Southwestern University Theatre Season 2015-2016
The Sarofim School of Fine Arts of Southwestern University in Georgetown announces an exciting theatre season for 2015-2016. The season consists of four productions; a night of Tennessee Williams, a classic comedy from Oscar Wilde, the longest running musical, and a drama about a death row inmate. Season packages starting at $48.
Sept 25-27 and Oct 1-4, 2015
A Night of Tennessee Williams – One Act Plays:
“Auto Da Fe,” “The Strangest Kind of Romance,” and “The Long Goodbye”
7:30pm | Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays
3pm | Sundays
Jesse H. and Mary Gibbs Jones Theater
Auto Da Fe is about Eloi, a sexually repressed postal worker who still lives with his mother in New Orleans.
The Strangest Kind of Romance is about the relationship of a boarding house landlady, her tenant, and a cat named, Nitchevo.
The Long Goodbye is about a writer who is haunted by memories of his sister and mother as he struggles to move on with his life.
Tennessee Williams established himself as one of America’s greatest dramatists. His beautiful, troubling, and poetic plays transformed the American stage. According to Elia Kazan, director of many of his plays, paid tribute to Williams and his work with these words, "everything in his life is in his plays, and everything in his plays is in his life.”
Williams earned four New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards, three Donaldson Awards, two Pulitzer Prizes, a Tony Award, a Presidential Medal of Freedom, and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.
Nov 13-15 & Nov 19-22, 2015
The Importance of Being Earnest
By Oscar Wilde
7:30pm | Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays
3pm | Sundays
Jesse H. and Mary Gibbs Jones Theater
First performed in 1895 in London, this is Oscar Wilde’s best – and most popular – comedy about two young gentlemen who create alter egos to escape obligations and to add excitement to their lives. Jack Worthing invents a brother, “Ernest,” whom he uses as an excuse to leave his boring country life and visit the beautiful Gwendolen in London. Gwendolen’s cousin, Algernon Moncrieff, invents “Bunbury,” whom he uses to leave London and head to the country. Algernon knows Jack’s secret and decides to visit Jack in the country. To complicate matters more he meets Jack’s attractive ward, Cecily, and introduces himself as “Ernest.” Things go awry when all of these hilarious characters end up in the country together and their deceptions are exposed – threatening their romances. The women soon discover there are too few Ernests being earnest!
Feb 19-21 and Feb 25-28, 2016
The Fantasticks
Book and Lyrics by Tom Jones, Music by Harvey Schmidt
7:30pm | Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays
3pm | Sundays
Jesse H. and Mary Gibbs Jones Theater
The Fantasticks is a comic musical about a boy, a girl, two fathers and a wall. It is a romantic fairy tale set in a world of moonlight and magic. The famous score, which includes the classics Try To Remember, They Were You and Soon It's Gonna Rain, is as timeless as the story itself.
The world’s longest-running musical, performed for more than 50 years. It was awarded Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre in 1991.
Apr 15-17 & Apr 21-24, 2016
Dead Man Walking
By Tim Robbins
Based on the book by Sister Helen Prejean
7:30pm | Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays
3pm | Sundays
Jesse H. and Mary Gibbs Jones Theater
As death row inmate Matthew Poncelet nears his execution date, he calls upon Sister Helen Prejean to help him with one last appeal, maintaining that he is innocent of the murders of a teenage couple. Matthew begins to form a bond with Sister Helen who visits his family and the families of the victims, hoping to understand him better and learn more about the criminal charges against him. As he waits to be executed, if the courts do not decide in his favor, Sister Helen does all that she can to comfort and console him. (adult content)
In 1995 Tim Robbins adapted Sister Helen Prejean’s biography into a film that was nominated for four Academy Awards. In 2002, Robbins adapted the screenplay for the stage. Southwestern University is participating in the “Dead Man Walking Project,” dedicated to raising awareness about the death penalty in colleges and secondary schools.
For information on our 2015-16 Season visit us at www.southwestern.edu/productions
For tickets call the Box Office at 512.863.1378 or purchase online at www.southwestern.tix.com
Southwestern University is a selective, nationally recognized undergraduate liberal arts college with an enrollment of 1,528 students. It is the oldest chartered institution of higher learning in Texas. For more information on Southwestern’s history and its 175th anniversary celebration, visit www.southwestern.edu/175.