Wyoming Arts Council

UW Snowy Range Summer Theatre schedule set


summertheatre

Actresses in last year’s UW Snowy Range Summer Theatre production of “Swingtime Canteen” perform at the Washington Park band shell. The new season begins June 9-13 with Ernest Thompson’s “On Golden Pond.” (Donald P. Turner Photo)

 

From a UW press release:

A modern classic about a spirited and lovable couple in their twilight years, an imaginative and powerful depiction of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s last night on earth, and a wacky new farce about living authentically and the meaning of life round out the 62nd season of Snowy Range Summer Theatre.

Presented by the University of Wyoming Department of Theatre and Dance, the summer theatre season opens June 9-13 with Ernest Thompson’s “On Golden Pond”; followed by Katori Hall’s “The Mountaintop” June 23-27; and closes July 7-11 with the Wyoming premiere of William Missouri Downs’ award-winning farce “Mad Gravity.”

All performances are at 7:30 p.m. in the UW Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts. “On Golden Pond” will play on the main stage. Venues for “The Mountaintop” and “Mad Gravity” will be announced at a later date.

Tickets for each production cost $10 for the public and $7 for students, senior citizens and children over age 5. Discounts also are available for groups of 20 or more people. For tickets and information, call (307) 766-6666, go online atwww.uwyo.edu/finearts, or visit the Performing Arts box office or the Wyoming Union information desk.

The summer theatre season opens with the widely acclaimed play “On Golden Pond,” featuring popular Wyoming actors Pete and Lynne Simpson. Directed by UW Department of Theatre and Dance Professor Lee Hodgson, this heartwarming story follows Norman and Ethel Thayer when they return to their summer home on a Maine lake for the 48th year.

An unexpected visit from their adult daughter and her family leads them to forge new bonds across generations, sparking a renewed zest for life. In the twilight years of their marriage, Norman and Ethel rediscover the joy and romance of everyday living.

The Broadway hit and 2010 Olivier Award winner “The Mountaintop” is a bold reimagining of the last night of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The civil rights leader has just retired to his room at the Lorraine Motel after delivering one of the most memorable speeches of his career. But, when a feisty maid arrives with unexpected news, King is forced to confront his destiny and legacy.

Directed by Leigh Selting, UW Department of Theatre and Dance chair, and featuring UW alumni Mykel Hill — a member of the Actor’s Equity Association — and Claudine Mboligikpelani Nako, “The Mountaintop” is a “thrilling, wild, provocative flight of magical realism. The King that is left is somehow more real and urgent and whole,” according to an Associated Press review.

The production contains some language that some may find objectionable.

“Mad Gravity” closes the 2015 Snowy Range Summer Theatre season. The production is a “wildly different evening of fun theater,” according to The Bloomington Herald Times.

Written and directed by UW Department of Theatre and Dance Professor William Missouri Downs, the play features UW faculty members Peter Parolin, Lou Anne Wright, Landee Lockhart and Kevin Inouye, and also student actor Kat Demith.

Archie and Eudora take the line “all the world’s a stage” a little too seriously — every night they “act” out their private lives before a live studio audience. But, when their unsuspecting dinner guests are less than thrilled to find an audience in the living room, hilarity ensues and the great philosophical questions of life take center stage: Can people be good if no one is watching? Are comets a sign from God or simply caused by gravity? Is it proper etiquette to serve pistachios at a dinner party?

“This farce is topped off with the craziest second act in the history of the theatre,” according to a review.

For more information about the summer theatre season, contact Kathy Kirkaldie, UW Fine Arts coordinator, at (307) 766-2160 or email kirsik@uwyo.edu.


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