Theatre History Commons^™

Alice In Wonderland, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1972-1973 Season

Alice and her sister Delilah are sitting under a tree when Alice sees the White Rabbit hurry down a rabbit hole. Alice follows the White Rabbit into Wonderland, where she has a series of marvelously imaginative adventures.

https://www.enotes.com/topics/alices-adventures

A Man For All Seasons

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1972 performance of A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt.

A Man for All Seasons is based on the life of Sir Thomas Moore, a 16th century chancellor of England who refused to endorse King Henry the VIII’s divorce his wife Catherine of Aragon, who did not bear him any sons so her could marry Anne Boleyn.

The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1972-1973 Season

“Give me a girl at an impressionable age, and she is mine for life.” So speaks Jean Brodie, a liberated and charismatic schoolteacher. Edinburgh in the 1930s is conservative and respectable, but at the Marcia Blaine School for Girls, Miss Brodie stands out among the drab faculty, with her passionate teaching style.

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is a gripping, entertaining, powerful drama of adolescence and adulthood, of betrayal and manipulation, and the powerful, lasting effect of a charismatic teacher.

http://stageagent.com/shows/play/2047/the-prime-of-miss-jean-brodie#ixzz4uU7r21X1

The Importance Of Being Earnest

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1972 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.

This production was set as a Reader's Theatre due to the limited physical space available.

This is one of three plays performed at Eastbrook Middle School Cafetorium because of the destruction of Shreiner Auditorium in Helena Music Hall. Helena Music Hall was destroyed in …

Ah, Wilderness!, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1972 Summer Theatre

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, September 13). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21:37, September 28, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ah,_Wilderness!&oldid=800505034

Summer And Smoke, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1972 Summer Theatre

One of Tennessee Williams’ most subtle and tender works, Summer and Smoke explores the conflict between the hedonistic body and the lofty spirit. Set in Mississippi, Alma Winemiller, the minister’s daughter, has grown up loving the boy who lives next door: John Buchanan, the doctor’s son, is a wild, adventurous, mischievous pleasure seeker. He spends the hot Mississippi summers drinking, gambling, and romancing. His only religion is the anatomy chart on his wall, and what it teaches him about man’s needs: food, truth, and lovemaking. Alma, on the other hand, is quiet, eccentric, and high-strung. Her name means “soul” in …

You Can't Take It With You, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1972 Summer Theatre

Grandpa Vanderhof and his wacky family, the Sycamores, have been happily living their zany lives in his house by Columbia University in New York for many years. This family (and their friends) are a madcap group of eccentrics, marching to the beat of their own drum, with pride and joy. Their hobbies include collecting snakes, building fireworks in the basement, writing a myriad of plays that never get published, and taking ballet lessons. Things like stress, jobs, and paying taxes to the government are for other people, not for them! But when practical young Alice Sycamore becomes engaged to her …

The Imaginary Invalid, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1972 Summer Theatre

This play follows Argan: he hates to spend money and is a hypochondriac. He is seeking a doctor for his daughter to marry so that he can get free treatment. The cast of characters tries to cure Argan from his obsession with doctors. Part of the plan involves him pretending to be dead to find out who cares about him.

http://stageagent.com/shows/play/1939/the-imaginary-invalid#ixzz4u0r4TjtG

The Theatrical Innovations Of Charles Laughton, Gary Joseph Jones

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In most journalistic studies the film career of Charles Laughton overshadows his theatrical activities to the extent that the reader is hardly aware of the importance of his theatrical innovations to the theater of our time. The more commercial side of Laughton’s career was publicized while his artistic efforts, as characterized by the innovations, were frequently forgotten. More people remember him as the man who played Captain Bligh in the movies than as the man who worked with Bertolt Brecht, created the First Drama Quartette and developed a new American art form, Readers’ Theatre.

The rationale of this study is …

Plaza Suite, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1972 Summer Theatre

The play is composed of three acts, each involving different characters but all set in Suite 719 of New York City's Plaza Hotel. The first act, Visitor From Mamaroneck, introduces the audience to not-so-blissfully wedded couple Sam and Karen Nash, who are revisiting their honeymoon suite in an attempt by Karen to bring the love back into their marriage. Her plan backfires and the two become embroiled in a heated argument about whether or not Sam is having an affair with his secretary. The act ends with Sam leaving (allegedly to attend to urgent business) and Karen sadly reflecting on …

1974 Otterbein Summer Theatre Season Brochure, Otterbein University Department Of Theatre And Dance

Theatre and Dance Annual Brochures

Annual promotional piece of the upcoming season's shows.

