UIS Theatre announces upcoming 2013-14 season

The Theatre Program at the University of Illinois Springfield is excited to announce its lineup for 2013-14. The season features two award-winning dramas, which explore human relationships and culture.

In the fall, the 2011 Pulitzer Prize and 2012 Tony award-winning drama Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris will be performed Nov. 8-10 and 14-16 in the Studio Theatre. The play takes on the provocative issues of race, political correctness, and the changing social landscape in America, while still managing to make us laugh along the way. Act One takes place in 1959, in Chicago's Clybourne Park neighborhood, as the community responds to a black family buying a house there. Act Two takes place in 2009, in the same house, as the next generation of this black family struggles to hold on to its sense of identity. The New York Times calls the play “Vital, sharp-witted and ferociously smart.”

UIS Associate Professor and Director of Theatre Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson will direct Clybourne Park. Open auditions/crew interviews will be held Sept. 3-4, 2013 in The Studio Theatre. Callbacks will take place on Sept. 5. Auditions and crew positions are open to students, faculty, staff, and community members. Check www.uis.edu/theatre for updated times and information.

In the spring, UIS Theatre will present Paula Vogel’s 1998 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama How I Learned to Drive on April 11-13 and 17-19, 2014. The play takes an un-flinching look at "the gifts we receive from people who hurt us,” according to Vogel. The play’s protagonist, Li'l Bit, "received the gift of how to survive," from a surprising source. Through a non-linear series of emotional, and often times funny flashbacks and recollections, Li’l Bit takes the audience on a ride that explores how a family, a culture, and a society contributed to an inappropriate relationship. This thrilling ride has been described by Dramatists Play Service as “a wildly funny, surprising and devastating tale of survival as seen through the lens of a troubling relationship between a young girl and an older man.”

UIS Associate Professor of Theatre Missy Thibodeaux-Thompson will direct How I Learned to Drive. Open auditions/crew interviews will be held Jan. 26- 27, 2014 in The Studio Theatre. Callbacks will take place on Jan. 28. Auditions and crew positions are open to students, faculty, staff, and community members. More information will be posted on www.uis.edu/theatre.

The curtain time for Thursday, Friday and Saturday night shows is 7:30 p.m. with the Sunday performance starting at 2 p.m. Ticket prices are $14 for adults, $12 for senior citizens (65 or older with a picture I.D.), $10 for UIS Faculty/Staff and $8 for UIS students (and all other college-level students) with a valid, current i-card or college I.D. card. Please note that a service charge, not included in the prices above, from Sangamon Auditorium will be added to each ticket price, at the time of purchase. To avoid a higher service charge, buying tickets in person at the Sangamon Auditorium ticket office is highly recommended.

UIS Theatre will also present “Student Directed Scenes” on December 9-10, 2013. The series will present a variety of scenes from contemporary American plays, which will be directed by UIS theatre students. For updated audition and crew information, visit www.uis.edu/theatre/.

For more information on the upcoming theatre season contact Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson at 217/206-6613 or ethib1@uis.edu.