2011-2012 Theatre Department Performances

School of the Arts at California State University, Chico

Fall 2011

THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS

Directed by Joel P. Rogers

By composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman

October 6th-October 9th and October 13th - October 16th in the Harlen Adams Theatre

Seymour Krelbourne loves strange & unusual plants - but when he purchases one with a taste for human blood, he gets more than he bargained for! As Seymour feeds the plants with his own blood, the plant grows to unbelievable proportions!!!  Seymour also loves strange & unusual ladies, and seeks to win the favors of his lovely co-worker, Audrey.  Will he be able to win her affections?  Will he be able to control his exotic, bloodthirsty plant, aptly names Audrey II?  Throw in a bumbling shop owner and a maniacal anesthesia-abusing dentist on a motorcycle and the plot thickens....what will Seymour do?  You will have to see for yourself!

THE REVENGER'S TRAGEDY

Directed by Katie Whitlock

A new version by Jesse Berger, freely adapted from the original text by Thomas Middleton, Cyril Tourneur, or Anonymous

November 8th - November 13th in the Wismer Theatre

This mesmerizing Jacobean thriller, written a few years after Hamlet, is a searing examination of humankind's social need for justice and our animal desire for justice and our animal desire for vengeance.  Vindice, the "Revenger", sets off a chain reaction of havoc in a corrupt and decadent Venice, which exposes outrageous indulgences and government hypocrisy, and ends in a coup de theatre massacre of epic proportions.  Part black comedy, part social satire, the play is a gleefully macabre plot-twisting blender full of Shakespeare's greatest hits. 

Spring 2012

VATZLAV

Directed by William Johnson

Written by Slawomir Mrozek

February 29th - March 4th in the Harlen Adams Theatre

A ship-wrecked slave named Vatzlav washes ashore in a foreign country and set off to enjoy the money, power, glory and happiness he's entitled to as a free man, or so he thinks.  What he hasn't counted on, though, is old blind Oedipus, an invading army of sadists, a genius professor who pimps out his daughter, Justice, a day job as a talking bear, and his bosses, Mr. and Mrs. Bat, the blood-sucking vampires rulers of his new homeland.  VATZLAV is a brilliant, political farce by one of Poland's greatest playwrights.

RASHOMON

Directed by Cynthia Lammel

Adapted by Fay & Michael Kanin, from the 1950's movie by Akira Kurosawa

April 3rd - April 8th in the Wismer Theatre

Rashomon is a brilliant exploration of truth and human weakness.  Set in Kyoto, Japan, about a thousand years ago - at an edge of the famous Rashomon Gate A local priest and woodcutter, stricken by the horror of a recent violent crime, discuss the trial of a notorious bandit for rape and murder.  The participants in the crime each relate their plausible (though completely incompatible) versions of the events - leading to wonderful twists and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat.  

OKLAHOMA!

Directed by Michael Mazur; Musical Direction by Joel P. Rogers

Written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II.

2012 Spring Musical
May 2nd - May 6th in Laxson Auditorium

The classic musical is the story of Laurey and the two rivals for her affections:  Curly, a cowboy, and Jud, the hired farmhand.  The play takes place in 1906 in an Indian territory of the American West during the time when Oklahoma was established as a state.  It tackles class issues between the farmers and the cowmen in the still developing, rugged landscape of a state in its infancy as characters struggle to find hope, love and the fulfillment of "the American Dream".