Theatre History Commons^™

“The Butler Did It”

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1998 performance of “The Butler Did It” by Tim Kelly.

Moon Over Buffalo, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1998-1999 Season

In the madcap comedy tradition of Lend me a Tenor, the hilarious Moon Over Buffalo centers on George and Charlotte Hay, fading stars of the 1950's. At the moment, they're playing Private Lives and Cyrano De Bergerac in rep in Buffalo, New York with 5 actors. www.kenludwig.com/moon_over_buffalo/moon_over_buffalo.php

Laughter On The 23rd Floor, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1998 Summer Theatre

Inspired by the playwright's youthful experience as a staff writer on Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows, with all the attendant comic drama as the harried writing staff frantically scrambles to top each other with gags while competing for the attention of star madman "Max Prince".

Steel Magnolias, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1998 Summer Theatre

The play opens with discussion of Shelby's wedding day to her fiancé, Jackson, in the fictional northwestern Louisiana parish of Chinquapin at Truvy's in-home beauty parlour where the women regularly gather. It covers events over the next three years with Shelby's Type 1 diabetes and how the women interact at times with conflict but in the end resolved friends: Shelby's decision to have a child despite the complication that could result from her condition, Clairee's friendship with the curmudgeon Ouiser; Annelle's transformation from a shy, anxious newcomer in town to a good-time girl then repentant revival-tent Christian; and Truvy's relationships …

The Mousetrap, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1998 Summer Theatre

The Mousetrap is a murder mystery play by Agatha Christie. The Mousetrap opened in the West End of London in 1952, and has been running continuously since then. It has the longest initial run of any play in history, with over 24,500 performances so far. It is the longest running show (of any type) of the modern era. The play is also known for its twist ending, which the audience are traditionally asked not to reveal after leaving the theatre. http://agathachristie.wikia.com/wiki/The_Mousetrap

Thirst, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1997-1998 Season

Thirst was inspired by an early Henry James novel titled Roderick Hudson, first published in 1875.

A Midsummer Night’S Dream

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1998 performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare.

Crazy For You, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1997-1998 Season

Crazy for You is a romantic comedy musical with a book by Ken Ludwig, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and music by George Gershwin. Billed as "The New Gershwin Musical Comedy", it is largely based on the songwriting team’s 1930 musical, Girl Crazy, but incorporates songs from several other productions as well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crazy_for_You_(musical)

The Cabaret Of Dead Souls: Harvesting Russian History, Agnieszka Taborska, Jake Mahaffy, Szymon Bojko, Gella Alhassid, So-Hee Cheong, Matthew Cottam, Dawn Danby, Lorreine Fedor, Andrew Gardner, Carl Henschel, Michael Hoard, Kevin Lang, Eric Leichner, Michael Libby, April Lin, Pia Restina, Markus Reyes, James Sanders, Nicholas Scappaticci, Brett Shagen, Michael Shih, Aika Tong, Araby Williams

Programs

Program for the eleventh annual RISD Cabaret held in the Cellar at the top of the Waterman Building. Graphic design: Mia Moran, Matt Murphy, James Wynn and Katia Popova.View the Performance Recording.

All My Sons

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1998 performance of All My Sons by Arthur Miller.

To Narnia And Beyond

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1997 Advanced Oral Interpretation Class’s performance of To Narnia and Beyond adapted by Oliver Hubbard.

Shadowlands

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1997 performance of Shadowlands by William Nicholson.

Emperor's New Clothes, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1997-1998 Season

A vain emperor who cares about nothing except wearing and displaying clothes hires weavers who promise him they will make him the best suit of clothes. The weavers are con-men who convince the emperor they are using a fine fabric invisible to anyone who is either unfit for his position or "hopelessly stupid". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emperor%27s_New_Clothes

1776, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1997-1998 Season

In the days leading up to July 4, 1776, Continental Congressmen John Adams and Benjamin Franklin coerce Thomas Jefferson into writing the Declaration of Independence as a delaying tactic as they try to persuade the American colonies to support a resolution on independence. As George Washington sends depressing messages describing one military disaster after another, the businessmen, landowners and slave holders in Congress all stand in the way of the Declaration, and a single "nay" vote will forever end the question of independence. Large portions of spoken and sung dialog are taken directly from the letters and memoirs of the …

Ten Little Indians, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1997 Summer Theatre

The superlative mystery comedy, top-notch, fantastic, enjoyable nonsense. Ten Little Indians refers to statuettes on the mantelpiece of a strange country house on an island off the coast of Devon, and to the nursery rhyme embossed above them, telling how each little Indian met his death -- until there were none. The excitement never lets up until the final curtain.

1997-1998 Season Brochure, Otterbein Department Of Theatre And Dance

Theatre and Dance Annual Brochures

Annual promotional piece of the upcoming season's shows.

Once Upon A Mattress, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1997 Summer Theatre

Our story begins in a faraway kingdom long ago. Due to an unhappy curse, King Sextimus is unable to speak. Meanwhile, his terror-of-a-wife, Queen Aggravain, has taken over control of the kingdom. Most importantly, in an attempt to keep Prince Dauntless single, she has decreed that only the princess that can pass her test may marry her son. Further, no one else in the kingdom may marry until Prince Dauntless does. Lady Larken and Sir Harry are extremely disturbed by this fact since Lady Larken is now pregnant with Sir Harry's baby.

