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Communications

Spoon River Anthology to open 2009-10 season
Wednesday, July 15, 2009

CANTON, Mo. – The 2009-10 Culver-Stockton College theatrical season will open with a production of Spoon River Anthology on September 17-20 and include productions of Greater Tuna, The Boys Next Door, Rhinoceros, The Robber Bridegroom and eight student-directed, one-act plays.

“The C-SC theatrical season this year includes a wide variety of styles and five distinct stories, but they all have one thing in common: community. All of these performances will explore a unique sense of community, each in a specific time and place,” said Jeffrey Kellogg, associate professor of theatre who will direct two of the productions. “Each show has a rich cast of characters in relationship to each other and their community. It is the moments of joy, conflict, pain, pleasure, revolt, and individualism that reveal our humanity, and ultimately our reaction to the world as a community.”

Spoon River Anthology, based on the poetry of Edgar Lee Masters and conceived and adapted by Charles Aidman, is staged in a hilltop cemetery. The characters are more than 50 ghosts of Spoon River’s inhabitants who share the secrets of the lives they led in the small, fictional Illinois town. Kellogg will direct the September 17-20 production in the Mabee Little Theatre on the Culver-Stockton campus.

Tuna, Texas – “the third smallest town in the state” – is the setting for Greater Tuna by Jaston Williams, Joe Sears and Ed Howard. Two actors play 20 characters in a comedy about small town culture and behavior. S. Kent Miller, associate professor of theatre, will direct the C-SC production of the play, which was an off-Broadway hit. The production is scheduled October 7-10 in the Mabee Little Theatre on campus.

The Boys Next Door by Tom Griffin is scheduled to be the 24th annual guest artist production at Culver-Stockton. The play tells the story of four men who have mental retardation and are living in a communal residence under the care of a burned-out social worker. The play is both compassionate and gently humorous. Haidee Heaton, associate professor of theatre, will direct the November 12, 14 and 15 production in the Alexander Campbell Auditorium on campus. The guest artist will be named later.

Eugene Ionesco’s Rhinoceros will be performed February 18-21, also under the direction of Haidee Heaton. A masterpiece of absurdist theatre, the play tells the tale of a small town that is besieged by a rhinoceros and, as townspeople struggle to cope, how they also begin to change into rhinoceroses. The production will be staged in the Mabee Little Theatre.

The finale for the 2009-10 season will be The Robber Bridegroom, book and lyrics by Alfred Uhry and music by Robert Waldman. The musical comedy, based on a novella by Eudora Welty, is set in 18th century Mississippi and tells the story of Rosamund, the only daughter of the county’s richest planter, and Jamie Lockhart, a robber who lives in the woods. Mistaken identity, a wicked stepmother, and a hostile talking head complicate the plot. The C-SC production will be staged April 8-11 in the Mabee Little Theatre under Kellogg’s direction.

Also scheduled during the academic year are eight student-directed, one-act plays, which will be performed in Mabee Little Theatre December 12, 14 and 15.

C-SC performances are at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays and at 3 p.m. on Sundays. Tickets are $8 for adults and $6 for non-C-SC students. For more information about Fine Arts events or to reserve a ticket, call 573-288-6346 or e-mail finearts@culver.edu.