NOTE: Impact of Corona Virus on Production EventsAt this time, and given the broader guidelines provided by Texas Lutheran University and the federal, state, and local agencies, the productions of the 2021-2022 Season will feature live events with audience attendance. Check this page for updates.
TRAVEL THROUGH TIME WITH US!The 2021-2022 Season features content that provides a journey through time. As we prepare to welcome audiences back for live events, we invite you to travel with us! We can't wait to see you in person as we rediscover the value of human interaction and stories together.
Help us grow our audience! Click on the image to the right. Download the season poster, formatted for Tabloid paper (11x17) and post in your place of employment or school... or upload to your favorite social networks! |
HELP US SPREAD THE WORD! CLICK ABOVE FOR A SEASON POSTER. |
CINEMA 7x7
The 2nd Annual 49 Hour Film Festival
A TheatreXpress Student Production
September 17-19 Production Weekend • Streaming October*
Modeled after the international 48 Hour Film Project, which hosts events all around the globe, the students of TheatreXpress are proud to produce their own version—complete with one extra hour for good measure. Participation is open to all TLU community members and their network of family and friends. Beginning on a Friday evening, entrants will receive the basic parameters of the competition. You draw a genre from a hat. You’re assigned a required character, line of dialogue, and prop. The rest is up to you, as you make a movie in one intense weekend. Completed films are due just 49 hours later and will be featured via theatrexpress.com beginning in October.
Viewer discretion advised: may contain mature subject matter.
Viewer discretion advised: may contain mature subject matter.
A SIMPLER TIME
Nine Short Comedies Set in Different Eras: By Jonathan Dorf, Tyler Dwiggins, Claire Epstein, Kathryn Funkhouser, Patrick Greene, Mora V. Harris, Carrie McCrossen, Ian McWethy, and Don Zoldis
A TheatreXpress Student Production
October 1-2
The CAST
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to grip the world, many dream of returning to idyllic times gone by or of leaping forward to a better future. In this collection of ten-minute plays, nine playwrights were challenged to find the funny and familiar in eras past and future. The results are a comic trip through time that explores the relative pros and cons of living in a different period, unified by three characters who journey in an unlikely time machine. Whether it’s fighting with friends on the night before the Constitution is due, listening in at a telephone switchboard in the 1940s, trying to avoid the more gruesome aspects of medieval times, or exploring a mysterious possible future, only one thing is certain: though we long for a simpler time, there's humor and hassle in every era.
THE NIGHT THOREAU SPENT IN JAIL
by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee
October 29-31, November 5&6
The STUDIO Theatre
Rediscover the prescient insights of Henry David Thoreau in this dramatized imagining of his life, revealed while Thoreau sits in jail for refusing to pay taxes in protest of the Mexican-American War. Through flashbacks we learn of his work as a young teacher, his admiration of and friendship with Ralph Waldo Emerson, his time at Walden Pond, and the development of his thinking as a leading transcendentalist. The themes which consumed him could be ripped from current headlines. His thoughts on technology, materialism, degradation of the environment, racism, and war resonate in our own era. First produced at the height of tensions during the Vietnam War, the authors write that “Time is awash in this jail cell. We are not trapped in happenings past. The explosive spirit of Thoreau leaps across the years, addressing with power and clarity the perils of his own time and, prophetically, of ours as well.”
THE INSANITY OF MARY GIRARD
by Lanie Robertson
A TheatreXpress Student Production
November 19&20
The STUDIO Theatre
In 1790, Mary Girard, the wife of Stephen Girard (noted businessman from Philadelphia), wakes to find herself in a mental asylum. Having been found pregnant, presumably from another man, she is declared legally insane by her husband. As her imprisonment progresses, we learn the fate of Mary and her baby, as a Greek chorus of "furies" impersonate people from Mary’s life. By the end of this haunting and highly theatrical piece, she has grown rather convincingly into her diagnosis, while we are left to wrestle with the root causes of her insanity.
Viewer discretion advised: may contain mature subject matter and language.
Viewer discretion advised: may contain mature subject matter and language.
THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME
Based on the novel by Mark Haddon, Adapted by Simon Stephens
February 25-27, March 4&5
The STUDIO Theatre
15-year-old Christopher Boone has an extraordinary brain: He is exceptional at mathematics but ill-equipped to interpret everyday life. As a result of his condition on the autism spectrum, he has never ventured alone beyond the end of his road, he detests being touched, and he distrusts strangers. As the play begins it is 7 minutes after midnight, and Christopher stands beside his neighbor’s dead dog, Wellington. Finding himself under suspicion, Christopher is determined to solve the mystery of who murdered Wellington. But his detective work, forbidden by his father, takes him on a thrilling journey that upends his world. Winner of numerous awards on the London West End and Broadway, including the 2015 Tony Award for Best Play. “This adaptation by the acclaimed playwright Simon Stephens is intensely, innately theatrical; it is also funny and extremely moving…resonates with quality.” —Telegraph (London). “A beautiful, eloquent, dazzlingly inventive show about the wonders of life.” —Evening Standard (London).
Viewer discretion advised: contains mature subject matter and language.
Viewer discretion advised: contains mature subject matter and language.
NOISES OFF
by Michael Frayn
A TheatreXpress Student Production
April 8&9
The STUDIO Theatre
Act One of this hilarious comedy provides covert access to the inner workings of a theatre company, only hours before the opening of a new British farce entitled NOTHING ON. The company labors through a painful final dress rehearsal complete with dropped lines, missing entrances, problems with props, and technical difficulties—all punctuated by the troupe’s struggle to collaborate amidst fraying relationships. After a passage of time and successful launch (despite it all) Act Two takes us backstage as the play runs for an audience. We witness the impact of deteriorating relationships and the disorder that follows from behind the scenes, as the company tries to save the play from total collapse. Act Three reveals yet another leap forward in time and place as we return to watch NOTHING ON from the audience’s perspective. The downward spiral continues with a chaotic frenzy that tests the limits of the old adage “the show must go on”… but will the company survive?! Don’t miss this award-winning crowd pleaser, called “the funniest farce ever written.”
Viewer discretion advised: contains mature subject matter and language.
Viewer discretion advised: contains mature subject matter and language.
XPRESSFEST.22
A TheatreXpress Student Production
April 22&23
The CAST and The STUDIO Theatre
The 22nd annual XpressFest showcases student plays, movies, and class projects. Join the student artists of TheatreXpress for this culmination of their annual work, including senior capstone projects.
Viewer discretion advised: may contain mature subject matter and language.
Viewer discretion advised: may contain mature subject matter and language.
All dates, times, and content are subject to change.
*Dates and mode of delivery will depend upon the status of the Corona Virus pandemic.
*Dates and mode of delivery will depend upon the status of the Corona Virus pandemic.
