2018-2019 Season
48-Hour Theatre Project
Henry MacCarthy, Advisor
September 16 at 6:00pm
Black Box Theatre
Five student directors will be challenged to make five short theatre pieces in 48-hours. On Friday evening the participants will be given a theme, and they will have to create, audition, rehearse, and produce a play, to be presented on Sunday evening. Don’t miss this exhilarating theatre experience.
Measure for Measure
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Amy Seham
November 8-10 at 8:00pm | November 11 at 2:00pm
Anderson Theatre
Shakespeare’s intriguing dark comedy takes on new meaning in light of today’s #MeToo movement. Isabella, a novice nun, pleads with government official Angelo to spare her brother from execution. The powerful man agrees to help—but only if Isabella will sleep with him. When Isabella protests, saying she will proclaim his corruption to the world, Angelo smoothly replies, “Who will believe thee, Isabel?” It takes an evening full of comedy, tricks, and disguises before Isabel can bring Angelo to justice. Guest artist Anne Sawyer lends her genius with puppetry to the creation of a host of vivid, entertaining characters who manipulate and are manipulated in this remarkably modern classic.
Click here for Measure for Measure photos.
Theatre Gallery: Myths and Origins
Student-Devised Performances
Henry MacCarthy, Advisor
December 7 at 11:00pm | December 8 at 6:00pm | December 9 at 2:00pm
Black Box Theatre
Always innovative, unique, and eclectic, the Theatre Gallery features selected works and honors projects by some of our most gifted majors.
Click here for Myths and Origins photos.
Shared Space: Molding Integrity
Co-Directed by Kayla Cardenas '19 and Madelyn Schwartz '19
December 7 at 8:30pm | December 8 at Noon and 4:00pm | December 9 at 6:30pm
Kresge Dance Studio
As artists, dancers create images and shapes, telling stories through their movement. This year, Shared Space will bring together the richness and breadth of the Gustavus dance program, showcasing dancers as they take the lead in producing, directing, choreographing, and performing.
Click here for Molding Integrity photos.
Buried Child
By Sam Shepard
Directed by Theatre Honors student Gabriel Berg ‘19
December 7 at 6:30pm | December 8 at 8:00pm | December 9 at 4:00pm
Black Box Theatre
Buried Child explores the dissolving of the classic American dream. This dark comedy follows an American farming family as they struggle to find their identity amidst the changing values around them. The separation of generational ideals and the fall of the traditional patriarch are center stage in this award-winning work by Sam Shepard.
Click here for Buried Child photos.
Iphigenia and Other Daughters
By Ellen McLaughlin
Directed by Matt Trucano
February 21-23 at 8:00pm | February 24 at 2:00pm
Anderson Theatre
In order to go to war, Agamemnon sacrifices his daughter Iphigenia to the gods. Ten years later, his wife Clytemnestra kills him within hours of his triumphant homecoming. Another twenty years go by, and Orestes, their son, avenges his father's death by killing his mother. What does it take to disrupt the cycles of hurt and revenge that tear families and societies apart? The ancient Greeks lay awake at night attempting to answer this question, as we do today. Iphigenia and Other Daughters is a trilogy based on Euripides’ Iphigenia at Aulis and Iphigenia in Tauris and Sophocles’ Electra to give center stage to the women and children whose lives are hijacked by ideologies predicated on their own voicelessness and objectification. When is enough enough?
Click here for Iphigenia and Other Daughters photos.
Suspended Between the Worlds: The Gustavus Dance Company in Concert
Directed by Melissa C. Rolnick
April 26-27 at 8:00pm | April 28 at 2:00pm
Anderson Theatre
This year’s concert features work by Gustavus faculty, Sarah Hauss, Giselle Mejia, Jill Patterson and Melissa C. Rolnick, guest choreographers Melissa Herrada, Natosha Washington and Arneshia Williams and selected student choreographers. Please join us as we dance over the threshold into a suspension between the worlds.
Click here for Suspended Between the Worlds photos.
Title and Deed
By Will Eno
Directed by Henry MacCarthy
May 17-18 at 8:00pm | May 19 at 2:00pm
Anderson Theatre
From Pulitzer Prize finalist and Horton Foote Prize winner Will Eno, Title and Deed is a haunting exploration of what it means to exist between home and away. A brutally honest and devastatingly funny story of someone from somewhere else.
“The marvel of Mr. Eno’s voice is how naturally it combines a carefully sculptured lyricism with sly, poker-faced humor. Everyday phrases and familiar platitudes — ‘Don’t ever change,’ ‘Who knows’ — are turned inside out or twisted into blunt, unexpected punch lines punctuating long rhapsodic passages that leave you happily word-drunk.” New York Times
Click here for Title and Deed photos.
Take a look at information from the 2017-2018 season.