IU Theatre & Dance will return to the stage for its 2021–2022 season! The season kicks off in September with The Well of Horniness, a sapphic soap opera the patriarchy doesn’t want you to see. In October, visit The Threepenny Opera, a biting satire of the post-war rise of capitalism wrapped in Kurt Weill’s jazzy score. The Fall semester continues with JUMP, a play full of flickering lights, the memories we carry, and the magic of hope in the midst of loss, followed by Earthward, the 2021 Winter Dance Concert with choreography by dance faculty and guest artists. The Spring semester returns with Sueño, an adaptation of the Spanish Golden Age classic Life Is A Dream by Pedro Calderón de la Barca. The season continues with At First Sight, a festival of new works by M.F.A playwrights Jayne Deely and Annalise Cain; Carrie: The Musical, based on the novel by Stephen King; and concludes with a concert of capstone projects created by the IUCD B.F.A. Class of 2022, New Moves/New Directions.
IU Theatre & Dance has been working with the IU Restart Committee on how to safely welcome our beloved patrons back to the Ruth N. Halls and Wells-Metz Theatres. In compliance with the CDC and IU safety guidelines, masks are encouraged for your safety and comfort. More specific information will be forthcoming soon, but for now we are grateful to be bringing live theatre back to the Lee Norvelle Theatre + Drama Center.
At a Glance:
The Well of Horniness – by Holly Hughes
Directed by RJ Hodde
September 30–October 2
The Threepenny Opera – by Bertolt Brecht & Kurt Weill
In collaboration with Elisabeth Hauptmann
Based on The Beggar’s Opera by John Gay
English translation by Simon Stephens
Musical direction by Terry LaBolt
Choreographed by DJ Gray
Directed by Jamie Anderson
October 28–30
JUMP – by Charly Evon Simpson
Directed by Chika Ike
November 18–20
Earthward: Winter Dance Concert
Choreographed by Dance Faculty
Directed by Elizabeth Shea
December 10–11
Sueño – Translated & adapted by José Rivera
From the play by Pedro Calderón de la Barca
Directed by Daniel Sappington
February 10–12, 2022
At First Sight: A Festival of New Plays
New plays by Jayne Deely & Annalise Cain
March 5–12, 2022
Carrie: The Musical – by Michael Gore, Dean Pitchford, & Lawrence D. Cohen
Based on the book by Stephen King
Musical Direction by Ray Fellman
Directed & Choreographed by Lauren Haughton Gillis
April 13–16, 2022
New Moves/New Directions
2022 Senior Capstone Project
Directed by Beatrice Capote
April 28–29, 2022
In Detail:
A Sapphic soap opera the patriarchy doesn’t want you to see, The Well of Horniness is equal parts film noir, postmodern romp, and low-brow glee. Enjoy a camp-fueled cliffhanger featuring libidinous lesbians, licentious ladies, and mysterious men (the mystery? They’re actually women!) in a who-done-it case you won’t want to solve!
Brecht and long-time collaborator Elisabeth Hauptmann pen Brecht’s first ‘play with music’ about a gang of thieves and grifters who “can’t have ethics that they can’t afford.” The Threepenny Opera is a darkly comic and biting satire on the post-war rise of capitalism wrapped in Weill’s tuneful music.
In JUMP’s richly layered script, Fay copes with the death of her mother and loss of her childhood home, and seeks solace by visiting the bridge her mother took her to as a child. Simpson’s play is full of flickering lights, the memories we carry, and the magic of hope in the midst of loss.
Join us for Earthward, the 2021 Winter Dance Concert, where multiple relationships between bodies and earth are explored in an evening of provocative choreography and performance. Faculty, students, and guest artists Cameron McKinney and Prathiba Batley present a re-grounding of our collective thoughts and actions through the complexity of human movement expression.
Set in 1635, the meta-physical drama Sueño follows young Prince Segismundo. King Basilio banishes the infant Prince to a tower, but releases the Prince at age twenty-five to test him as ruler. If the Prince fails, Basilio will re-imprison Segismundo by assuring him that such a brief taste of life was only a dream.
Now in its tenth year, At First Sight: A Festival of New Plays will feature two new plays by M.F.A playwrights Jayne Deely and Annalise Cain. The Festival’s culminating weekend includes scenes by undergraduate writers and a staged reading of a new play by our first-year M.F.A. playwright.
In Carrie: The Musical, based on Stephen King’s novel, teenager Carrie White longs to be seen. Bullied and controlled while navigating the difficult terrain of high school, Carrie discovers an uncommon power within herself. This killer musical features such hit numbers as “And Eve Was Weak” and “A Night We’ll Never Forget.”
A concert of choreographic capstone projects, New Moves/New Directions is created by the IUCD B.F.A. Class of 2022. With performance and production by IU Theatre + Dance majors and guest artist works, IUCD seniors will share a delightfully varied and innovative evening of concert dance performance.
The College of Arts