Luckily, Sir Harry is able to find an …

1997 Otterbein University Summer Theatre Season Brochure, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

Theatre and Dance Annual Brochures

Annual promotional piece of the upcoming season's shows.

Marcus Is Walking: Scenes From The Road, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1996-1997 Season

On the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the car, the play examines the emotional landscape we roam as we travel in our cars. Control, navigation, love and escape, are some of the themes explored. A protective father shepherds his son through the neighborhood on Halloween; an actor on his way to perform Hamlet provokes a rear-end collision and confrontation with a Czech émigré cab driver; a devastated businessman strikes up an unlikely alliance with a homeless woman who sleeps in his car. This is the landscape of human frailty and vulnerability, charm and strength; a playwright's whimsy combined with …

The Great All-American Disaster Musical

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1997 performance of The Great All-American Disaster Musical book by Tim Kelly and music and lyrics by Jack Sharkey.

Cabaret, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1996-1997 Season

Cabaret takes place from 1929-1930, a time when Berlin, in the midst of a post-World War I economic depression, is transitioning from a center of underground, avant-garde cultural epicenter to the beginnings of Hitler’s totalitarian regime and the rise of the Nazi Party. Into this world enters Clifford Bradshaw, a struggling American writer looking for inspiration for his next novel. On his first night in Berlin, Cliff wanders into the Kit Kat Klub, a seedy nightclub overseen by the strange, omniscient and gender-bending Master of Ceremonies, “the Emcee.” Here, Cliff meets Sally Bowles, a vivacious, talented cabaret performer, and an …

Hamlet, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1996-1997 Season

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, is home from school to mourn the death of his father, King Hamlet, who has died two months earlier. Hamlet is disgusted by the marriage of his newly widowed mother, Queen Gertrude, to his Uncle, King Hamlet's brother, Claudius, who now has the throne. https://www.hartfordstage.org/stagenotes/hamlet/synopsis

The Beat Generation, Agnieszka Taborska, Paula Hunter, Steven L. Jobe, James O. Barnhill, Helen Lee, Joshua Waldman, Nishira Fitzgerald, Brendan Meilman, Ismael Lawall, Zach Pitt-Smith, Kevin Walker, Tamara Carroll, Rhon Porter, Maleese Schick, Rhody Azcueta, Kevin Umbricht, Matthew Curry, Jee-Eun Kim, Michelle Lee, Marisa Nealon, Karelle Levi, Hilary Riley, Simon Potter, Antoinette Le Vaillant

Programs

Program for the tenth annual RISD Cabaret held in the Waterman Building, top floor coinciding "with the fiftieth anniversary of the year when Allen Ginsburg, William Burroughs and Jack Kerouac first met and started a movement which changed the face of postwar American and influenced the 1960s as well as the subculture of the '70s and '80s." Program, poster and tickets designed by Antoinette le Vaillant. View the Performance Recording.

Antigone

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1997 performance of Antigone by Jean Anouilh.

Moonchildren With Catco, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1997-1998 Season

The play chronicles a year in the life of the "moonchildren" referred to in the title: eight college students living communally together in an off-campus attic in the mid-1960s.

Noises Off, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1996-1997 Season

Michael Frayn's Noises Off takes a fond look at the follies of theatre folk, whose susceptibility to out-of-control egos, memory loss, and passionate affairs turn every performance into a high-risk adventure. This play-within-a-play captures a touring theatre troupe’s production of Nothing On in three stages: dress rehearsal, the opening performance, and a performance towards the end of a debilitating run. Frayne gives us a window into the inner workings of theatre behind the scenes, progressing from flubbed lines and missed cues in the dress rehearsal to mounting friction between cast members in the final performance. Brimming with slapstick comedy, Noises …

Wind In The Willows, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1996-1997 Season

The famous English gentlemen, Mr. Toad of Toad Hall, sees his first motor car and promptly falls uncontrollably in love with motoring, so he buys a car which he then crashes. Another car is bought, followed by another crash and another—and another! For once at the throttle, Toad in his goggles and duster is a man possessed. Soon he is ruled off the road. Then he steals a car. For this he's sent to jail for 20 years. While there, he learns that Weasels have taken over his old family home and all his friends have been thrown out. But …

Stefanie Hero

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1996 performance of Stefanie Hero by Mark Medoff.

Stefanie Hero is the story of a princess who is suddenly forced to take charge of her kingdom and family and battle the evil facing her.

To Kill A Mockingbird, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

1996-1997 Season

This play debuted in 1990 in Monroeville, a town that labels itself "The Literary Capital of Alabama". The play runs every May on the county courthouse grounds and townspeople make up the cast. White male audience members are chosen at the intermission to make up the jury. During the courtroom scene the production moves into the Monroe County Courthouse and the audience is racially segregated.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Kill_a_Mockingbird#Play

1996 - 1997 Season Brochure, Otterbein University Department Of Theatre And Dance

Theatre and Dance Annual Brochures

Annual promotional piece of the upcoming season's shows.