Theatre UCF explores the question \u201cwhat does it mean to be an American?\u201d in a season of works by contemporary American playwrights that tackle experiences from the complexities of adolescence to the\u00a0ups and downs of adulthood, from losing everything to finding the love of your life.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter a challenging year of creating theatre during the pandemic, we are excited to offer a season of live productions in our regular theatre spaces,\u201d says Julia Listengarten, Artistic Director of Theatre UCF. \u201cOur new season celebrates diversity, love, resilience and the power of art to inspire, rebuild, and foster transformative\u00a0experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n
The season \u201ckicks\u201d off with\u00a0The Wolves<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0a critically acclaimed show\u00a0that dives into the lives of the women on competitive high school soccer team.\u00a0Just as the characters in the play are preparing for their championship game, our Theatre UCF performers will work with a member of the UCF Women\u2019s Soccer team to be in tip-top shape for this performance.<\/p>\n Next, travel to New York City to relive every awkward moment and fumbled flirtation of a first date in a hilarious musical comedy about a blind date.\u00a0First Date<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>brings you on a high-energy journey of finding love\u00a0set to a pop-rock score that will keep you laughing the entire performance.<\/p>\n The last show of the fall continues the theme of finding love with a series of one acts by John Patrick Shanley.\u00a0Welcome to the Moon\u00a0and Other One Acts<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>is a collection of six stories that\u00a0will be directed by three Theatre UCF alumni.\u00a0The performance was\u00a0originally\u00a0slated to be directed by faculty member\u00a0Mark Brotherton, who passed away in\u00a0March.\u00a0These performances will be in honor of\u00a0his incredible contributions to the UCF School of Performing Arts.<\/p>\n The first show of the spring takes us back to 1923, when an entire cast of a Broadway play and their producer were arrested and convicted on the grounds of obscenity.\u00a0Indecent<\/em><\/a>, by\u00a0Pulitzer\u00a0Prize-winning playwright\u00a0Paula Vogel,\u00a0follows the controversy of a\u00a0play that depicts a lesbian storyline and the fight the cast takes against marginalization.<\/p>\n From the\u00a0Pulitzer\u00a0Prize-winning playwright of\u00a0Sweat<\/em>, produced by Theatre UCF in 2019, Lynn Nottage\u2019s\u00a0Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine<\/em><\/a>\u00a0follows the story of Undine,\u00a0a successful Black woman who was a top publicist in New York City. Her world comes crashing down through a series of unfortunate events and she\u00a0must\u00a0discover how to rebuild her life and reconnect with her family roots in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n Theatre UCF will also present a special event at UCF Celebrates the Arts 2022. Embark on a\u00a0hilarious\u00a0fairytale adventure\u00a0with\u00a0Shrek\u00a0the Musical<\/em><\/a>, the Tony Award-winning Broadway show that follows the story of\u00a0the grumpy, green ogre and his talking donkey sidekick. Tickets for\u00a0Shrek\u00a0The Musical\u00a0<\/em>will be available when UCF Celebrates the Arts 2022 goes on sale, but you can get a discounted $25\u00a0voucher with the purchase of a Theatre UCF subscription package.<\/p>\n Subscriptions for the 2021\u201322 season<\/a>\u00a0are available beginning June 7 at noon at arts.ucf.edu or by calling the Theatre UCF Box Office at 407-823-1500. Single tickets go on sale August 12.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n by Sarah\u00a0DeLappe Pulitzer Prize-finalist\u00a0The Wolves\u00a0<\/em>chronicles a team of women\u2019s competitive high school soccer players. As these nine women band together as teammates to defend their undefeated record, they explore the sacrifices they made\u00a0in the midst of\u00a0the pressures of adolescence\u00a0to become warriors on the field.\u00a0 As the \u201cpack\u201d trains for their moment of glory, their sideline conversations turn to boys, eating disorders, \u201cthe new girl\u201d and preparing for adulthood.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Book by Austin Winsberg, Music and Lyrics by Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner First Date\u00a0<\/em>is a hilarious, quirky musical comedy that takes you on a journey set to relive all the angst, humiliation and surprises of a first date. The pop-rock score throws the audience headfirst into the ups and downs of a mismatched blind date when a cool, edgy, 30-something woman and a tightly wound, traditional guy\u00a0embark\u00a0on a comical, high-energy journey to find love in the city.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n by John Patrick Shanley This\u00a0is\u00a0collection of six separate stories of people reaching out to find love, old and new, blending humor, poetry and truth into each story.\u00a0The Red Coat\u00a0<\/em>embodies the overwhelming feeling of new love, following two high school teenagers outside of a party in the Bronx.\u00a0Down and\u00a0Out<\/em>\u00a0captures a riveting moment between the Poet and his Love who saves his soul.\u00a0Let Us Go Out into the Starry Night\u00a0<\/em>depicts the captivating spiritual journey of two lonely people to the magical world of stars and planets.\u00a0Out West<\/em>\u00a0is an enthralling contemporary take on a classic western.\u00a0A Lonely Impulse of Delight\u00a0<\/em>dives into the whimsical side of love and fairy-tale conceits, telling the story of a man admitting to his best friend he is madly in love with a mermaid that lives in Central Park Lake.\u00a0Welcome to the Moon\u00a0<\/em>follows two old friends, Vinnie and Stephan, meeting for drinks in a Bronx bar. Time stops for a bittersweet moment as the two women they love the most enter, as past and present become one.