Theater Arts Department - 2011-2012 Season
Marat / Sade
By Peter Weiss
Translation by Geoffrey Skelton
Directed by Darcey Engen
November 4, 5, 10, 11, 12 at 7 p.m.
November 6, 13 at 3 p.m.
Tjornhom-Nelson Theater
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It's best known as Marat/Sade, but Peter Weiss' play actually bears the lengthy title, The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat As Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton under the Direction of The Marquis de Sade. Within France's Charenton Asylum a number of years after the French Revolution, the Marquis de Sade stages his play about the murder of a key figure in the revolution, Jean-Paul Marat, using his fellow asylum inmates as actors. As the performance begins, the bourgeois asylum director watches as inmates use the play to rail against post-revolutionary privilege. Chaos arises as the play within a play disintegrates into anarchy.
INSIDE OUT
Directed by Rick Shiomi
November 18, 19 at 7 p.m.
November 20 at 3 p.m.
Tjornhom-Nelson Theater
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Stories by Asian American students at Augsburg. The stories reflect the views and experiences of Asian America students, from family tensions to cultural stereotypes, performed through scenes, dance, and music.
Inside Out is collaboration with Mu Performing Arts and Pan Asian Student Services.
http://www.augsburg.edu/panasia/
http://www.muperformingarts.org/
365 Days/365 Plays
By Suzan-Lori Parks
Directed by Martha Johnson
February 3, 4, 9, 10, 11 at 7 p.m.
February 5, 12 at 3 p.m.
Tjornhom-Nelson Theater
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In the fall of 2002, Suzan-Lori Parks (Pulitzer-prize winning playwright) decided to take on the challenge of writing one play a day for a full year. 365 Days/365 Plays is the successful result, featuring 365 short plays whimsically exploring such divergent topics as sex, war, fairy tales, Indian mythology, American historical figures, love, politics, race, contemporary celebrities--and numerous other issues from American life. The world premiere of these plays was an extraordinary event: From 2006 to 2007 more than 700 theaters in major cities across America performed various pieces or sections from Parks' cycle.
For our production we will stage selections from this body of work to create an entertaining, thought-provoking, and imaginative assortment of contemporary theater pieces.
A Mechanical Midsummer
An adaptation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream
Student Directed by Kat Lutze
March 7, 8, 9 at 7 p.m.
Sat. March 10 at 3 p.m.
Foss Center
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"Lord what fools these mortals be!" Join Puck and his fairy friends as they stumble upon a bunch of foolish mechanics rehearsing a play. Musical mayhem ensues as the trickster fairy uses his magic to interrupt their clownish play acting. Inspired by the original Midsummer, the cast and crew will create songs, music, and dance to stage a totally unique and fun-filled piece of theatre.
Titanic Orchestra
By Hristo Boytchev
Directed by Barbra Berlovitz
April 13, 14, 19, 20, 21 at 7 p.m.
April 15, 22 at 3 p.m.
Tjornhom-Nelson Theater
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A story of four vagabonds living at an abandoned little railway station, forgotten by God and people, where no train has stopped for a long time. Everything changes when a chest is thrown out of a passing train, and a mysterious individual emerges from it.
The four inconspicuous heroes of the play philosophize, lightly and unpretentiously, about what is the truth, where are the limits between reality and fiction, what reality really is. Boytchev's funny little people are dreamers full of profound feelings, searching for themselves and trying to find their connections with the world. A perspicuous, bitter-funny and very subtle diagnosis of the condition of the contemporary man.
