The shows have been chosen, the announcements have been made.
The U’s Department of Theatre is performing six shows, from Shakespeare plays to musicals about cheerleading, for the 2016-2017 school year. As long as you have a valid UCard, all shows performed by the department are free.
Sydney Cheek O’Donnell, associate professor and head of theatre studies, said this is a chance to see wonderful performances by students’ peers at the U.
“Our students do wonderful work,” O’Donnell said. “There is no downside to giving it a try if you haven’t already. Just turn off your cell phone.”
The process for deciding this diverse collection of shows for the season is complicated and requires a balancing multiple factors, O’Donnell said. These factors include a show’s educational value for students in the Theatre Department, the number of roles and the male to female character ratio, technical demands, budget, timing, genre and opportunity to connect to the community.
The consideration of gender ratio causes particular difficulties, O’Donnel said, because there are more male roles in most plays and musicals, but the department has a significantly higher number of women than men.
“I’m really excited about the entire season — there are a lot of great roles for women in it, which is thrilling for both our students and for our audiences,” O’Donnell said.
Two of the plays in particular, “Self Defense” and “Eclipsed,” emphasize female characters.
“I found both ‘Self Defense’ and ‘Eclipsed’ a couple of years ago and since then have hoped that we might someday be able to produce them,” O’Donnell said. “They are both extraordinary, imaginative plays by women and about women’s experiences in some pretty extreme circumstances.”
“Arcadia,” which tells the story of a wealthy English family during the years 1809-1812 and in the present and has all the timelines running concurrently, is also playing. O’Donnell said this is one of her favorite plays.
“I think it’s probably one of the greatest of the 20th century. It’s smart, funny and ultimately deeply touching,” O’Donnell said. “Plus it explores chaos theory, fractals, thermodynamics and sex.”
Then there is the classic Shakespeare play “The Two Noble Kinsmen.” For those hesitant to go see it, this performance is a modern English translation of the Renaissance play. Tim Slover and Martine Green-Rogers, professors in the department, helped translate the play for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
A final show on the schedule, “Bring It On,” in addition to involving theater students, is also bringing in some additional resources.
“[It’s] going to be a real kick — we are partnering with athletics to train our actors in cheerleading, and some U cheerleaders will also appear in the show itself,” O’Donnell said.
@casey_koldewyn
Scheduled Shows
BRING IT ON: THE MUSICAL, with Music by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Tom Kitt, Book by Jeff Whitty, Lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Amanda Green
SELF-DEFENSE, OR THE DEATH OF SOME SALESMEN, by Carson Kreitzer
ARCADIA, by Tom Stoppard
DOGFIGHT, Music & Lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, Book by Peter Duchan
ECLIPSED, by Danai Gurira
TWO NOBLE KINSMEN, by John Fletcher and William Shakespeare, translated to modern English by Tim Slover (in association with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Play On! Project)