COME BE CAPTIVE AND CAPTIVATED!The 2019-2020 Season features a wide range of content, from comedy to drama, theatre to film, historical fact to embellished fiction—all unified by the theme “hostage situations.” With plots that highlight a literal interpretation of this phrase, to those that are more figurative, the season will explore those forces and events that constrain and bind us as humans. Come be a part of our captive and captivated audiences. We hope that you will join us (willingly)!
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THE MOVING PICTURES PROJECT
Featuring Ruth, a new film by Shannon Ivey
September 20 @ 7:30 PM
The Studio Theatre, Weston Center for the Performing Arts
After the railroad forces her alcoholic husband to move north, Ruth DeLay¬—a pregnant, destitute mother of four–desperately seeks to end her pregnancy, in order for her family to survive the Great Depression.
Ruth is based on a true story.
In partnership with Alamo City Studios, Theatre For Change, the Brown Endowment, and TLU Dramatic Media--Ruth (PG-13) will have a one-night only preview, before entering the film-festival circuit. Ruth was developed and produced as part of the annual Moving Pictures Project initiative to create a film/media project. It continues our commitment to film production and collaboration between students, faculty members, and regional professional artists.
Viewer discretion advised: contains mature subject matter.
Ruth is based on a true story.
In partnership with Alamo City Studios, Theatre For Change, the Brown Endowment, and TLU Dramatic Media--Ruth (PG-13) will have a one-night only preview, before entering the film-festival circuit. Ruth was developed and produced as part of the annual Moving Pictures Project initiative to create a film/media project. It continues our commitment to film production and collaboration between students, faculty members, and regional professional artists.
Viewer discretion advised: contains mature subject matter.
CAPTIVE AUDIENCE & Other Short Plays
by David Ives and Others
A TheatreXpress Student Production
October 4 & 5 @ 7:30 PM
The CAST (Court Annex Studio Theatre)
Join the students of TheatreXpress as they produce a series of short plays, with something for everyone! In the featured title (Captive Audience) David Ives creates a cautionary fable about the menace that Rob and Laura face in their living room: a television that talks back to them and threatens to swallow them whole. One of the lessons to learn… you’re much safer attending these short plays than you are at home watching a screen!
Viewer discretion advised: contains mature subject matter.
Viewer discretion advised: contains mature subject matter.
A FREE MAN OF COLOR
by John Guare
November 1, 2, 8, & 9 @ 7:30 PM
November 3 & 8 @ 2:30 PM
The Studio Theatre, Weston Center for the Performing Arts
Before law and order took hold, New Orleans was boisterous; before class, racial and political lines were drawn, it was a parade of beautiful women and good-looking men, flowing wine, and pleasure for the taking. At the center of this Dionysian world is Jacques Cornet, who commands the men, seduces the women, preens like a peacock, and cuts a wide swath through the city and the province. But, it is 1801 and the map of New Orleans is about to be redrawn. The Louisiana Purchase will bring American rule, challenging the chaotic, colorful world of Jacques Cornet and all that he represents.
"A 10-door farce salted with so many laughs that you won't have time to catch your breath…[until] a terrible denouement described by Mr. Guare in language that approaches the condition of poetry…[A FREE MAN OF COLOR] just might be a masterpiece." —Wall Street Journal. "Wildly ambitious…like all great, mad manifestos, there are sweet rewards for those willing to take the plunge." —New York Magazine.
Viewer discretion advised: contains mature subject matter and language.
"A 10-door farce salted with so many laughs that you won't have time to catch your breath…[until] a terrible denouement described by Mr. Guare in language that approaches the condition of poetry…[A FREE MAN OF COLOR] just might be a masterpiece." —Wall Street Journal. "Wildly ambitious…like all great, mad manifestos, there are sweet rewards for those willing to take the plunge." —New York Magazine.
Viewer discretion advised: contains mature subject matter and language.
