Theatre History Commons^™

The Male Animal, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1971 Summer Theatre

Elliott Nugent scored his biggest stage success with The Male Animal, which he co-wrote with his longtime friend James Thurber. It centers on a college professor who faces dismissal for his defense of free speech. Further complicating matters is the arrival of his wife’s former boyfriend. The play premiered in 1940, with Nugent in the lead role.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elliott-Nugent

Camelot, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1970-1971 Season

Lerner and Loewe’s majestic Camelot brings the legend of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table to life with an extraordinary score and a story that poignantly dramatizes the human conflict at the heart of this classic tale. Based on T.H. White’s novel, The Once and Future King, Camelot tells the story of Arthur, a young squire who becomes King after extracting the sword Excalibur from its legendary rock. Camelot opens in the midst of the battle that destroyed King Arthur’s kingdom, and goes back to tell the story of how the battle came to be. The …

Othello, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1970-1971 Season

Othello (The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice) is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603. It is based on the story Un Capitano Moro ("A Moorish Captain") by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565. The story revolves around its two central characters: Othello, a Moorish general in the Venetian army and his unfaithful ensign, Iago. Given its varied and enduring themes of racism, love, jealousy, betrayal, revenge and repentance, Othello is still often performed in professional and community theatre alike, and has been the source for numerous operatic, film, and …

The Chalk Garden, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1970-1971 Season

The Chalk Garden is a play by Enid Bagnold that premiered on Broadway in 1955. The play tells the story of Mrs. St. Maugham and her granddaughter Laurel, a disturbed child under the care of Miss Madrigal, a governess. The setting of the play was inspired by Bagnold's own garden at North End House in Rottingdean, near Brighton, Sussex, the former home of Sir Edward Burne-Jones. The work has since been revived numerous times internationally, including a film adaptation in 1964.

The Chalk Garden. (2017, July 2). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 20:51, September 28, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Chalk_Garden&oldid=788642084

Heidi, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1970-1971 Season

The orphan child Heidi first lives with her aunt Dete, but Dete would like to concentrate on her career. So she brings Heidi to her grandfather, a queer old man living in an alpine cottage far from the next village (he is therefore called Alm-Uncle. Alm-Uncle is good-hearted but mistrusts anybody and wants to keep the child from all evils of the world. So he refuses to send Heidi to school; instead she goes to the pastures, together with Peter, a shepherd boy looking after the goats. This (all too harmonious) apine idyll finds a sudden end when aunt Dete …

Arsenic And Old Lace, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1970-1971 Season

Mortimer Brewster is living a happy life: he has a steady job at a prominent New York newspaper, he’s just become engaged, and he gets to visit his sweet spinster aunts to announce the engagement. Mortimer always knew that his family had a bit of a mad gene -- his brother believes himself to be Teddy Roosevelt and his great-grandfather used to scalp Indians for pleasure -- but his world is turned upside down when he realizes that his dear aunts have been poisoning lonely old men for years! When Mortimer’s maniacal brother, Jonathan. (who strangely now resembles Boris Karloff) …

Harvey, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1970 Summer Theatre

Harvey, a Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy by Mary Chase, is the story of a perfect gentleman, Elwood P. Dowd, and his best friend, Harvey -- a pooka, who is a six-foot tall, invisible rabbit. When Elwood begins introducing Harvey around town, his embarrassed sister, Veta Louise, and her daughter, Myrtle Mae, determine to commit Elwood to a sanitarium. A mistake is made, however, and Veta is committed rather than Elwood! Eventually, the mistake is realized, and a frantic search begins for Elwood and the invisible pooka, which ends with Elwood appearing, voluntarily, at the sanitarium. In the end, however, Veta …

The Miser, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1970 Summer Theatre

Satire and farce blend in the fast-moving plot, as when the miser's hoard is stolen. Asked by the police magistrate whom he suspects, Harpagon replies, “Everybody! I wish you to take into custody the whole town and suburbs” and indicates the theatre audience while doing so. The play also makes fun of certain theatrical conventions, such as the spoken aside addressed to the audience, hitherto ignored by the characters onstage. The characters of L'Avare, however, generally demand to know who exactly is being spoken to.

