Acting Commons^™

A Midsummer Night’S Dream

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1986 performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare.

In just one night, four magical stories are cleverly woven together: the marriage of the Athenian duke to the Amazon queen; the battle of the king and queen of the fairies; the follies of four lovers in a forest; and the hilarious antics of amateur actors staging a play. Enter a vibrant world where fairies fly overhead, a donkey bursts into song, and love potion makes your perspective turn on a dime. This production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is an immersive theatrical experience …

“…And What A Time It Was.”

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1985 Advanced Oral Interpretation Class’s performance of ”…And What A Time It Was.” by Dr. Oliver Hubbard.

I Never Sang For My Father

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1985 performance of I Never Sang For My Father by Robert Anderson.

I Never Sang For My Father is the story of widowed professor Gene Garrison, who looks to get away from his father and remarry a woman in California, but struggles with the thought of leaving.

The Rivals

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1985 performance of The Rivals by Richard Brinsley Sheridan.

The Rivals tells the story of young lovers, Lydia Languish and Captain Jack Absolute and the mishaps which happen when Jack’s father tries to arrange a marriage for him and a sequence of gossip and misdelivered letters sets off a clash between Lydia’s suitors.

The Effect Of Gamma Rays On Man-In-The-Moon Marigolds

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1985 performance of The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds by Paul Zindel.

The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds tells the story of a dysfunctional family of a single mother and two daughters and their struggles as the mother tries to keep her daughters from succeeding.

Somebody Stole My Stuff

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1984 performance of Somebody Stole My Stuff compiled and arranged by Dr. Jessica Rousselow.

Somebody Stole My Stuff is an original choreopoem, a dramatic expression that combines poetry, dance, music, and song. This original arrangement explores the identity of women in society, drawing from the concepts of feminist philosopher-theologian Mary Daly.

The Music Man

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1984 performance of The Music Man by Meredith Wilson.

The Music Man is a the story of con man Harold Hill who comes to a town in Indiana posing as a boy’s band conductor, and how an unexpected romance with the local librarian, Marian, changes his plans.

Witness For The Prosecution

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1984 performance of Witness for the Prosecution by Agatha Christie.

Witness for the Prosecution tells the story of a trial of a man named Leonard Vole for the murder of a wealthy older woman who made him her principle heir. During the trial his wife, Romaine, comes to testify not in his defense, but on the side of the prosecution.

J.B.

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1984 performance of J.B. by Archibald MacLeish.

J.B. is a retelling of the Biblical story of Job by two old circus performers by the name of Zuss and Nickles (Zeus and Satan), who make a wager and play out Job’s story in modern America where Job is a millionaire named J.B..

Once Upon A Time…

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1983 Advanced Oral Interpretation Class’s performance of Once Upon a Time… adapted by Oliver Hubbard.

The Curious Savage

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1983 performance of The Curious Savage by John Patrick.

The Curious Savage is the story of Ethel P. Savage, an elderly lady whose husband has died and left her approximately ten million dollars. When she sets up a memorial fund for average people to pursue their dreams, her three stepchildren commit her to a sanatorium and try to discover where she has hidden the fortune. As the search for the fortune plays out the question becomes who is really crazy, the residents of the sanatorium or Ethel’s stepchildren.

Summer And Smoke

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1983 performance of Summer and Smoke by Tennessee Williams.

Summer and Smoke is the story of a high strung young woman named Alma Winemiller, and the spiritual/sexual romance that nearly develops between her and John Buchanan Jr. who grew up next door.

The music used to accompany the performance was used in the original production.

The Diary Of Anne Frank

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1983 performance of The Diary of Anne Frank by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett adapted from The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.

The Diary of Anne Frank is a dramatization of the diary entries of Anne Frank, a young Dutch-Jew who went into hiding during the German occupation of the Netherlands.

You Can't Take It With You

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1982 performance of You Can’t Take It with You by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart.

