UIS THEATRE’S

6th Season

2007-2008

“Mid-Century in Mid-America”

For Fall 2007

PICNIC

By William Inge

Directed by Missy Thibodeaux-Thompson

Production Dates:  October 26, 27, 28 & November 1, 2, 3, 2007

The Studio Theatre, Public Affairs Center (PAC) Level 1, UIS Campus

Always 8:00pm; except for Sunday, October 28 at 2:00pm

Drama
Full Length

(Info from Dramatists Play Service, Inc.)

Cast: 4 men, 7 women: 11 total
Setting: UNIT SET

Winner of the 1953 Pulitzer Prize and the Critics Circle Award.

THE STORY: The play takes place on Labor day Weekend in the joint back yards of two middle-aged widows. The one house belongs to Flo Owens, who lives there with her two maturing daughters, Madge and Millie, and a boarder who is a spinster school teacher. The other house belongs to Helen Potts, who lives with her elderly and invalid mother. Into this female atmosphere comes a young man named Hal Carter, whose animal vitality seriously upsets the entire group. Hal is a most interesting character, a child of parents who ignored him, self-conscious of his failings and his position behind the eight ball. Flo is sensitively wary of temptations for her daughters. Madge, bored with being only a beauty, sacrifices her chances for a wealthy marriage for the excitement Hal promises. Her sister, Millie, finds her balance for the first time through the stranger's brief attention. And the spinster is stirred to make an issue out of the dangling courtship that has brightened her life in a dreary, minor way.

For Winter 2007

STUDENT-DIRECTED SCENES

From Various Plays

Directed by UIS Students in COM 476 Directing for the Theatre

Production Dates:  December 5 and 6, 2007

The Studio Theatre, Public Affairs Center (PAC) Level 1, UIS Campus

Always 8:00pm

For Spring 2008

PERIOD OF ADJUSTMENT

By Tennessee Williams

Directed by Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson

Production Dates:  April 4, 5, 6 & 10, 11, 12, 2008

The Studio Theatre, Public Affairs Center (PAC) Level 1, UIS Campus

Always 8:00pm; except for Sunday April 6 at 2:00pm

Seriocomedy
Full Length

(Info from Dramatists Play Service, Inc.)

Cast: 4 men, 5 women: 9 total
Setting: INTERIOR

The first full-length comedy by the playwright whom many consider to be the finest of our times. "It is, quite simply, a resounding success. It has warmth and wisdom, and hilarious good humor…" —NY Journal-American. "There are lines that sparkle with freshness of insight. There are scenes that erupt with laughter. There are affecting passages of barely articulated tenderness." —NY Times. "It's a believable evening, it's probably even a wise one. And the heart, which the author has plainly got, is wonderfully protected by humor." —NY Herald-Tribune.

THE STORY: As described in the NY Times: "Mr. Williams is telling the story of two marriages at points of acute crisis. One couple has just broken up after five years together. The other has not been able to come to terms in one day of wedlock. Both couples are living through a period of adjustment. The phrase is tinged with irony. The play examines the sources of the crisis. Ralph Bates, a former war hero, has in-law trouble. George Haverstick, a war buddy who unexpectedly visits him on Christmas Eve with his bride of a day, has the shakes; his difficulty seems to be a fear of impotence. The end is happy, as comedy requires. The four go to bed—in the right combinations." In calling his play a "serious comedy," Mr. Williams puts his finger on its most unique aspect, for this is a work which combines a humorous viewpoint with deep-seated concern for a very real, human situation.