THEATRE

What do we hold true?

Then, what is the unchanging truth in a changing world? I find the answer in the old mythology, which makes me realize that we embrace the same conflicts, feelings and joy as the people who lived 4,000 years ago. The mythological Mesopotamian king seeks the plant of eternal youth and tries to conquer his mortality; we seek medical cures through modern technology. This same mythical king annihilates the sacred forest and in return loses his most important friend; we continuously cut down rain forests and face the crisis of global warming. If we start to accept our latent human nature and see the world with untainted eyes, we will discover the key for the better future — and the key is in our past. For as T.S. Eliot states, past, present and future are all one after all.

Izumi Ashizawa

Assistant Professor, Department of Theatre, Adaptor/director of Gilgamesh

IZUMI ASHIZAWA IN THE BLUE ROCK

SEE PAGE 34 FOR DETAILS. SEASON OPENING! September 17 – 18 . 8PM THE ACTORS’ GANG

THE TRIAL OF THE CATONSVILLE NINE

by Daniel Berrigan directed by Jon Kellam Tim Robbins, artistic director Poet priest Daniel Berrigan’s historical drama brings to life the 1968 trial of two Catholic priests and seven fellow Catholic activists who committed an act of civil disobedience to protest the war in Vietnam. Their moral act of civil dissent — burning draft records from the Catonsville, Maryland, draft board office — galvanized a national protest movement. While condemned as criminals in a court of law, they were hailed as patriots in the streets during one of America’s most turbulent eras. KAY THEATRE $37 ($30 WHEN YOU BUY 5 OR MORE PERFORMANCES)

October 16-24 . See order form for dates and times UM DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE

JAMES JOYCE’S “THE DEAD”

book by Richard Nelson music by Shaun Davey lyrics by Richard Nelson and Shaun Davey directed by Scot Reese James Joyce’s short story, adapted for the stage as a musical, follows Irishman Gabriel Conroy as he takes his wife to a lively holiday party hosted by his two aunts. As Conroy observes his surroundings and hears others’ tales of love, loss, change and longing, he meditates on what it means to be an Irishman and a human. At the play’s center is an internal journey that drama critic Christopher Isherwood described as the “rich evocation of a single consciousness. ” KAY THEATRE $26 ($21 WHEN YOU BUY 5 OR MORE PERFORMANCES)

2009-2010 HUMANS IN TRANSLATION

“Humans in Translation is about being here and there, about leaving and coming home, understanding and not understanding, conflict, transformation and how we adapt to all the spaces in between. ” Daniel Mac Lean Wagner

Professor and Chair UM Department of Theatre “Place and Being: Humans in Translation, ” the Department of Theatre’s theme for 2009-10, is illuminated through five plays over the course of the season.

October 16-24

JAMES JOYCE’S “THE DEAD”

November 6-15

ANNA IN THE TROPICS

February 12-20

HOTEL CASSIOPEIA

March 5-12

THE BLUEST EYE

April 23 – May 2 GILGAMESH

This performance is supported, in part, by the Henson Endowment for Performing Arts.

Co-commissioned by the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.

Co-commissioned by the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.

November 5 – 6 . 8PM DAN HURLIN

DISFARMER

conceived and directed by Dan Hurlin original music by Dan Moses Schreier text by Sally Oswald Disfarmer is a portrait of an artist, a piece of puppet theater that examines the contradictions in the life of hermit Mike Disfarmer, who was born in 1884 and died in 1959, alone in his photo studio. His solitary world comes to life through “table-top puppetry, ” Magic lantern slides and 8mm home movies; old Edison wax disks and haunting Ozark mountain music create an atmosphere of old times faintly remembered. Disfarmer is represented by a series of puppets, each an exact replica of the last except two inches smaller — shrinking like much of rural America until he is completely gone. KAY THEATRE $37 ($30 WHEN YOU BUY 5 OR MORE PERFORMANCES)

November 6 – 15 . See order form for dates and times UM DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE

