cast List for THE ROVER
FLORINDA…………………………………ELYSSA EDELMAN
HELENA……………………………………MARISA BRAU
ANGELLICA……………………………….DEANNA SUPPLEE
BELVILLE………………………………….BEN LERNER
FREDERICK……………………………….JAY RODRIGUES
BLUNT………………………………………ADAM HAMILTON
WILLMORE………………………………..PETER MILLER
PEDRO……………………………………..JEFFREY JOHNSON
ANTONIO…………………………………..RAWSON FAUX
SPIRITS OF THE MASQUERADE:
RACHEL CATTO
ANNA PAN
ARIEL KOREN
DIRECTOR…………………………………DR. JAMES F. SCHLATTER
STAGE MANAGER……………………….NICOLE MCGARRY
Production Images from THE ROVER
LOOK/ALIVE
Bruce Montgomery Theatre, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
A Penn Humanties Forum Co-Sponsored Event
September 15-17 7:30pm
Tix: $6 / $5 Penncard, Senior and Student
For tickets, visit: www.pennpresents.org or call 215.898.3900
Devised collaboratively by the company of six actors, director Cary Mazer, and their
theatrical colleagues in Philadelphia, Look/Alive uses narration and movement to retell
myths, fairy tales and folktales from Ovid, Grimm, Anderson and others, about avatars,
statues, echoes, mirrors, reflections, and demonic possession, all of which depict the
seductive danger of images. Wii players fall in love with their avatars; a puppeteer
wishes his marionettes could come to life; a sculptor falls in love with his statue; a nymph
fails to capture the attention of her beloved when she can only verbally mirror his words;
a young man falls in love with his own reflection; a witch sucks her victims into a mirror;
and an over-protective mother, succumbing to a voice echoing inside of her, kills her
step-son, only to discover that his essence, protected by the spirit of his late mother, has
returned to take his revenge.
Production photos (by Michael Marfione, photographer. marfione@me.com)
PREVIOUS SEASONS:
The 2010/2011 Production Season
CYRANO DE BERGERAC
by Edmond Rostand
Newly Adapted by Michael Hollinger and Aaron Posner
A Script Reading Project
To be directed by Cary Mazer
Featuring members of the Penn Theatre Arts community and Philadelphia professional Greg Wood
Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
3680 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104
7pm March 18 , 2011
Hollinger’s new translation aims to be spare and actor-friendly; immediate and theatrical; and true to the poetic sense of the original, though it does not adhere to Rostand’s strict meter and rhyming couplets. Rather, lyricism becomes a quality that waxes and wanes depending on the dramatic needs of each scene, and is developed through a range of poetic devices, including end rhyme, internal rhyme, alliteration, assonance, consonance, etc.
Photos from this performance, featuring members of the Theatre Arts community and Philadelphia actor Greg Wood:
Transfixed
A Documentary Play
by Elisa Asencio, Nikhil Dingra, Ali-Reza Mirsajadi, and Richard Norman
directed by Cary Mazer
Bruce Montgomery Theatre
September 15 + 16, 2010
Compiled from verbatim sources—public speeches and documents, newspaper articles, interviews, tv shows, memos, press releases, blogs, and internet postings—Transfixed is a full-length documentary theatre piece about how governments and cultures control gender, sexuality, and sexual orientation by granting or denying visibility. Linking disparate issues and events such as a Mississippi high school student who wanted to go to her prom with her lesbian girlfriend, a transsexual who competed on America’s Next Top Model, sex-change operations in Iran, and the U.S. military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, Transfixed is about the questions that society doesn’t want to ask, and the stories that people aren’t allowed to tell to answer those questions.
Production photos:
Urinetown
The Musical
By Greg Kotis and Mark Hollmann
Directed by Dr. James F. Schlatter
Bruce Montgomery Theatre
November 16-20, 2010 8pm
Tickets: $10 general admission / $8 Penncard holder, seniors, students with id
For tickets, visit: www.pennpresents.org or call the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts Box Office at 215.898.3900
Gotta pee? Can’t pay? Too bad! That is the excruciatingly hilarious premise of Urinetown: the Musical, the sensation of the 1999 New York International Fringe Festival and winner of nine Tony Awards in 2001. Penn’s Theatre Arts Program returns the show to its rough and raucous downtown roots in an in-your-face cabaret-style production in the Annenberg Center’s intimate Bruce Montgomery Theater, running November 16-20, at 8:00 p.m.