The Miser. (2017, July 19). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21:08, September 26, …

Picnic, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1970 Summer Theatre

Hal Carter is a drifter whose life thus far hasn't amounted to much. He got as far as third year in college and since then has tried his hand at a number of things, all without success. He decides to head for Kansas to find his old college buddy, Alan Benson the son of a wealthy man. It's Labor Day and most of the town is preparing to go to the annual picnic. Hal finds his old friend but is immediately taken with Alan's beautiful girlfriend, Madge Owens. Madge's mother very much wants her to marry Alan and while Madge …

Black Comedy And The Tiger, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1970 Summer Theatre

Black Comedy - Black Comedy is a one-act farce by Peter Shaffer, first performed in 1965. The play is written to be staged under a reversed lighting scheme: the play opens on a darkened stage. A few minutes into the show there is a short circuit, and the stage is illuminated to reveal the characters in a "blackout." On the few occasions when matches, lighters, or torches are lit, the lights grow dimmer. The title of the play is a pun.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Comedy_(play)

The Tiger - The Tiger is one of two short plays written by Murray Schisgal and published in …

The Odd Couple, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1970 Summer Theatre

Felix Ungar, a neurotic, neat freak newswriter, is thrown out by his wife, and moves in with his friend Oscar Madison, a slovenly sportswriter. Despite Oscar's problems – careless spending, excessive gambling, a poorly kept house filled with spoiled food – he seems to enjoy life. Felix, however, seems utterly incapable of enjoying anything and only finds purpose in pointing out his own and other people's mistakes and foibles. Even when he tries to do so in a gentle and constructive way, his corrections and suggestions prove extremely annoying to those around him. Oscar, his closest friend, feels compelled to …

Twelfth Night, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1969-1970 Season

Twelfth Night, or What You Will is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–02 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centers on the twins Viola and Sebastian, who are separated in a shipwreck. Viola (who is disguised as Cesario) falls in love with Duke Orsino, who in turn is in love with the Countess Olivia. Upon meeting Viola, Countess Olivia falls in love with her thinking she is a man. The play expanded on the musical interludes and riotous disorder expected of the occasion, with plot elements …

American Dreams & Zoo Story, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1968 Summer Theatre

The American Dream - The story of one of America's most dysfunctional families, it is a ferocious, uproarious attack on the substitution of artifical values for the real values- a startling tale of murder and morality that rocks middle-class ethics to its complacent foundations.

The Zoo Story - A harrowing depiction of a young man alienated from the human race- a searing story of loneliness and the desperate need for recognition that builds to a violent, shattering climax. Together, these plays show men and women at their most hilarious, heartbreaking, and above all, human.

(https://www.amazon.com/American-Dream-Zoo-Story/dp/0452278899)

Inherit The Wind, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1960-1961 Season

Inherit the Wind is a fictionalized account of the 1925 Scopes "Monkey" Trial, which resulted in John T. Scopes' conviction for teaching Charles Darwin's theory of evolution to a high school science class, contrary to a Tennessee state law.

Ah, Wilderness!, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1958-1959 Season

Ah, Wilderness! is a comedy by American playwright Eugene O'Neill that premiered on Broadway at the Guild Theater on October 2, 1933. It varies from a typical O'Neill play in its happy ending for the central character, and depiction of a happy family in turn of the century America. It is O'Neill's only well-known comedy. Ah, Wilderness!. (2017, April 30). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 14:10, May 23, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ah,_Wilderness!&oldid=777914403

One Acts, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1958-1959 Season

"The purpose of the Annual Freshman One-Acts is fourfold: first, these plays offer advanced members of Cap and Dagger an opportunity to gain valuable directing experience; secondly, the plays offer valuable acting experience and training to those Freshmen who are interested in dramatics; thirdly tonight's plays are the Cap and Dagger Dramatic Club annual Christmas gift to the students and faculty of Otterbein College, and the the village of Westerville; and lastly, to provide a greater variety of dramatic entertainment for our audience".

As You Like It, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1907-1958 Productions

We celebrate the best of Shakespeare with laughter...music...dances...romance...comedy at all levels. The story of how the banished Duke, Rosalind, Orlando and others find happiness through love is one of the most delightful of all Shakespearean tales. The wit of the clown, Touchstone, the philosophy of "All the world's a stage...", the music of "It was a lover and his lass...", the earthy needs of the country people, the romantic honesty of young lovers in tune with nature...all can be found in As You Like It.