Welcome to the 2016-17 Department of Theatre Season!
We kick off the season by returning to the Hayes Christensen Theater at the Marriott Center for Dance to open Bring It On: The Musical, with music and lyrics by three-time Tony Award Winner Lin-Manuel Miranda, best known for creating and starring in the Broadway musicals Hamilton and In The Heights.
Highlights from the 2016-17 theatre season include Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia; Self Defense, or death of some salesmen, inspired by the true story of American serial killer Aileen Wournos; the musical Dogfight by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul and Peter Duchan; and Danai Gurira’s Eclipsed, a play about the Liberian Civil War with an all-black female cast, which played on Broadway spring of 2016.
In April, we conclude the season with the premiere of The Two Noble Kinsmen written by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher, translated by professor Tim Slover and dramaturged by Martine Kei Green-Rogers as part of the 36 new plays translated into modern English as part of the Play On! Project by Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
The Department of Theatre strives to maximize the access, interest and impact of theatre for our diverse audiences. The productions will ignite exciting dialogue through talkbacks, panel discussions and other artist interface opportunities. This season will be everything you have hoped for and nothing like you expected.
Bring It On: The Musical
Bitingly relevant, sprinkled with sass, and inspired by the hit film, Bring It On. The Musical takes audiences on a high-flying journey filled with the complexities of friendship, jealousy, betrayal, and forgiveness. Uniting some of the freshest and funniest creative minds on Broadway, Bring It On features an original story by Tony Award winner Jeff Whitty (Avenue Q), music and lyrics by Tony Award-winning composer Lin-Manuel Miranda (In The Heights, Hamilton), music by Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning composer Tom Kitt (Next To Normal), lyrics by Broadway lyricist Amanda Green (High Fidelity) and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Musical.
Self Defense, or death of some salesmen
A hitchhiking, highway prostitute is turned into a nation–wide celebrity when she is arrested for the murder of seven men. Is she the nation’s first female serial killer, as the media paint her, or a victim? Self Defense gives a long, hard look at an America most of us don’t want to admit exists.
Arcadia
This vibrant play moves effortlessly between the centuries and explores the nature of truth and time, the difference between classical and romantic temperaments, and the disruptive influence of sex on our life orbits, the attraction Newton left out.
Dogfight
On the eve of their deployment to a small but growing conflict in Southeast Asia, three young Marines set out for one final boys’ night of debauchery, partying and maybe a little trouble. But when Corporal Eddie Birdlace meets Rose, an awkward and idealistic waitress he enlists to win a cruel bet with his fellow recruits, she rewrites the rules of the game and teaches him the power of love and compassion.
Eclipsed
Based on the real life stories of the women and girls who helped bring peace to the African nation of Liberia during its second civil war, Eclipsed doesn’t only capture a piece of untold history, it’s also making it. Eclipsed became the first play with an all-black and female creative cast and team to premiere on Broadway in 2015.
The Two Noble Kinsmen
Two cousins, Palamon and Arcite are captured while fighting for Thebes against Athens. While imprisoned, they find themselves attracted to Emilia, who is the sister of Hippolyta, wife of Theseus. The Two Noble Kinsmen is one of 39 plays to be translated and adapted for Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s three-year Play On! project. This production will be translated by playwright Dr. Tim Slover and the dramaturgist is Dr. Martine Kei Green-Rogers.
by Josiane Dubois