HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, KY – Northern Kentucky University | School of the Arts | Program of Theatre and Dance is excited to announce our 2017-18 academic season. Performances begin in September 2017. An exact schedule of performances will be released closer to the start of the 2017-18 academic year.
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
By William Shakespeare
September 28 – October 8, 2017
NKU Corbett Theatre
Magic and laughter are on the loose in Shakespeare’s most popular and enduring play, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM. The enchanting comedy follows four young lovers as they find their way through the forest and to each other. But as Lysander says “the course of true love never did run smooth.” Gods mix with mortals, a feuding king and queen unleash magical practical jokes on one another, spells yield improbable love affairs and a band of comical tradesmen wander into the enchanted wood and are transformed in the most unlikely of ways. Full of madcap chases and mistaken identities, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM is an exploration of the mystery, madness, and power of love.
DANCING AT LUGHNASA
By Brian Friel
October 24 – October 29, 2017
NKU Stauss Theatre
Winner of the Tony Award for Best Play, DANCING AT LUGHNASA is master playwright Brian Friel’s best. Set in a small village in 1936 Ireland, five unmarried sisters share a small home and big dreams of life beyond their native land. The women struggle to survive on their own in a society with little use for them. Only through savage outbursts of dance and music are the sisters able to release their passionate yearnings. DANCING AT LUGHNASA explores identity, family unity and, above all, how our lives are shaped by the past.
Disney’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
Music By Alan Menken
Lyrics by Howard Ashman & Tim Rice
Book by Linda Woolverton
December 1 – December 10, 2017
NKU Corbett Theatre
Based on the Academy-Award winning animated feature, Disney’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST brings to life the characters, story, and songs that have made the musical an international sensation. The classic story follows Belle, a young woman in a provincial town, and the Beast, a prince trapped in a spell. When the Beast takes her father captive, Belle trades her own freedom for his release, and begins a life-changing adventure that ultimately brings an incredible transformation for all. Teaching a beautiful lesson about the way we look at others, and ourselves, this “tale as old as time” promises to enchant audience members of all ages.
ANGELS IN AMERICA: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes
Part One: Millenium Approaches
By Tony Kushner
February 15 – February 25, 2018
NKU Corbett Theatre
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and the Drama Desk and Tony Awards for Best Play, ANGELS IN AMERICA follows eight New Yorkers who form unlikely bonds as a mysterious disease begins ravaging their city. Tony Kushner’s blockbuster explores gay culture, race, inequality, and the future of America through the lens of the AIDS crisis of the 1980s. Twenty-five years after the play’s Broadway premiere, it remains one of the greatest plays of the last century and continues to reverberate with audiences today. As characters grapple with life and death, love and sex, heaven and hell, they wrestle to navigate the complexities of hope in a world of uncertainties.
TICK, TICK… BOOM!
Book, Music, and Lyrics by Jonathan Larson
April 3 – April 8, 2018
NKU Stauss Theatre
This autobiographical musical by Jonathan Larson, the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning creator of RENT, follows Jon, an aspiring musical-theater composer staring down his 30th birthday and wondering whether it’s time to put aside his lifelong ambition to be an artist and settle for a second-choice life. His girlfriend wants to get married and move out of the city, his best friend is making big bucks on Madison Avenue, but Jon is still waiting on tables and trying to write the great American musical. Exhilarating, funny, and moving, TICK, TICK… BOOM! will speak to anyone who’s ever gotten lost on the way to finding their dreams. Set in 1990, this compelling story of sacrifice and personal discovery is presented as a rock musical.
SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD
Music and Lyrics by Jason Robert Brown
April 4 – April 8, 2018
NKU Stauss Theatre
“It’s about one moment. It’s about hitting the wall and having to make a choice, or take a stand, or turn around and go back.” These are the stories and characters of today, the SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD. Tony Award-winner, Jason Robert Brown transports audiences from the deck of a 1492 Spanish sailing ship to a ledge, 57 stories above Fifth Avenue, to meet a startling array of characters that range from a young man who has determined that basketball is his ticket out of the ghetto to a woman whose dream of marrying rich nabs her the man of her dreams… and a soulless marriage. With a small, powerhouse cast and a driving, exquisitely crafted score that runs the gamut of today’s popular music, SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD is about the way we regroup and figure out how to survive in a new set of circumstances – a new world – even against seemingly overwhelming odds.
KISS ME, KATE
Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter
Book by Sam and Bella Spewack
April 19 – April 29, 2018
NKU Corbett Theatre
The Tony Award-winning musical KISS ME, KATE represents the iconic composer-lyricist Cole Porter at his very best. Set both on and off-stage during the production of a musical version of The Taming of the Shrew, KISS ME, KATE revolves around the tempestuous love lives of actor-manager Fred Graham and his leading lady and ex-wife, Lilli Vanessi. Throw in Fred’s new lover, her gambler boyfriend – and a couple of gangsters who somehow get caught up in the show – and the stage is set for a funny and farcical battle of the sexes! A charming homage to the sparkling wit of Shakespeare and an irresistible celebration of the joy and madness of working in theatre, Porter’s witty, jazz-inflected score features hit after hit, with show-stopping numbers including ‘Another Op’nin’ Another Show,’ ‘So in Love,’ ‘Always True to You in My Fashion’ and ‘Too Darn Hot.’
SEASON EXTRAS
FIRST YEAR SHOW
November 17 – November 19, 2017
NKU Stauss Theatre
This production shows off our talented freshman and transfer students.
DANCE ‘18
March 22 – March 24, 2018
NKU Corbett Theatre
Not to be missed, DANCE ‘18 features a company of our best young dance artists. Full of new and innovative works created by faculty, guest artists, and nationally renowned choreographers in creative expressions including theatre dance, contemporary and classical ballet, tap, modern, jazz, and world dance, DANCE ‘18 features something for everyone!
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For more information, call the NKU School of the Arts Box Office at 859.572.5464 or visit theatre.nku.edu. Tickets will go on sale in September 2017.
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