Dr. James F. Schlatter of the Theatre Arts faculty directs this production, a featured program in the University of Pennsylvania Provost’s Year of Water events.
The Theatre Arts Program has hired Zachary Wiseley as the Musical Director/Accompanist for this production. Philadelphia professional Millie Hiibel will be designing costumes, Peter Whinnery will design lighting and Eric Baratta designs the scenic environment. Shannon Murphy, choreographer and dancer has joined the artistic team of URINETOWN as a movement director/consultant. For more information on Ms. Murphy's work, visit http://www.groupmotion.org/
Special Event: Following the Thursday, November 18 performance:
“LAUGH ‘TIL YOU CRY”
THE AMERICAN MUSICAL AND THE CREATION OF A
NEW POLITICAL THEATRE FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
Following the Thursday, November 18th performance of Urinetown, produced by Penn’s Theatre Arts Program, a panel of Penn faculty and scholars will discuss the production in the context of new developments in the form of the American musical, modern American political theatre, and the influence on both of Bertolt Brecht’s plays and theories in creating a new political musical theatre in the 21st Century. The production and this panel are made possible in part by the generous support of the Provost’s Office, in conjunction with the Year of Water theme this year in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Panel Participants:
David Fox. Panel Moderator. Director of Academic Initiatives for the Provost's Office, including Penn Reading Project and New Student Orientation. Lecturer in Theatre Arts, where he teaches courses in American musical theatre and directs productions.
Dr. James F. Schlatter. Member of the Theatre Arts faculty. Director of Urinetown.
Special research and teaching interest in modern American theatre, including the political theatre of the 1930’s and 1960’s.
Professor Anat Feinberg. University of Heidelberg. Visiting Scholar in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. Specialist in postwar German theatre and Jewish Studies.
Mr. Stanley Laskowski. Lecturer in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. Special interests include the attainment of the UN Millenium Development Goals for water and sanitation, and global environmental management and regulation. He is one of the founders of the Philadelphia Global Water Initiative.
Production photos:
The Good Times are Killing Me
by Lynda Barry
Directed by Dr. Marcia Ferguson
Bruce Montgomery Theatre
February 23, 24, 25, 26, 2011
Tickets: $8 General Admission / $6 Senior/penncard holder
The Good Times Are Killing Me by Lynda Barry, graphic artist and cartoonist, about an inter-racial friendship between two girls on a suburban block during the "white flight" of the 1960's. Full of music, street dance, and humor, the play deals with serious subjects through the lens of a sweet and sour coming-of-age tale. Many technical positions are open for this production, and there are many opportunities for actors, singers, and dancers, although no experience is necessary in any of the above categories.
Production Photos:
The 2009/2010 Production Season
Museum
by Tina Howe
Directed by Dr. Rosemary Malague
March 26 8pm
March 27 2pm
March 27 7:30pm
March 28 2pm
Arthur Ross Gallery, Fisher Fine Arts Library
Tickets available during the performance week on Locust Walk or on the web through Penn Presents or by calling: 215.898.3900
Museum, a comic play by Tina Howe, is set in the contemporary gallery of an art museum on the final day of a group show. The real “show,”
however, is the parade of forty visitors, as they interact with one another and react wildly to all they see. Museum looks at people looking at art— to hilarious and moving effect.
The cast of twenty-seven actors features students, faculty, staff, and other members of the Penn community.
Post-Performance Special Events for Saturday, March 27
2:00 p.m. – “Talk to the Artists”
After the matinee, stay, walk through the gallery, and talk with the artists who created the exhibits on display.
