University Theatre is proud to introduce the 2024-2025 Season.
Directed by Michael Malek Najjar
Adapted from Mary Shelley’s novel. As the play begins, an exhausted and dying Victor Frankenstein has finally tracked down his Creature in the lonely, frozen tundra of the North Pole. Determined to right the wrong he has committed by, at last, destroying the malignant evil he believes he has created, Frankenstein finds that he must first deal with his own responsibility and guilt—for, as their fascinating confrontation develops, it is evident that the Creature has become a pathetic, lonely and even sensitive being who wants only to find love and that he, Frankenstein, by intruding into the very secrets of life, is truly the evil one. As the two debate, scenes from the past flash by: Frankenstein’s young bride, whom the Monster killed out of pique when the scientist failed to provide him with a mate of his own; the brilliant, quick-witted Professor Krempe, Frankenstein’s university mentor; and moments between the youthful Victor and his brother, who also fell victim to the Creature’s vengeance. Ultimately the exchange between Frankenstein and the Creature becomes a confrontation between parent and child, scientist and experiment, rejection and love, and even good and evil—culminating in the Creature’s agonizing question, “Why did you make me?” It is a question the exhausted Frankenstein cannot answer and, as the play ends, the Monster lives on, condemned to pass his remaining days in the awful loneliness he has so desperately sought to escape. Synopsis courtesy of Dramatists Play Service
or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive
Directed by Tricia Rodley
One four-letter word is about to rock 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. When the President unwittingly spins a PR nightmare into a global crisis, the seven brilliant and beleaguered women he relies upon most risk life, liberty, and the pursuit of sanity to keep the commander-in-chief out of trouble. Selina Fillinger’s brilliant, all-female farce took Broadway by storm in a star-studded production that earned three 2022 Tony nominations. Synopsis courtesy of Concord Theatricals
Music and Lyrics by William Finn
Additional Material by Jay Reiss | Originally Directed on Broadway by James Lapine
Originally produced on Broadway by David Stone, James L. Nederlander, Barbara Whitman, Patrick Catullo Barrington Stage Company, Second Stage Theatre
Directed by Tara Wibrew
An eclectic group of six mid-pubescents vie for the spelling championship of a lifetime. While candidly disclosing hilarious and touching stories from their home lives, the tweens spell their way through a series of (potentially made-up) words, hoping never to hear the soul-crushing, pout-inducing, life un-affirming “ding” of the bell that signals a spelling mistake. Six spellers enter; one speller leaves a champion! At least the losers get a juice box. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee Is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. www.mtishows.com