From The Glass Menagerie to Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Tennessee Williams plays and screenplays have been seen by millions and received numerous awards,
from Tonys to The Pulitzer Prize. His characters step forward larger than life.
Are they misfits and extremes of human beings or something closer to home?
Spend an evening with them and think it over. Play selection curated by
MFA directors Tina Polzin and Leah Adcock-Starr.
The Long Goodbye - "They'll move every stick a furniture out a this place before they do you." His
sister's words ring in Joe's ears as movers empty the rooms around him. Every
inch of this place holds a memory. Life keeps moving, his friend Silva insists, but
first, Joe thinks, you gotta say your goodbyes.
Hello From Bertha -
There’s something heroic and grand about Bertha. She’s dying, sick out of her
mind in a room in a brothel. Yet she clings to her place and profession with bleak
ferocity. There is good she insists, even now — enough to write ‘Hello, with love’
and know this means something to someone.
Talk to Me Like The Rain and Let Me Listen -
There’s sweet talk, and there’s straight talk, and there’s just talk. How do a man
and woman who’ve been disjointedly in love for years express fears, feelings and
forgiveness to each other in so many words? Only a master poet can say.
Mister Paradise -
Anthony Paradise has a fan club of one. His forgotten poetry is discovered by a
girl who is determined to bring Paradise back to the world and to the fame and
renown she believes he deserves. She's fallen in love, but with the poet or the
man? For her...it's not too late and for him...it's not late enough.
Why Do You Smoke So Much, Lily? -
Lily’s eyes shine “a brilliant tortured green” in Williams’ eloquent description as
she “exudes another transparent grey cone from her pursed lips.” This rebellious
young woman is hounded nearly mad by her mother’s incessant, inane chatter. If
only we could shake her and say, ‘For God’s sake, Lily, don’t quit!’
MFA DANCE CONCERT
Presented by Dance and Drama Design Programs
If you enjoy experiencing creativity, you're going to love this concert! Dance Program MFA students present their highly original choreography in this concert of inventive, vibrant new work. To add to this experience, MFA design students from UW Drama punctuate the concert with original costume design as advanced undergrad dancers receive a rich performing experience. This annual concert is always a crowd pleaser and sells out fast, so reserve your tickets now! Tickets at meany.org.
ONCE UPON A TIME 6X IN THE WEST
Created by the ensemble
Conceived and directed by Jeffrey Fracé
Stagecoach, The Big Country, Once Upon a Time in the West—all are iconic film westerns. Director Jeffrey Fracé views The Western through a series
of theatrical lenses iconic in their own right. The new work is adapted in six
sections each devoted to one of the directors who have, for the past 60 years,
established break points in the art of storytelling and theatre. The ensemble
delves below the surface of every "style" to uncover the director's process.
In a Balkan country on the edge of Europe, a mysterious church fresco has been discovered which may rewrite the history of art across the East-West divide.
Gabriella Pecs, curator of the national museum, enlists Oliver Davenport, an
English art historian, to help prove the fresco's authenticity. Catholic, Orthodox
and nationalist interests compete to possess it. In the midst of the controversy, a
desperate multi-national group of refugees bursts into the church demanding
asylum at gunpoint. One last hostage, the fresco, stands alone. Directed by MFA
directing candidate, Andrew McGinn.
A series of readings performed by MFA acting students in collaboration with members of Book-It as a step in the unique process of play development in the
narrative style.
Thursday, January 17, and Saturday, January 19, 7:30 p.m.
The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas (père,)
adapted by Rachel Atkins, directed by David Quicksall
Run, by Ann Patchett,
adapted and directed by Myra Platt
Friday, January 18, 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, January 20, 2:00 p.m.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon,
adapted by Jeff Schwager, directed by Josh Aaseng
Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James,
adapted and directed by Annie Lareau
FACULTY DANCE/COLLABORATIONS
Featuring Dance, Music and Drama Programs
UW Dance, Drama and Music celebrate the 100th anniversary of Rite of Spring with this performance and a series of lectures and events this spring. The collaboration is distinguished by Professor Sarah Nash Gates' original costumes. Music faculty brings Stravinsky's music to life while Dance faculty member Jürg Koch tackles the movement themes. The concert also features new work by faculty member Jennifer Salk and a restaging of Limon's Dances for Isadora (1971). Tickets at meany.org.
CELEBRATION AND BENEFIT
School of Drama Biennial Auction Event
This year we invite all to celebrate the transformative power of theatre. Enjoy
an evening of food, fun, and fundraising to help young artists transform the
world before our eyes. From live performance to a live auction, our third
Celebration & Benefit has it all — experience the possibilities!
Fall 2012
LANDSCAPE OF THE BODY
By John Guare
Directed by L. Zane
John Guare's comedy evokes the pathos and craziness of the 1970s when "finding yourself" was an over-familiar mantra. Two sisters are at the heart
of a story that begins when Rosalie is killed by a yellow Raleigh bicycle on a
New York City sidewalk. Betty, who has come from Maine to rescue her sister,
slips instead into the pattern of Rosalie's desperate life. Director L. Zane has
called Landscape a "theatrical expression of longing and hope."
This series of lectures considers the presence, power, and authenticity of the live and the real in the arts. Lecturers include School of Drama
Professors Odai Johnson and Andrew Tsao and English Professor Emeritus Herbert Blau.
Tuesday, October 2 Theatre and Social Efficacy
This lecture explores the response time of artists of various media to national crisis. Using events of some magnitude it charts how various media engage in times of crisis. Professor in Theatre History and Head of the Ph.D. program at the University of Washington School of Drama, Dr. Odai Johnson is the author of Rehearsing the Revolution and Absence and Memory on the Colonial American Stage.
Tuesday, October 16 Virtually Yours: Presence, Liveness, Lessness
Though "bots and bytes" may be seen in performance (or appear to be), without the presence of a living being there's something palpably missing — the smell of mortality and the mystery of its vanishing, "liveness" is not living. English Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington, Dr. Herbert Blau has had a distinguished career in the
professional theatre. He helped introduce American audiences to avant-garde drama in some of the country's first productions of Samuel Beckett, Jean Genet, and Harold Pinter.
Tuesdays, October 30 Beyond the Uncanny Valley
This lecture explores the convergence of actual and virtual time and space in theatre. Associate Professor Andrew Tsao is a director for stage and screen. His work ranges from network prime-time comedies to Shakespeare and cutting-edge original performances. He heads the undergraduate drama program at the University of Washington. Professor Tsao leads summer drama programs at the Edinburgh Festival and is artistic director of The Drama Collective, a European theatre studies creative lab in Pontlevoy, France.
LAURIE ANDERSON: DIRTDAY!
Presented by the UW World Series
