ARCADIA by Tom Stoppard
September 28, 29, 30, October 1 at 7:30 p.m. and October 2 at 2:00 p.m.
Weiss Theater in Buck Hall at 219 North Third Street
Directed by Suzanne Westfall
It’s 1809 at Sidley Park in England, and thirteen-year-old Thomasina is learning about more from her tutor Septimus Hodge, friend of Lord Byron, than algebra and Latin. Meanwhile, two contemporary literary historians are investigating the Derbyshire estate’s past through methods full of mistakes. Two eras overlap and finally converge as our most accomplished living dramatist explores the relationship between past and present, order and disorder, certainty and uncertainty in this 1993 theatrical tour de force that Johann Hari in The Guardian has described as “perhaps the greatest play of its time.”
HEAD OVER HEELS Runtime 2:15
Music and Lyrics by the Go-Go’s
November 9, 10, 11, 12 at 7:30 p.m. and November 13 at 2:00 p.m.
Weiss Theater in Buck Hall at 219 North Third Street.
Directed by Mary Jo Lodge
Full of gender-bending characters singing hits by the Go-Go’s, this rollicking jukebox musical with original book by Jeff Whitty is adapted by Jeff Magruder from The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia, the 16th-century prose romance by Sir Philip Sidney. The story follows the royal family of Arcadia on their journey to keep their famous “Beat.” A celebration of gender equality and gender identity, this hit 2018 musical shows that women can be just as good if not better leaders than men; it promotes sexual equality by having a lesbian relationship; and had Broadway’s first transgender woman creating a principal role as Pythio, who is a non-binary gendered character.
LOVE LETTERS by A.R. Gurney
March 2, 3, 4 at 7:30 p.m., and March 5 at 2:00 p.m.
Weiss Theater in Buck Hall at 219 North Third Street
Directed by Michael O’Neill
First performed on Broadway in 1989, this nostalgic and poignant comedy chronicles twentieth-century American life through the relationship between a man and a woman who exchange letters, but not marriage vows, in a warm and complicated friendship lasting fifty years. Because they choose others as mates, and live to regret it, Love Letters delves beneath the sparkling wit expected from Gurney to reveal the sadness and remorse that no one, not even the very rich, can completely avoid. This finalist for the Pulitzer Prize continues to be performed around the world.
Theater for Young Audiences
Goloshes of Fortune by Elizabeth Wong
April 22 at 1:00 & 3:00 p.m.
Weiss Theater in Buck Hall at 219 North Third Street
Directed by Mary Jo Lodge
Performances of the production Goloshes of Fortune, that Theater Department students enrolled in THTR 335 will present to area school children during April 2023 as part of a visit to Lafayette’s Williams Arts Campus where College theater students will lead workshops and involve their young audiences in ways of understanding the play they will experience together. The public performance on April 22 is a FREE 45 minute show that is appropriate for all ages, best enjoyed by children ages 5-12. Tickets are required. For tickets visit: Lafayette.universitytickets.com or call 610-330-5009.