On Stage

As You Like It

by William Shakespeare
Directed by Peter Wray
October 20-28
Center for the Arts Mainstage Theatre

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As You Like It subverts the traditional rules of romance. Gender roles, nature and politics are confused in a play that reflects on how bewildering yet utterly pleasurable life can be – especially in present times. On one level, the play is a simple, diverting amusement; several scenes in As You Like It are essentially skits made up of songs and joking banter. On a deeper level, the play provides opportunities for its main characters to engage each other with a host of subjects – love, aging, the natural world, and death – from their particular points of view.

As You Like It subverts the traditional rules of romance. Gender roles, nature and politics are confused in a play that reflects on how bewildering yet utterly pleasurable life can be – especially in present times. On one level, the play is a simple, diverting amusement; several scenes in As You Like It are essentially skits made up of songs and joking banter. On a deeper level, the play provides opportunities for its main characters to engage each other with a host of subjects – love, aging, the natural world, and death – from their particular points of view.

Student Studio Productions

One Act Plays are performed in the same night.

Action

by Sam Shepard
Directed by Emily Grasso
October 25-28
Center for the Arts Ruth Marder Studio Theatre

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Four friends hide away in their home due to a supposed crisis. The longer they spend together, the more apparent it becomes that they may all be losing their minds. 

Loser

by David White
Directed by Francesco Leandri
October 25-28
Center for the Arts Ruth Marder Studio Theatre

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A father makes an impulsive decision to take his fury out on the corporation that robbed him of his livelihood, but how will the desperate decisions he’s made impact his son and the world around him?

Marder Productions

Lily, Arthur

by Steven Satta
Directed by Steven Satta and Debra McWilliams
November 8-11
Center for the Arts Ruth Marder Studio Theatre

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It’s 1943. Young Private “Mac” McAllister lands a dream assignment as accompanist for Miss Lily Arthur, a singer who entertains the troops. Lily is the alter ego of Captain Arthur Lily of the US Army. When Mac is asked to create a female persona and do a “sister act” with Lily, he finds himself at odds and in a romantic tangle with Arthur and Captain Connie Heller of the Women’s Army Corp.  Lily, Arthur traces Mac’s awakening as a proud gay man on the threshold of the post-war homophile movement.

John Proctor is the Villain

by Kimberly Belflower
Directed by Teresa Spencer
December 1-9
Center for the Arts Studio Theatre

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In rural Georgia at the height of the #MeToo Movement, a high school English class is studying the classic of the American “Red Scare”, The Crucible. Against a backdrop of Lorde, Lizzo, and witch hunts, the half-century-old play suddenly feels a little too close for comfort. Heroes come crashing down and young people find their voices in this new comedy about power, sex, scandal, and who gets to tell the story. 

Content advisory: This play frankly addresses sexual content including harassment, assault, and misogyny.

How to Catch Creation

by Christina Anderson
Directed by Danielle Drakes
March 7-14
Center for the Arts Studio Theatre

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This is the story of a couple drifting apart, of a once-incarcerated man determined to adopt a child, and a single female academic who has lost her way professionally and personally. How to Catch Creation takes place in the present when two couples find their lives unexpectedly connected with the life of a Black queer feminist writer from the 1960s. This intergenerational portrayal of queer relationships of color allows us to grapple with our own definitions of family, love and the universal act of creation.

This production contains strong language and themes of queer intimacy.

A Year with Frog and Toad

Books and Lyrics by Willie Reale
Music by Robert Reale
Directed by Chris Carcione
May 3-11
Center for the Arts Mainstage

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Arnold Lobel's treasured characters hop from page to stage in a story of friendship and adventure. This whimsical show follows two great friends – the cheerful, popular Frog and the rather grumpy Toad – through four fun-filled seasons. The two best friends celebrate and rejoice in the differences that make them unique and special. Part vaudeville, part make believe... all charm, A Year with Frog and Toad tells the story of a friendship that endures throughout the seasons, in an exuberant  musical for the whole family.