Theatre Season 2011-2012

RENOVATIONS UNDERWAY:

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Karen Hille Phillips Center for the Performing Arts

The PLU Theatre program celebrates the Fall 2011 opening of the new Studio Theater and scene shop. These are the first spaces to be completed in the new Karen Hille Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.

Karen Hille Phillips' final legacy was a generous gift to Engage the World: The Campaign for plu, that helped push the total fundraising campaign beyond the $100 million mark. The Phillips bequest completes funding of the $20 million renovation of Eastvold Hall, fully transforming it into the 47,500 square-foot Karen Hille Phillips Center for the Performing Arts by 2013. “Karen cared deeply about what she always called ‘her university,’” President Loren J. Anderson said. “Again and again her generosity has given PLU the resources to move aggressively to enhance our academic programs and facilities." Phillips’ lifetime giving and bequest total almost $25 million, making her the largest single benefactor in university history. She was a 1955 plu nursing graduate and served as a member of the Board of Regents for nine years beginning in 2000.

To invest financially in the plu Theatre program and help support the transformation of Eastvold Hall into the Karen Hille Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, visit www.plu.edu/campaign or call 800.826.0035.

Source: University Communications article by Greg Brewis, May 2011

Guarantee yourself the best seats by purchasing a season subscription for the 2011-2012 Theatre season: The Fantasticks, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Rabbit Hole, Dance 2012, and Almost, Maine.*

SEASON SUBSCRIPTION

Adults PLU ID, Students & Seniors

x $40 = x $25 =

$ ______ $ ______

Total $ ______ Name: Address: City: Phone:

_____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _________________ State: ______________ Zip: _____________ _________________ Email: _ _____________________________

Please provide your email so that we can send you a confirmation upon completion of your season subscription.

Make checks payable to Pacific Lutheran University.

*In addition, all season ticket subscriptions will receive two tickets to any music concert (excluding the annual Christmas Concerts) and an invitation to all University Gallery receptions and events.

Please return completed form to:

Community Box Office Pacific Lutheran University Tacoma, WA 98447

You may also purchase season subscriptions and individual tickets by credit card through the Community Box Office at 253.535.7411 or in person at the Campus Concierge on the main level of the University Center.

Department of Communication and Theatre Pacific Lutheran University 12180 Park Ave. S. Tacoma, WA 98447-0003 253.535.7761

NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE PAID TACOMA, WA PERMIT NO. 416

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PLU Theatre Faculty and Staff Jeff A. Clapp, Director of Theatre Brian Desmond, Theatre Maureen McGill, Dance Henry Loughman, Technical Director Kathleen Anderson, Costume Designer

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Theatre eason S 20112012

School of Arts + Communication

School of Arts + Communication

2011 2012

Theatre eason S

Pacific Lutheran University

THE FANTASTICKS

RABBIT HOLE

October 13, 14, 15, 21, 22 at 7:30pm October 23 at 2pm

March 8, 9*, 10, 16, 17 at 7:30pm March 18 at 2pm Eastvold Main Stage Theater

By Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones Directed by Professor Jeff A. Clapp

By David Lindsay-Abaire Directed by Professor Brian Desmond

Studio Theater, Grand Opening The Fantasticks tells the story of a young boy and girl who fall madly in love at the hands of their meddling parents, but soon grow restless and stray from one another. Will their separation provide a deeper appreciation for the love they once shared–or create a permanent gulf between them? The Fantasticks is a quintessential celebration of love in all its gorgeous simplicity and heartbreaking complexities. The show's original off-Broadway production ran a total of 42 years and 17,162 performances, making it the world's longest-running musical. “It's The Fantasticks, an essential piece of musical theater history. Long may it run.” –David Horiuchi

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM

Rabbit Hole, which won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize, is a “transcendent and deeply affecting new play” that “shifts perfectly from hilarity to grief ” (Entertainment Weekly). It’s a story of loss, heartbreak, and forgiveness as a family attempts to move on after a life-shattering accident. David Rooney (Variety) writes, “David Lindsay-Abaire has crafted a drama that’s not just a departure but a revelation – an intensely emotional examination of grief, laced with wit, insightfulness, compassion, and searing honesty.” Ben Brantley (New York Times) describes Rabbit Hole as “a beautifully observed new play blessed with David Lindsay-Abaire’s customary grace and wit.” And Howard Shapiro (Philadelphia Inquirer) describes the play as “a satisfyingly strange mix: a wrenching look into grief and healing, leavened with generous spoonfuls of humor. This is one smart play.”

SOME ADULT LANGUAGE

*Friday March 9, 7:30pm

By William Shakespeare Directed by Jordan Beck '12, Theatre B.F.A.

The 2011-2012 Focus Series presents each soac discipline dynamically interpreting this year’s common theme of Compassion.

December 7, 8, 9, 10 at 7:30pm December 11 at 2pm Eastvold Main Stage Theater

Directed by Professor Maureen McGill April 20, 21 at 7:30pm Eastvold Main Stage Theater In this highly anticipated annual campus event, the plu Dance Ensemble presents an invigorating and arresting series of dance numbers sure to delight all.

ALMOST, MAINE

By John Cariani Directed by Professor Jeff A. Clapp

May 10, 11, 12, 18, 19 at 7:30pm May 20 at 2pm Eastvold Main Stage Theater On a cold, clear, moonless night in the middle of winter, all is not quite what it seems in the remote, mythical town of Almost, Maine. As the northern lights hover in the star-filled sky above, Almost's residents find themselves falling in and out of love in unexpected and often hilarious ways. Knees are bruised.

Hearts are broken. But the bruises heal, and the hearts mend– almost – in this delightful midwinter night's dream.

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COVER. The Floating World (The Long Christmas Ride Home) –

Kate Howland '12, David Ellis '11, Jill Heinecke '13,

Abigail Pishaw '12, & Jack Sorensen '13 1 The Full Monty –

2 The Full Monty –

David Ellis '11 Lars Foster-Jorgensen '11 Jack Sorensen '13 3 Dance 2011: Mark Rud '12 Like Clockwork – Jordan Beck '12 Kelsey Serier '12 Kraig Partridge '14 4 The Seagull – & Kareem Dixon '14 Jordan Fermstad '11 & Kate Howland '12

5 The Floating World

(The Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden) – Julia Stockton '12 & Osa Forrester '12

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DANCE 2012

Since its first documented performance in 1605, A Midsummer Night’s Dream has been delighting audiences around the world through film, television, opera, ballet, books and even after all these years - the theatrical stage. It’s a story of four young people who are denied the right to marry the people they love.

These lovers wander into the dark, dangerous woods hoping to escape the rules of civilization, but in these woods, outside of the bounds of human law, dangerous and inhuman shadows feud.

The fairy King and Queen rage war over the rights to a small child, and this bleeds into the lives of the all the mortals who naively enter their domain- the realm of the moon, of nature, and of dreams. Written by one of the most beloved dramatists of all time, William Shakespeare, this classic comedy explores the dangers and exhilarations of dreams, the power and nature of desire, and “the course of true love,” which “never did run smooth.”

2010-2011 Production Photos

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"…a whimsical approach to the joys and perils of romance.

Magical happenings bloom beneath the snowdrifts." (The New York Times). "A charmer… Unexpected magic lingers in the air like someone's breath on a cold winter's night. John Cariani aims for the heart by way of the funny bone." (Star-Ledger).

"Sweet, poignant and witty." (The New York Daily News).

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Cameron Bennett, Dean

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