University Theatre to Kick Off 20th
Anniversary Season
August 31, 2007
The USC Aiken Department of Visual and Performing Arts will kick off the 20 th anniversary season of University Theatre with a little help from the magic of Disney.
The season will commence on Oct. 2 with the showing of Disney’s Aladdin Jr. Directed by Dewey-Scott Wiley, assistant professor of theatre, the show will run through Oct. 3 on the Main Stage of the University’s Etherredge Center.
A complete listing of shows for the entire season is as follows:
DISNEY’S ALADDIN Jr
Book by Jim Luigs, music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice
Directed by: Dewey Scott-Wiley
October 2 and 3
Welcome to Agrabah, City of Enchantment, where every beggar has a story and every camel has a tail! All of your favorite characters are here in this stage adaptation of the Disney hit, including Aladdin, Jasmine, and of course, the Genie. Filled with magic, mayhem, and flying carpet rides, audiences’ spirits will soar with excitement. Most of all, the tuneful, Academy award-winning score with songs including “A Whole New World” and “Friend Like Me” will certainly make this musical a favorite for many years to come!
THE GOD COMMITTEE
By Mark St. Germain
Directed by: Jack Benjamin
October 25 - 28, 2007 (KCACTF Participating Production)
Medicine, Money and Morality clash when the Heart Transplant Selection Committee of St. Patrick’s hospital have only minutes to decide which of three patients will receive a heart that has suddenly come available. A cross between TWELVE ANGRY MEN and E.R., the GOD COMMITTEE takes us into the inner workings of a Transplant Program and a decision, for both their candidates and their program that is a matter of life and death.
THE 12 TH ANNUAL FEAST OF CAROLS
Performed by the Department of Visual & Performing Arts Students
Directed by: Jack Benjamin
December 3 – 5, 2007
THE 3 RD ANNUAL TEN MINUTE PLAY FESTIVAL
Performed and directed by University Theatre Player Students
January 24 – 28. 2008
GOODNIGHT DESDEMONA (GOOD MORNING JULIET)
by: Ann-Marie Mac Donald
Directed by: Dewey Scott-Wiley
March 27 – 31, 2008
In this exuberant comedy - and original revision of Shakespeare's Othello and Romeo and Juliet - Constance Ledbelly, a drab and dusty academic, deciphers a cryptic manuscript she believes to be the original source for the tragedies, and is transported into the plays themselves. She visits Juliet and Desdemona, has a hand in saving them from the deaths the Baird had planned for them, and finds out what these women are all about. In true Shakespearean spirit, Constance plunders the plays and creates something new, all the while engaging in a personal voyage of self-discovery. With an abundance of twists, fights, dances, seductions and wild surprises, the play is an absolute joy of theatricality .
AN EVENING OF BROADWAY MEMORIES
Music and Lyrics by Rogers and Hammerstein
Directed by: Jack Benjamin & Joel Scraper
April 24 – 27, 2008
We hope you will join us for this very special inaugural event in which we will celebrate annually the Broadway Musical. This season we are commemorating the renowned composers Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein. The best of the best from THE SOUND OF MUSIC, STATE FAIR, SOUTH PACIFIC and OKLAHOMA will be presented in a staged concert. The evening is sure to have you tapping your toes and humming the tunes from these memorable shows.
According to Jack Benjamin, chair of the Department of Visual and Performing Arts, “Over the past twenty years, I have seen the growth of not only a quality theatre program but the growth of quality theatre students and graduates. I am proud of the accomplishments of the theatre program at USCA, but I am more proud of what our students have done with their lives following graduation. Many are in the business, but all are contributing citizens in their various communities and that is what is important to me.”
One such notable alumna is 1994 graduate Ombra Starr Sandifer. Currently serving as production manager in the School of Theatre at Florida State University, Sandifer will serve as the keynote speaker during the University’s December Convocation ceremony, to be held Dec. 13 in the Convocation Center.
All shows will be held in the University's Etherredge Center. Tickets are $15 for adults; $10 for senior citizens, faculty, and staff; and $7 for students. For more information or to purchase tickets, please call the Etherredge Center Box Office at 803-641-3305.