Fiddler On The Roof, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1971-1972 Season

Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia in 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters (or Tevye the Dairyman) and other tales by Sholem Aleichem. The story centers on Tevye, the father of five daughters, and his attempts to maintain his Jewish religious and cultural traditions as outside influences encroach upon the family's lives. He must cope both with the strong-willed actions of his three older daughters, who wish to marry for love – each …

The Turn Of The Screw

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1972 performance of Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw adapted by Allen Goetcheus for Chamber Theatre.

The Turn of the Screw is the story of a governess who takes a job in an English country house and begins to see what she believes are the ghosts of two former employees.

This is one of three plays performed at Eastbrook Middle School Cafetorium because of the destruction of Shreiner Auditorium in Helena Music Hall. Helena Music Hall was destroyed in a fire January 20, 1972. The next building to host Taylor theatre on campus …

Antigone

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1972 performance of Antigone by Sophocles, (translated by Jean Anouilh).

In this story, the bold yet cursed princess Antigone, daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta, chooses to confront her unmovable uncle/king about his decision to dishonor her brother by refusing his burial. Her choice to defy him shocks the entire city of Thebes. Ultimately, all concerned, including the audience, are forced to wrestle with the relationship of divine law to human laws.

This is one of three plays performed at Eastbrook Middle School Cafetorium because of the destruction of Shreiner Auditorium in Helena Music Hall. …

School For Scandal, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1971-1972 Season

The middle-aged and wealthy bachelor, Sir Peter Teazle, has married the young and comely daughter of a country squire. The fashionable society of which Lady Teazle through through her marriage becomes a part, occupies itself mainly with malicious gossip whose arrows no one, however chaste, can completely escape. By far the most dangerous of these backbiting cliques is the one led by Lady Sneerwell

http://www.theatrehistory.com/british/sheridan002.html.

Romeo And Juliet, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1971-1972 Season

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately reconcile their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and along with Hamlet, is one of his most frequently performed plays. Today, the title characters are regarded as archetypal young lovers.

Romeo and Juliet belongs to a tradition of tragic romances stretching back to antiquity. The plot is based on an Italian tale translated into verse as The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet by Arthur Brooke in 1562 and retold in prose …

Cinderella, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1971-1972 Season

Cinderella or The Little Glass Slipper, is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances, that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune. The story of Rhodopis, recounted by the Greek geographer Strabo in around 7 BC, about a Greek slave girl who marries the king of Egypt, is usually considered as the earliest known variant of the "Cinderella" story. The first literary European version of the story was published in Italy by Giambattista Basile in his Pentamerone in 1634; …

1972 - 1973 Season Brochure, Otterbein University Department Of Theatre And Dance

Theatre and Dance Annual Brochures

Annual promotional piece of the upcoming season's shows.

Life With Father, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1971-1972 Season

Life With Father is a 1939 play by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, adapted from a humorous autobiographical book of stories compiled in 1935 by Clarence Day. Clarence Day wrote humorously about his family and life. The stories of his father, Clarence "Clare" Day, Senior, were first printed in the New Yorker magazine. They portray a rambunctious, overburdened Wall Street broker who demands that everything from his family should be just so. The more he rails against his staff, his cook, his wife, his horse, salesmen, holidays, his children and the inability of the world to live up to his …

The Imaginary Invalid

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s October 1971 performance of The Imaginary Invalid arranged by Jean Baptiste Moliére.

The Imaginary Invalid is a satirical Comédie-ballet about the 17th century medical profession, following the story of a wealthy Frenchman named Argan who is a hypochondriac.

Ghosts

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1971 performance of Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen.

Ghosts tells the story of widow Mrs. Alving who has built an orphanage in honor of her late husband though he was unfaithful to her. The play shows her navigation of various issues with her son and husband’s illegitimate daughter, attacking conventional morals of the time.

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 …

Short Stories From The South

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1971 performance of Short Stories From the South adapted by Allen Goetcheus for Chamber Theatre.

Short Stories From the South features stories and excerpts from the works of Eudora Welty, Flannery O’Conner, and William Faulkner.

The Cherry Orchard

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s April 1971 performance of The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov.

The play follows an aristocratic Russian landowner who returns to her family estate (which includes a large and well-known cherry orchard) just before it is auctioned to pay the mortgage.

The Fantasticks

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1971 performance of The Fantasticks with music by Harvey Schmidt and book and lyrics by Tom Jones.

The Fantasticks is an allegorical musical about two scheming neighbor fathers who pretend to feud in order to make their children fall in love.

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

1971 - 1972 Season Brochure, Otterbein University Department Of Theatre And Dance

Theatre and Dance Annual Brochures

Annual promotional piece of the upcoming season's shows.

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 …