All Past DePauw Theatre Seasons

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  Young Frankenstein

  Fall 2017
  From the creators of the record-breaking Broadway sensation, The Producers, comes this monster new musical comedy. The comedy genius, Mel Brooks, adapts his legendarily funny film into a brilliant stage creation – Young Frankenstein! Grandson of the infamous Victor Frankenstein, Frederick Frankenstein (pronounced "Fronk-en-steen") inherits his family's estate in Transylvania. With the help of a hunchbacked sidekick, Igor (pronounced "Eye-gore"), and a leggy lab assistant, Inga (pronounced normally), Frederick finds himself in the mad scientist shoes of his ancestors. "It's alive!" he exclaims as he brings to life a creature to rival his grandfather's. Eventually, of course, the monster escapes and hilarity continuously abounds. Every bit as relevant to audience members who will remember the original as it will be to newcomers, Young Frankenstein has all the of panache of the screen sensation with a little extra theatrical flair added. It will surely be the perfect opportunity for a production company to showcase an array of talents. With such memorable tunes as "The Transylvania Mania," "He Vas My Boyfriend" and "Puttin' on the Ritz," Young Frankenstein is scientifically proven, monstrously good entertainment.

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  Company

  Fall 2016
  “Phone rings, door chimes, in comes Company!” DePauw Theatre and DePauw’s School of Music present the Tony-awarding winning musical Company, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Perennially single Bobby is pushed toward matrimony by his married friends: long-married Sarah and Harry, about-to-be-married Amy and Paul, about-to-get-divorced Susan and Peter, married-with-kids Jenny and David, and many-times-married Joanne and Larry. Worse, Bobby gets more pressure from girlfriends April, Mara and Kathy, who hope that he will –finally – commit. Called, “diamond sharp, funny and chilling,” this award-winning musical comedy features iconic songs from Stephen Sondheim. Join a stellar cast for Company, a witty and acerbic musical commentary on love – and marriage.

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  Original Plays by DePauw Student Playwrights

  Spring 2016
  DePauw Theatre's long tradition of encouraging and developing student written plays goes mainstage with these original student works. During Fall 2015 plays are conceived, written and rewritten and finally selected for production. A collaboration with faculty playwright and director Steve Timm, this evening of exciting new works celebrates the process of creating art from the germinal idea to a fully staged production.

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  Seminar

  Winter 2016
  Seminar, a dark comedy by Pulitzer Prize nominee Theresa Rebeck, explores the lives and loves of four young aspiring writers, Jeffrey, Kate, Izzy and Martin, each of whom antes up $5,000 to pay for a private writing seminar with Leonard, a brilliant and acerbic celebrity author. As they struggle with Leonard’s unusual teaching methods and often vicious criticism, they must deal with their own insecurities, fluctuating power relationships and sexual betrayals. Described as a “sparkling cocktail of ambition, power, and lust,” Seminar premiered on Broadway in 2011.

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  Spring Spectacle of Shakespeare

  Spring 2016
  In its 6th year, the Spring Spectacle is a partnership between DePauw University and Putnam County schools. The program trains DPU students to direct local middle and high school students in the mounting of fully staged 90-minute Shakespeare plays. The Spring Spectacle is inspired by and produced in association with Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA.

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  The Good Person of Szechwan

  Fall 2016
  Can one be good in a corrupt world? This is the central question in Bertolt Brecht’s timeless parable about Shen Te, the good prostitute, who must ultimately employ bad practices to have even the most basic of life’s necessities. While the title of the play suggests a Chinese setting, it is no stretch to imagine – as we do – that the story happens in a modern U.S. city, in one of those places, according to Brecht “where man is exploited by man.” When Shen Te alone satisfies the need of visiting “gods” to prove success with their governing policies, she is rewarded with money. Not unsurprisingly, Shen Te uses her windfall to better herself and the lives of her impoverished friends and neighbors. But her good deeds are exploited and impossible to sustain, and Shen Te is forced to resort to deceit and oppression nearly killing off her much desired and admired goodness. As with most of his work, Brecht is critiquing societal politics that make it so difficult to adhere to moral principles. And he hopes – as do we – that his work will inspire play-goers to question why and work towards change.

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  Antigone

  Spring 2015
  Antigone is a high-stakes, driven, dense drama between the rule-followers and rebels. Antigone’s choices require her to obey divine law and defy authority in order to bury her dead brother. She chooses family over the state and through her civil disobedience, she risks everything. In the ancient Greek tradition, Sophocles’ play explores loyalty – loyalty to family and loyalty to the state. Antigone is an underdog fighting against the establishment, which speaks to us today just as much as it spoke to Athenian audiences over 2,000 years ago.

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  Arcadia

  Fall 2015
  Tom Stoppard's absorbing play takes us back and forth between the centuries and explores the nature of truth and time, the difference between the Classical and the Romantic temperament, and the disruptive influence of sex on our orbits in life; "the attraction which Newton left out." "Stoppard's warmest and most affecting play.... A prodigiously smart piece of theatre that touches on fractal geometry, gossipy speculation about Lord Byron, contemporary academic backbiting and the physics of uncertainty." -San Francisco Chronicle