2011–12 Season
- The Lion in Winter
- Funny Girl
- The Laramie Project
- The Student-Directed Mainstage Production
- Diana of Dobson's
The Lion in Winter
Aug. 26, 27 and 28 at 8 p.m.
The Lion in Winter by James Goldman, an historical comedy about King Henry II, his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, and his scheming sons including Richard Lionheart and the infamous Prince John.
This production is part of an occasional series of summer performance projects sponsored by the Department of Theatre highlighting faculty-student collaboration. The production was crafted during an intense two-week rehearsal period reflecting the professional summer stock theatre model.
Although the narrative takes place in the year 1183, the playwright uses modern language and relationship dynamics, which will be reflected in contemporary costuming in our production. A deliberate minimalist approach to scenery and lighting for this production will encourage a focus on text interpretation and the artists' performances.
This production is made possible in part by a Susquehanna University Summer Opportunities grant, funding from the Faculty Development and Research Committee and funding from the Department of Theatre.
Degenstein Center Theater
This event is free and open to the public.
Funny Girl
Nov. 3, 4, 5, 11 and 12 at 8 p.m.
Nov. 5 and 6 at 2:30 p.m.
Fanny Brice’s career took her from comedienne to vaudeville star. In The Ziegfeld Follies, in Hollywood films and on the radio, she was one of the most celebrated entertainers of her time. This show is her story.
Funny Girl played for 1,348 performances on Broadway at the Winter Garden, Majestic and Broadway theatres and starred the incomparable Barbra Streisand.
Musical numbers include I’m the Greatest Star, I Want to Be Seen With You Tonight, Don’t Rain on My Parade, People, The Music That Makes Me Dance, Who Are You Now? and You Are Woman, I Am Man.
Degenstein Center Theater
Adults $20
Senior Citizens $15
non-SU students $10
The Laramie Project
Dec. 8, 9, 10 and 11 at 8 p.m.
Dec. 10 and 11 at 2:30 p.m.
In October 1998, 21-year-old Matthew Shepard, a student at the University of Wyoming, was kidnapped, severely beaten and left to die, tied to a fence in the middle of the prairie outside Laramie, Wyo., all because he was gay.
His bloody, bruised and battered body was not discovered until the next day, and he died several days later in an area hospital.
Moisés Kaufman and fellow members of the Tectonic Theater Project made six trips to Laramie in the aftermath of the beating and during the trial of the two young men accused of killing Shepard, conducting more than 200 interviews with the people of the town.
Kaufman and Tectonic Theater members have constructed a deeply moving theatrical experience from these interviews and their own experiences.
The Laramie Project is a breathtaking theatrical collage that explores the depths to which humanity can sink and the heights of compassion of which we are capable.
Time magazine called it "one of the 10 best plays of the year. A pioneering work of theatrical reportage and a powerful stage event."
Degenstein Center Theater
Adults, $10
Non-SU students, $8
Student-Directed Mainstage Production
February 16, 17 and 18 at 8 p.m.
February 19 at 2:30 p.m.
Information will be posted as available.
Diana of Dobson's
April 26, 27, 28 and 29 at 8 p.m.
April 28 at 2:30 p.m.
Written in 1908 by British suffragist Cicely Hamilton, Diana of Dobson’s explores the troubles and stresses experienced by a young woman who has no family and is struggling to earn a living while maintaining her own ideals about happiness, dignity and identity.
Set in the Edwardian Era of her own day, Hamilton’s engaging play offers not only an insightful appraisal of the pressures brought to bear upon single, working-class women of that time, but also an unrelentingly critical appraisal of the Edwardian Era’s rigidity with respect to issues of gender and class.
Degenstein Center Theater
Adults $10
Senior Citizens $10
non-SU students $8
