2009 – 2010 PLAYBILL

Fall 2009
Spring 2010

Fall 2009:

THE GREAT AMERICAN TRAILER PARK

Music and Lyrics by David Nehls, Book by Betsy Kelso
Directed by Joel P. Rogers
September 30, October 1, 2, & 3 at 7:30 p.m.; October 3 & 4 at 2:00 p.m.
Wismer Theatre
Think Jerry Springer, spray cheese, and road kill with songs and dances. The jokes are white trash truisms, but the punch lines are fresh and snappy. What happens when a stripper moves into a trailer park to escape her crazy, huffer boyfriend? Raunchy and real with moments of insight provided by the 3-woman resident chorus – Trailer Park is low-rent good fun. Mature language and content.

AS YOU LIKE IT

By William Shakespeare
October 28, 29, 30, & 31 at 7:30 p.m.; November 1 at 2:00 p.m.
Directed by William J. Johnson
Harlen Adams Theatre
Romance, comedy, political intrigue, environmental conservation, runaway cross-dressing teenagers in the forest pinning love-notes to trees and the whole thing ending in a flood of marriages and a big dance!

THE LAST DAYS OF JUDAS ISCARIOT

By Stephen Adly Guirgis
Directed by Katie Whitlock
November 12, 13, & 14 at 7:30 p.m.; November 14 & 15 at 2:00 p.m.
Wismer Theatre
“Funny, profound and wildly entertaining" The Last Days of Judas Iscariot tells the story of Judas in purgatory, litigating with his lawyers for entry into heaven. The play features creative flashbacks to an imagined childhood, and lawyers who call for the testimonies of such witnesses as Mother Teresa, Caiaphas, Sigmund Freud, and Satan. Not an earnest, reverential play – thank God! Instead this is an intriguing, imaginative construct which will inspire and challenge you.

CHOREOGRAPHY SHOWCASE—Chico Dance Theatre’s 14th Annual Showcase

Directed by Susan Hargrave Pate
Student Directors: Amy Muntifering, Samantha Slack, and Amanda Tempest
December 4 & 5 at 7:30 p.m.; December 6 at 2:00 p.m.
Ruth Rowland-Taylor Recital Hall
Students direct, choreograph, and perform dances in this entertaining theatrical showcase. A plethora of dance styles, musical theatre numbers, and personalities come together to take student creativity to a new level each year. The show includes styles to please all audiences such as jazz, tap, lyrical, and musical theatre.

Spring 2010:

LYSISTRATA

By Aristophanes
Directed by Gail Holbrook
March 3, 4, 5, & 6 at 7:30 p.m.; March 7 at 2:00 p.m.
Harlen Adams Theatre
Lysistrata was originally written by Aristophanes, who is sometimes referred to as Ancient Greece’s Mel Brooks. In 2500 years, a couple things have not changed: our conflicting feelings about war and our need for sex. The dilemma is ageless and the solution is hilarious: the women of Athens decide to withhold sex (and money) until the men declare a truce with Sparta. This new adaptation still provides the rude, crude, and lewd jokes targeting politics and penises but the music and dialogue are contemporary.

ANON(YMOUS): AN ADAPTATION OF THE ODYSSEY

By Naomi Iizuka
Directed and Choreographed by Susan Hargrave Pate
April 7, 8, 9, & 10 at 7:30 p.m.; April 10 & 11 at 2:00 p.m.
Wismer Theatre
ANON(YMOUS) is a striking play in a free, postmodern idiom by Naomi Iizuka which explores the contemporary issues of forced relocation, adopted homeland, and cultural identity. Separated from his mother, a young refugee called Anon journeys through the United States, encountering a wide variety of people -- some kind, some dangerous -- as he searches for his family. From a sinister one-eyed butcher to beguiling barflies to a sweatshop, Anon navigates a chaotic, ever-changing landscape in this entrancing adaptation of Homer's Odyssey.

RENT

Music and Lyrics by Jonathan Larson
Laxson Auditorium
Directed by Michael C. Mazur
May 5, 6, 7, & 8 at 7:30 p.m.; and May 9 at 2:00 p.m.
Larson's Pulitzer-prize winning Broadway musical, based on Puccini's opera La Bohème, Rent follows a year in the lives of seven friends living the disappearing Bohemian lifestyle in New York City’s East Village in the late 1990’s. This groundbreaking show uses a pop & rock score to chronicle their struggles with relationships, sexual identity, and artistic freedom – as they deal with the realities of living in an age of AIDS, corporate greed, and poverty. Winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical in 1996, RENT challenges and uplifts audiences as they face the new millennium. Mature content.

For ticket information, please call the University Box Office at 530-898-6333.