current season
The UIS Theatre Program is proud to present our 2012-2013 Season
Fall 2012 Production
TARTUFFE
by Moliere
Directed by Missy Thibodeaux-Thompson
Performances: OCTOBER 26, 27, 28 & NOVEMBER 1, 2, 3, 2012
Play Description
6 M, 5 W Roles (Possible Flexibility Here)
Missy Thibodeaux-Thompson will direct a contemporary translation (by Ranjit Bolt) of Moliere's 17th century French comedy, TARTUFFE. TARTUFFE synopsis – from oberonbooks.com: "The religious fraud Tartuffe has wormed his way into the affections and household of rich merchant, Orgon, with pantomime piety and counterfeit zeal. So comprehensively has he hoodwinked Orgon that he looks set to succeed in driving away the son, marrying the daughter, seducing the wife and imprisoning Orgon.
Molière's classic satire was denounced on its first performance as a sacrilegious outrage and banned from further public view. Only after petition to Louis XIV was the ban lifted, and the play's trenchant mockery of human frailties has ensured its popularity ever since."
Spring 2013 Production
AWAKE AND SING
by Clifford Odets
Directed by Eric
Thibodeaux-Thompson
Performances: April 5-7 & 11-13, 2013
For further AUDITION/CREW application information, please check back later and click on "Auditions."
Play Description
7 M, 2 W Roles (Possible Flexibility Here)
Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson will direct Clifford Odets' 1933 play, AWAKE AND SING. AWAKE AND SING synopsis – from A Noise Within Study Guide: "The Berger family apartment in the Bronx houses three generations in the same working-class Jewish family. It is in this apartment that Bessie Berger, indomitable matriarch, oversees the lefist leanings of her father Jacob, and attempts to influence the romantic yearnings of her son (Ralph) and potential matches for her daughter (Hennie). When the seemingly inescapable poverty of the Great Depression forces Bessie to rent out a room in the apartment to petty bookie and World War I veteran Moe Axelrod, she encounters a new challenge as he positions himself as suitor to young Hennie. Hennie has her own ideas for love — ideas which, when pursued, lead to serious consequences.
Bessie attempts to protect her family from high hopes and fruitless idealism, grounding her perceptions of reality in the cold truth of struggle. However, the Berger family has a will of its own and does not always support Bessie’s iron-fisted policies, as those who seek to provide a sense of freedom and hope for Ralph and Hennie enact their own redemptive yet heartbreaking plans."
