The weather is finally cooling off and parking is becoming scarce here on campus, which means students are returning and the stages at NC State will soon be alive with performances. Much has changed in the past few years but what has remained is our commitment to providing engaging and accessible theatre experiences.
This year we have a full slate of programming that is guided by our mission to create an inclusive, student-centered community that inspires meaningful connections grounded in the experience of making and sharing theatre.
So how can we share theatre with you?
To start the year off we invite you to our Studio Series, home to Out Loud, QuickSCRIPTS, and The Wright Way. The Studio series focuses on theatre making and the process of making art. All of these programs are free to attend thanks to the support from patrons like you.
Out Loud is a casual theatre experience in which plays are read aloud. Attendees can pause the reading for discussion, participate as a reader or sit back and hear others lend their voice to the show. We also ask for your help to select the titles for the Out Loud series, all of which are under consideration to be fully produced in future seasons! Visit our website to learn more about the titles and how you can lend your voice.
QuickSCRIPTS returns after its summer debut as a night of four 10-minute shows written, rehearsed, and performed in a matter of days. All four scripts are centered around a single topic. You too can be a part of the process by suggesting the very topics the playwrights will utilize.
Finally The Wright Way will present four readings of a new play in process by senior biological sciences major Gaven Bell. Muse is a contemporary rendition of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth exploring the relationship between art and science as Finn, a microbiologist, grieves the loss of Eurydice, the artist no longer by his side.
Our Producing Series returns with three fantastic shows this season centered on staying true to yourself. We begin with Arthur Miller’s classic American drama The Crucible. Ostensibly about the Salem witch trials, our creative team will set this drama in the 1950s during the era of Joseph McCarthy’s Red Scare Senate hearings, which inspired Miller’s allegorical play.
In April, the Titmus Theatre will transform into a fantasy world with She Kills Monsters. In this high-octane dramatic comedy laden with homicidal fairies, nasty ogres and 90s pop culture, acclaimed playwright Qui Nguyen offers a heart-pounding homage to the geek and warrior within us all.
Finally, University Theatre returns to Stewart Theatre. It is a privilege to pee, I mean be, back in Talley Student Union to present the multiple Tony-award winning show Urinetown, The Musical. This meta theatre, musical-comedy is set in a Gotham-like city during a 20-year drought. The water shortage has led to a government-enforced ban on private toilets. Citizens must use public amenities, regulated by a single malevolent company that profits by charging admission for one of humanity’s most basic needs. Amid the people, a hero decides they have had enough and plans a revolution to lead them all to freedom. Urinetown, the musical pokes fun at capitalism, populism, bureaucracy and musical theatre itself!
We have a lot of amazing theatre on tap this year, all of which will be built, performed, and operated by students. We hope you will join us in the coming year
Joshua Reaves
Director, University Theatre
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