ANNA IN THE TROPICS

by Nilo Cruz directed by José Carrasquillo The 2003 Pulitzer Prize in Drama winner is set in 1920’s Ybor City, Florida, where family members who work in a cigar factory struggle to reconcile the traditions of the past with their desires for the future. Passions erupt and emotions flare as the laborers embrace the unfamiliar ideas presented to them by a new arrival in their midst, who reads Anna Karenina aloud to them as they work, with life-altering consequences. KOGOD THEATRE $26 ($21 WHEN YOU BUY 5 OR MORE PERFORMANCES)

January 29 – 30 . 8PM L.A. THEATRE WORKS

THE RFK PROJECT ROBERT F. KENNEDY AND THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT: A JOURNEY

by Murray Horwitz and Jonathan Estrin producing director Susan Albert Loewenberg LATW’s new docudrama chronicles Robert F. Kennedy’s transformation into a champion of civil rights and a crusader in the Civil Rights Movement. The story illuminates the crucial decade during which the movement reached fruition, refracting the words, events and issues of the time through RFK’s experiences. This staged radio play reveals the parallel journeys of RFK and Martin Luther King Jr. as one changed the world through powerful oratory and public leadership and the other through quiet tactical maneuvers behind the closed doors of his brother’s White House. KAY THEATRE $37 ($30 WHEN YOU BUY 5 OR MORE PERFORMANCES)

LOW TIDE HOTEL PHOTO BY DANISHA CROSBY

A blended production in cooperation with Round House Theatre February 12 – 20 . See order form for dates and times UM DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE

HOTEL CASSIOPEIA

by Charles Mee directed by Blake Robison Artist Joseph Cornell lived a magical life of the mind in his mother’s basement in Queens, caring for his invalid brother and collecting castaway items he used to create his assemblage boxes. Cornell’s correspondence and journals — filled with observations and obsessions — reveal his desire to capture through his work the intense feelings of a hidden moment. Playwright Charles Mee, discussing his play, wonders how it would be if Cornell’s boxes could speak: “About art, about America, about compassion and longing and loneliness and heartbreak. ” KOGOD THEATRE $26 ($21 WHEN YOU BUY 5 OR MORE PERFORMANCES)

March 5 – 12 . See order form for dates and times UM DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE

THE BLUEST EYE

adapted by Lydia R. Diamond from the novel by Toni Morrison directed by Walter Dallas Pecola Breedlove, an 11-year-old African-American girl in 1940’s Ohio, wants nothing more than to be loved by her family and community. Instead, she faces persistent teasing and hatred. She blames her dark skin and prays for blue eyes, believing that love will come if she looks “right. ” Pecola’s quest to be seen, to belong and to be loved unspools amidst the shocking weaknesses and surprising strength of the people who surround her. KAY THEATRE $26 ($21 WHEN YOU BUY 5 OR MORE PERFORMANCES)

March 10 – 12 . 8PM HAPPENSTANCE THEATER

FARFAR OASIS AND LOW TIDE HOTEL

Mark Jaster and Sabrina Mandell, co-artistic directors featuring Scott Sedar and Tina Chancey In the early twentieth century, the Western world indulged in romantic notions of the Middle Eastern desert, spawning such phenomena as Rudolph Valentino’s movie The Sheik and the public’s unquenchable fascination with Egyptian tombs and mummies. FarFar Oasis uses poetry, image and song to contrast the era’s charmed perceptions with the realities that popular culture glossed over. The evening’s companion piece, Low Tide Hotel, is a theatrical scrapbook that Washington Post writer Celia Wren called “an enchantingly whimsical montage of maritime-themed songs and literary excerpts. ” KOGOD THEATRE $37 ($30 WHEN YOU BUY 5 OR MORE PERFORMANCES)

April 23 – May 2 . See order form for dates and times UM DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE

GILGAMESH

adapted and directed by Izumi Ashizawa Ancient and modern Japanese movement, masks and puppetry are fused in this avant-garde interpretation of the 4,000-year-old Mesopotamian epic. As Gilgamesh hunts for the secret to eternal life, he struggles with love, power and death in his quest for immortality. KOGOD THEATRE $26 ($21 WHEN YOU BUY 5 OR MORE PERFORMANCES)