You Can’t Take It with You follows the story of the only normal daughter in an eccentric family, and the chaos and mishaps which happen when she brings her fiancé home to meet her family.

The Importance Of Being Earnest

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1982 performance of The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde.

The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People, is a farcical comedy about two men who each take on the personas with the name of Earnest in order to escape the burdens of social obligations.

Inherit The Wind

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1982 performance of Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawerence and Robert E. Lee.

Inherit the Wind is a fictionalized account of the 1925 Scopes “Monkey” Trial where a high school teacher named John T. Scopes was tried for teaching evolution against state law.

Then The Circus Comes To Town

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1981 Advanced Oral Interpretation Class’s performance of When the Circus Come to Town adapted by Oliver Hubbard.

Ten Little Indians

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1981 performance of Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie, adapted from her book of the same name (in the United States published as And Then There Were None.)

Ten Little Indians is the story of ten strangers invited to a house party on an isolated island. When they lose the ability to return to the mainland, they begin to die off one by one in accordance to an old nursery rhyme.

The Miracle Worker

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1981 performance of The Miracle Worker by William Gibson.

The Miracle Worker is based on the autobiography of Helen Keller.

Fiddler On The Roof

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1981 performance of Fiddler on the Roof with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein. It is based on the stories of Jewish writer Sholem Alrichem.

Fiddler On the Roof follows the story of a poor Jewish dairyman named Tevye as he tries to maintain his religious and cultural traditions as outside influences begin to impact his family. It is set during the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia in 1905.

See How They Run

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1980 performance of See How They Run by Philip King.

See How They Run is set in a vicarage of a fictitious English Village in 1943. It focuses on the wife of the vicar, who is going out to see a play with a friend from the army who dresses in one of her husband’s suits. Nothing goes as planned as additional characters come in and wear the vicar’s suits and no one can tell who the real vicar is.

The Children's Hour

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1980 performance of The Children’s Hour by Lillian Hellman.

The Children’s Hour is the story of a manipulative young girl named Mary and how she uses lies and gossip to control and destroy the lives of the two women who run her boarding school.

Hamlet

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1980 performance of Hamlet by William Shakespeare.

Hamlet is the story of Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark who sets out to avenge his father’s murder at the hands of his uncle, and the tragedy that follows.

Free To Be You And Me

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1979 performance of Free to Be… You and Me by Marlo Thomas and Friends.

Free to Be…You and Me is a collection of stories, songs and poems, designed to teach children interdependence, mutual respect, and personal dignity.

Presented by the Advanced Oral Interpretation Class.

The Odd Couple

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1979 performance of The Odd Couple by Neil Simon.

The Odd Couple tells the story of friends Felix Ungar and Oscar Madison and the conflicts caused by their mismatched lifestyles when Felix moves in after being kicked out of his home by his wife.

The School For Scandal

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1979 performance of The School for Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan.

The School for Scandal tells the story of a conniving gossiper Lady Sneerwell, and her plot with other unscrupulous persons to separate couples and redirect love interests through slander and gossip.

Our Town

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1979 performance of Our Town by Thornton Wilder.

Our Town tells the story of a small, fictional American town called Grover’s Corners through the everyday lives of its citizens. The play is set as a play performing in Grover’s Corners and uses metatheatrical elements.

The Dark At The Top Of The Stairs

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1978 performance of The Dark at the Top of the Stairs by William Inge.

The Dark at the Top of the Stairs is the story of Cora Flood, the wife of a traveling salesman. Learning that her husband might have an affair with another woman, she plans to leave the marriage. When her husband returns, having lost his job, Cora must decide how to respond.

Quest And Query

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1978 performance of Quest and Query adapted by Oliver Hubbard.

A Doll's House

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1978 performance of A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen.

A Doll’s House is the story of a woman named Nora Helmer who tries to cover up an act of fraud she performed to save her husband’s life. The conflict shakes her home life and marriage, exposing their perceptions of each other and how each believes marriage is to be.