KEELY AND DU
by Jane Martin
A TheatreXpress Student Production
February 7 & 8 @ 7:30 PM
The CAST (Court Annex Studio Theatre)
Trigger Warning: Mature content, including the subjects of sexual assault and abortion. Audiences are advised that the subject matter is not suitable for younger patrons.
Held hostage against her will, Keely awakens in a strange basement, chained to the bed. Watching over her is Du, a matronly caregiver, guard, and representative of a radical group of right-to-life activists. Despite being the victim of rape, Keely learns that she has been kidnapped and will be expected to carry her pregnancy to term. As her captivity drags on, Keely must confront other members of the operation, all while developing a tenuous but amicable relationship with Du—as both struggle to transcend their circumstances and the ideological issues that separate them. Through these very human characters, Keely and Du forces the audience to consider the complex layers of this divisive issue.
Winner: 1993 American Theatre Critics Association Award, Best New Play. Finalist! 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
"Provocative." – Variety "Compelling [...] Bound to stir vigorous discussion." - The New York Times "Brings a bit of light as well as heat to an already red hot topic." - Los Angeles Times "Harrowing." - Miami Herald
Viewer discretion advised: contains mature subject matter and language.
Held hostage against her will, Keely awakens in a strange basement, chained to the bed. Watching over her is Du, a matronly caregiver, guard, and representative of a radical group of right-to-life activists. Despite being the victim of rape, Keely learns that she has been kidnapped and will be expected to carry her pregnancy to term. As her captivity drags on, Keely must confront other members of the operation, all while developing a tenuous but amicable relationship with Du—as both struggle to transcend their circumstances and the ideological issues that separate them. Through these very human characters, Keely and Du forces the audience to consider the complex layers of this divisive issue.
Winner: 1993 American Theatre Critics Association Award, Best New Play. Finalist! 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
"Provocative." – Variety "Compelling [...] Bound to stir vigorous discussion." - The New York Times "Brings a bit of light as well as heat to an already red hot topic." - Los Angeles Times "Harrowing." - Miami Herald
Viewer discretion advised: contains mature subject matter and language.
THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK
by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett • Newly Adapted by Wendy Kesselman
February 28 & 29, March 6 & 7 @ 7:30 PM
March 1 & 6 @ 2:30 PM
The Studio Theatre, Weston Center for the Performing Arts
In this transcendently powerful new adaptation by Wendy Kesselman, Anne Frank emerges from history a living, lyrical, intensely gifted young girl, who confronts her rapidly changing life and the increasing horror of her time with astonishing honesty, wit, and determination. An impassioned drama about the lives of eight people hiding from the Nazis in a concealed storage attic, THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK captures the claustrophobic realities of their daily existence—their fear, their hope, their laughter, their grief. Each day of these two dark years, Anne's voice shines through: "When I write I shake off all my cares. But I want to achieve more than that. I want to be useful and bring enjoyment to all people, even those I've never met. I want to go on living even after my death!" This is a new adaptation for a new generation.
"Undeniably moving. It shatters the heart. The evening never lets us forget the inhuman darkness waiting to claim its incandescently human heroine." —The New York Times. "An extraordinary theatrical adventure! Go and remember." —The New York Post. "…new DIARY is chillingly honest about the Holocaust. Wendy Kesselman's work has restored the terror." —The New York Daily News. "Wendy Kesselman's finely textured new DIARY tells a deeper story. A sensitive, stirring and thoroughly engaging new adaptation." —New York Newsday. "A powerful new version that moves the audience to gasp, then tears." —Associated Press. "One of the year's ten best." —Time Magazine.
Viewer discretion advised: contains mature subject matter.
"Undeniably moving. It shatters the heart. The evening never lets us forget the inhuman darkness waiting to claim its incandescently human heroine." —The New York Times. "An extraordinary theatrical adventure! Go and remember." —The New York Post. "…new DIARY is chillingly honest about the Holocaust. Wendy Kesselman's work has restored the terror." —The New York Daily News. "Wendy Kesselman's finely textured new DIARY tells a deeper story. A sensitive, stirring and thoroughly engaging new adaptation." —New York Newsday. "A powerful new version that moves the audience to gasp, then tears." —Associated Press. "One of the year's ten best." —Time Magazine.