7:30 p.m. – “Looking at Looking at Art” – Post-Performance Panel Discussion and Reception
Playwright Tina Howe will participate in a panel discussion moderated by Dr. James Schlatter after the evening performance. A Q&A period and reception will follow. Panelists include:
Colette Copeland, Critical Writing Program, Program in Visual Studies
Marcia Ferguson, Theatre Arts Program
Aaron Levy, English, Executive Director and Chief Curator of Slought Foundation
Rose Malague, Director of Theatre Arts Program
Martina Plag, Creative Director of Stadium - Praxis
Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, Art History, Director of Program in Visual Studies
Production Images:
Previous productions:
Our Town
by Thornton Wilder
Directed by Dr. James F. Schlatter
Performance Dates: November 18, 20, 21 @ 8pm AND November 21@ 2pm (There will be no Thursday performance)
The Bruce Montgomery Theatre , Annenberg Center
General Admission Seating
Tickets available during the performance week on Locust Walk or on the web through Penn Presents or by calling: 215.898.3900
On November 18th through the 21st at 8:00 p.m. in the Montgomery Theatre in the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, the Theatre Arts Program presents Thornton Wilder’s classic play, Our Town, one of the great works of the American theatre. Our Town celebrates the love, strength of character, and simple generosity that bind together the citizens of a small New England town and, by implication, of America. As relevant today as it was when first performed in 1938 during a similar time of economic and social crisis in America, Our Town does more than just idealize a long-lost innocent time in our country’s past. The play asks audiences: What is it that remains alive in the American character that, despite the passing of the decades, enables us to endure as a country? Please join the dedicated student cast of Our Town as they bring to vivid theatrical life the town of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire at the start of the 20th Century.
OUR TOWN
By Thornton Wilder
THEATRE ARTS PROGRAM FALL PRODUCTION
DIRECTOR: Dr. James F. Schlatter
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR/STAGE MANAGER: Elisabeth Humphrey
LIGHTING DESIGNER: John Campbell (Senior Thesis Candidate in Design)
SCENIC DESIGNER: Marissa Krupen
SOUND DESIGNER: Anthony Baruffi
COSTUME DESIGNER: Kristen Sophie Snyder
ASSISTANT COSTUME DESIGNER: Sarah Boice
LIGHTING DESIGN ADVISOR: Peter Whinnery
PRODUCTION MANAGER & TECHNICAL DIRECTOR: Eric Baratta
CAST LIST:
Max Black………………………………..Doc Gibbs
Emma Margolin…………………………Mrs. Gibbs
Michael Jorizzo…………………………George Gibbs
DeAnna Supplee……………………….Rebecca Gibbs
Andrew Steinmetz…………………… Mr. Webb
Nicole Davis…………………………….Mrs. Webb
Jenny Hardy…………………………….Emily Webb
Ali-Reza Mirsajadi……………………...Simon Stimson/
Wally Webb
Mingo Reynolds………………………...Mrs. Soames
Thomas Flint…………………………….Constable Warren/
Joe Stoddard
Alex Lustik………………………………Howie Newsome/
Sam Craig
Sue Gavin-Leone……………………….Professor Willard
Adam Hamilton…………………………Joe/Si Crowell
The role of the Stage Manager will be played by the
Director and the members of the company.
Production Images:
The Country
by Martin Crimp
A Senior Honors Thesis in Directing
Directed by Elisabeth Humphrey
February 25-27, 2010
Bruce Montgomery Theatre, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
General Admission Seating
Tickets available during the performance week on Locust Walk or by calling: 215.898.3900
Montgomery Theatre, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
THE COUNTRY by Martin Crimp. Richard and Corinne move to the country for a fresh start. Accustomed to a chaotic urban lifestyle, Corinne hopes that the solitude and simplicity of country life will be the answer to their marital troubles. Instead, she finds herself trapped in an urban wasteland where her husband's lies and deceit are revealed. Who is the mysterious girl lying unconscious on their couch and why did Richard bring her home? Martin Crimp's new play is a gripping, tense account of the dark side of country life and a wife's obsession with the truth.
THE COUNTRY will run from February 25-27, 2010, in the Bruce Montgomery Theatre, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.
Production Images:
