Administration

Communications

‘Bus Stop’ to launch C-SC theatrical season
Friday, September 07, 2007

CANTON, Mo. – The Culver- Stockton College 2007-08 theatrical season will open September 20-23 with performances of “Bus Stop” and culminate in a production of the “Rocky Horror Show” next April 24-27.

“This year’s season offers a breadth of theatrical experiences and exposes students to a diversity of literature,” said Thomas C. Polett, chair of the Fine Arts Division. “These productions offer them the opportunity to perform in or appreciate comedies, musicals, and dramas, as well as to experience a first-person narrative production, a genre we haven’t produced in more than a decade.”

“This is a wonderfully rich season,” added R. Joseph Dieker, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college. “When the faculty selects the theatre season, just like when they select the year’s musical repertoire or the reading list for students, faculty members follow sound pedagogical practice to provide students with an excellent educational experience. Culver-Stockton will continue to present some productions that are familiar to audiences, as well as some that are less familiar. The productions will continue to explore diversity through performances that not only may be uplifting but also challenging at times.”

The first production, “Bus Stop,” is an American classic written in 1955 by Kansas playwright William Inge. It revolves around a bus, trapped by a freak March snowstorm in a small Kansas town, and the relationships between the eight people waiting out the storm. Inge, a Midwesterner who lived and worked in Kansas and Missouri, won both a Pulitzer Prize and an Academy Award for his body of work. The Culver-Stockton production of “Bus Stop” will open at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, September 20 in Mabee Little Theatre. Shows also will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, September 21 and 22, with a final matinee performance at 3 p.m. Sunday, September 23.

Just one week later, Culver-Stockton will present “The Vagina Monologues,” written by Obie-award winner Eve Ensler in 1996. The play, which has had several monologues added over the years to keep current with emerging issues, provides personal narratives from women about sexual abuse and other violence against women. The monologues are based on Ensler’s interviews with actual women.

“Women around the world are an underrepresented minority that are subject to an enormous amount of bias and abuse. This play is about women who have been defined by their gender rather than who they are,” said Culver-Stockton director Haidee R. Heaton, assistant professor of theatre. “The play is not designed to shock but to heighten awareness about the vast number of women who are abused and subjected to violence and to empower those women so that they can be defined by their intelligence, their power, and who they really are.”

Professional companies, colleges, and community theatres have performed “The Vagina Monlogues” all over the world. Its related V-Day Foundation to stop violence against women has raised more than $30 million in eight years.

The Culver-Stockton production will open at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, September 27 in the Mabee Little Theatre, and continue at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, September 28 and 29, with a final matinee performance at 3 p.m. Sunday, September 30.

Culver-Stockton’s third production this fall, “Moon Over Buffalo,” will be its annual guest artist production, offered over C-SC Family Weekend, November 1-4. Written by Ken Ludwig, this comedy is set in 1953 in Buffalo, N.Y., and tells the tale of two traveling actors, who are performing “Cyrano de Bergerac” in town, but who have their eyes set on Hollywood. The play, first performed on Broadway in 1995, revolves around a little slapstick and a lot of mistaken identity and miscommunication. Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, November 1 and Saturday November 3 and at 3 p.m. Sunday, November 4 in the A.C. Auditorium of the Performing Arts Center on campus.

First semester performances will wrap up with the student-directed one-act plays at 3 and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, December 1 and 2, in the Mabee Little Theatre.

“Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean” will open the spring semester, with performances February 28 through March 2 in the Mabee Little Theatre. Written by Ed Graczyk, the play takes place on Sept. 30, 1975, and is about the 20-year reunion of the “Disciples of James Dean” fan club, which is meeting in its old hang-out – the “five and dime” – and reminiscing on the anniversary of Dean’s fatal car crash. The play will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, February 28-March 1, and at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 2.

Culver-Stockton’s final production this academic year will be the “Rocky Horror Show,” the original stage version of the play that also became a movie in 1975 and a cult classic. Written by English playwright and actor Richard O’Brien, the “Rocky Horror Show” opened in London in 1973 and has seen thousands of productions around the world in 25 years. It follows the adventures of the newly engaged Brad and Janet who experience car troubles and turn for help to the occupants of a nearby castle who are holding the Annual Transylvanian Convention. The Culver-Stockton production opens at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 24, with additional 7:30 p.m. performances on Friday and Saturday, April 25 and 26, and a 3 p.m. matinee on Sunday, April 27 in Mabee Little Theatre.

Ticket information for all productions is available by calling 573-288-6346. Some productions contain adult themes and strong language. The full schedule of theatre and music performances and art exhibits is available online in the “Fine Arts” section online at www.culver.edu.