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n by Paula Vogel Indecent<\/em>\u00a0is a battle cry for resistance \u2014 an emotional, unfettering tale of the transformative pull of art, revealing that storytelling can be the light in the darkest of times.\u00a0Indecent<\/em>, written by Paula Vogel, a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, is a deeply moving and liberating story based on the true events surrounding the play\u00a0God of Vengeance<\/em>\u00a0by Sholem Asch, where the producer and cast were arrested and convicted for obscenity for showing love between two women on stage. Vogel\u2019s play spotlights those who have risked their careers and lives to reveal the truths behind this incendiary drama.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n by Lynn Nottage Undine Barnes Calles, a successful African American publicist, sees her fabulous life at the top of an agency in New York City begin to crumble before her very eyes as she faces a series of unfortunate events,\u00a0from a money-embezzling husband to an unexpected pregnancy. Undine is suddenly standing on the edge of complete financial and social ruin,\u00a0and\u00a0is left with only one choice: return to her childhood home in Brooklyn after avoiding it for years. Plunged into a harsh new reality, Undine realizes her uphill climb is much slower than her downward spiral and must learn to survive and move forward. Pulitzer Prize-winner\u00a0Lynn Nottage triumphantly celebrates social and racial identity through exploring the struggle of what Black \u201csuccess\u201d looks like in a predominately white society.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Book and Lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire, Music by Jeanine\u00a0Tesori Based on the Dreamworks film,\u00a0Shrek\u00a0The\u00a0Musical\u00a0<\/em>is a Tony-Award-winning hilarious adventure that brings the beloved characters from the film to the stage. Follow the grumpy\u00a0green ogre named Shrek as his hermit existence is thrown into chaos when a group of storybook favorites \u2014 Pinocchio, the Gingerbread Man, the Three Little Pigs and more \u2014 invade his swamp after being sent there by the short-tempered and comedic Lord Farquaad. To protect his swamp,\u00a0Shrek agrees to save the lovely Princess Fiona\u00a0\u2014 who\u00a0has been waiting for her prince to rescue her \u2014\u00a0for Farquaad.\u00a0With the help of his loyal sidekick, a talking donkey, Shrek learns that he\u2019s not the only one that feels like a misfit and finds out what true love really means. Amidst dazzling puppetry, high-energy dance numbers, side-sticking jokes and over-the-top characters,\u00a0Shrek\u00a0The Musical<\/em>\u00a0turns the traditional fairy tale upside-down.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Theatre UCF\u00a0explores the question \u201cwhat does it mean to be an American?\u201d in\u00a0a season of works by contemporary American playwrights that\u00a0tackle experiences\u00a0from\u00a0the\u00a0complexities\u00a0of\u00a0adolescence to\u00a0the\u00a0ups and downs of adulthood, from losing everything to finding the love of your life.","protected":false},"author":"Steven Risko","featured_media":"https:\/\/cah.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/49\/2021\/06\/WaterSpoonful0968.jpg","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[68,46,66],"dept":[6],"class_list":["post-9322","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-topic-events","tag-arts","tag-bfaacting","tag-bfadesign","dept-school-of-performing-arts"],"acf":[],"approved":3,"site_name":"CAH News","yoast_head":"\nVisit arts.ucf.edu\/theatre<\/a> or see the full schedule below:<\/strong><\/h2>\n
September 23\u2013October 3, 2021<\/h4>\n
The Wolves<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n
\nDirected by David Reed
\nAssistant Directed by Sage Tokach
\nVenue TBA\u00a0(This production may be held outdoors)<\/p>\nNine competitive high school soccer players navigate the wins, losses and rivalries on and off the\u00a0Astroturf, a striking and vulnerable account of what it means to be a teenager and teammate.<\/em><\/h6>\n
October 14\u201324, 2021<\/h4>\n
First Date\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n
\nDirected by Earl Weaver
\nUCF Mainstage Theatre<\/p>\nCasual drinks at dinner spiral into humor, horror and humility of embarking on a first date, with surprises, and maybe even true love, around every corner in this musical comedy.<\/em><\/h6>\n
November 12\u201321, 2021<\/h4>\n
Welcome to the Moon\u00a0and Other One Acts<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n
\nDirected by\u00a0Peter\u00a0Cortelli ’10MFA, Tara Kromer ’15MFA, and\u00a0Joshian\u00a0Morales ’13
\nUCF Blackbox Theatre<\/p>\nExperience the tantalizing, romantic and bittersweet writing of Tony Award, Pulitzer Prize and Academy Award-winning playwright John Patrick Shanley with his one acts: The Red Coat, Down and Out, Let Us Go into the Starry Night, Out West, A Lonely Impulse of Delight,\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Welcome to the Moon.<\/em><\/h6>\n
January 27\u2013February 6, 2022<\/h4>\n
Indecent<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n
\nDirected by Julia\u00a0Listengarten
\nChoreography & Movement Direction by Christopher Niess
\nUCF Mainstage Theatre<\/p>\nA deeply moving and emotional story about the thirst for freedom, the fight against marginalization and the risks people take to defend the heart-stirring power of art.<\/em><\/h6>\n
February 17\u201327, 2022<\/h4>\n
Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n
\nDirector TBA
\nUCF Blackbox Theatre<\/p>\nA satirical yet cautionary tale of struggling to understand what it means to be a\u00a0Black woman amidst the constructs of society, and the trials of returning to family roots.<\/em><\/h6>\n
April 2022<\/h4>\n
Shrek The Musical<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n
\nDirected by Michael Wainstein
\nUCF Celebrates the Arts at Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center<\/p>\nA grumpy green ogre and fairy-tale favorites thrown into a jam-packed hilarious musical adventure perfect for the entire family.<\/em><\/h6>\n