Viewer discretion advised: contains mature subject matter.
TOPDOG/UNDERDOG
by Suzan-Lori Parks
A TheatreXpress Student Production
March 27 & 28 @ 7:30 PM
The CAST (Court Annex Studio Theatre)
A darkly comic fable of brotherly love and family identity is Suzan-Lori Parks' latest riff on the way we are defined by history. The play tells the story of Lincoln and Booth, two brothers whose names were given to them as a joke, foretelling a lifetime of sibling rivalry and resentment. Haunted by the past, the brothers are forced to confront the shattering reality of their future.
Winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize. "…an utterly mesmerizing evening of theater…the vitality, freshness and gritty lyricism of Parks' writing are unlike anything to be heard on a Broadway Stage…" —Variety. "…[a] vibrant comic drama of shifting identity and betrayal…from the ferociously talented author of In the Blood and The America Play…" —NY Times. "The issues are gripping, the characters are dynamite…a must-see play." —Backstage.
Viewer discretion advised: contains mature subject matter and language.
Winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize. "…an utterly mesmerizing evening of theater…the vitality, freshness and gritty lyricism of Parks' writing are unlike anything to be heard on a Broadway Stage…" —Variety. "…[a] vibrant comic drama of shifting identity and betrayal…from the ferociously talented author of In the Blood and The America Play…" —NY Times. "The issues are gripping, the characters are dynamite…a must-see play." —Backstage.
Viewer discretion advised: contains mature subject matter and language.
ENDGAME
by Samuel Beckett
A TheatreXpress Student Production
April 3 & 4 @ 7:30 PM
The Studio Theatre, Weston Center for the Performing Arts
In a bleak, post-apocalyptic setting, four characters struggle to find meaning in the tedium of their daily existence. Bound by blood, dependency, or servitude to the others, each character clings to life (such as it is), while craving escape to a better time or place. A pinnacle of Beckett’s characteristic raw minimalism, Endgame is a pure and devastating distillation of the human essence in the face of approaching death. Written shortly after his other famous piece (Waiting for Godot), Endgame is considered by many critics to be his greatest single work. Samuel Beckett was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969; his literary output of plays, novels, stories and poetry has earned him an uncontested place as one of the greatest writers of our time.
“Nothing is funnier than unhappiness,” … and the truth of this sentiment is confirmed in all its risible melancholy…”. – Los Angeles Times. "Endgame has outraged the Philistines, earned the contempt of the half wits and filled those who are capable of telling the difference between a theatre and a bawdy house with a profound and somber and paradoxical joy... A magnificent theatrical experience." - London Times.
Viewer discretion advised: contains mature subject matter and language.
“Nothing is funnier than unhappiness,” … and the truth of this sentiment is confirmed in all its risible melancholy…”. – Los Angeles Times. "Endgame has outraged the Philistines, earned the contempt of the half wits and filled those who are capable of telling the difference between a theatre and a bawdy house with a profound and somber and paradoxical joy... A magnificent theatrical experience." - London Times.
Viewer discretion advised: contains mature subject matter and language.
XPRESSFEST.20
A TheatreXpress Student Production
10-MINUTE PLAYS
April 17 @ 2:30 PM & April 18 @ 7:30 PM
The CAST (Court Annex Studio Theatre)
ONE ACT PLAYS
April 24 @ 2:30 PM & April 25 @ 7:30 PM
The Studio Theatre, Weston Center for the Performing Arts
SHORT FILMS
April 17 @ 7:30 PM
The Studio Theatre, Weston Center for the Performing Arts
The 20th annual XpressFest showcases original student plays, movies, and class projects. Join the student artists of TheatreXpress for this culmination of their annual work, including senior capstone projects. Admission is free. Limited seating.
Viewer discretion advised: contains mature subject matter and language.
Viewer discretion advised: contains mature subject matter and language.
All dates, times, and content are subject to change.
