Mainstage productions and events for the 2012-2013 season
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The 2012-2013 season is The Department of Theater's 40th. We have made all those years count, racking up a rich production history that spans the classics and the cutting edge, created by students who have gone on to make outstanding contributions to the world of theater, and by the gifted faculty and staff who have helped them get their start.
It only seems right to dedicate the season to one of the great lights of this department, the late, beloved Professor Emeritus Doris Abramson. Doris came to the university as a student in 1942, then returned in 1952 as a faculty member teaching theater courses, before the department even existed. She became one of the founders of the department in 1973.
Her 1969 book, Negro Playwrights in the American Theater, 1925-1959, was based on her dissertation and established her as a leading scholar on African-American theater. She was an advocate for women playwrights. She retired in 1987 but remained interested and involved in theater, receiving the Chancellor's Medal in 1999. She passed away in 2008, but her warm, insightful mentorship of students set a standard for our faculty, and her passion for theater education marks the ethos of the department to this day.
One of Doris' great passions was the work of women playwrights. Accordingly, the six works that will grace our mainstage during the 40th anniversary season are all by women. Some of these pieces were well-known to Doris — the last piece she ever directed for us, Sophie Treadwell's Machinal (a groundbreaking expressionist play of the 1920s based on the true story of convicted murderer Ruth Snyder) will open our season. Doris was also friend and mentor to Casanova author Constance Congdon '82G, one of America's leading playwrights.
While Doris may not have known the other women whose talent is on offer during this season as playwrights and directors, we would like to think that that she would have been equally inspired and impressed by their work. Many of them are new voices representing the future of theater that nonetheless speak directly to some of Doris' interests. The musical, Violet, is set in 1964 in the American South and tells of a disfigured girl's quest to reach a televangelist she hopes will fix her scars; Magnet Theater Company from South Africa will present Every Year, Every Day, I Am Walking, which uses African music and dance to outline a refugee mother and daughter's struggle to overcome the loss of their home. Suitors is a first-ever translation/adaptation of two plays written by two remarkable 17th-century Spanish women whose work has recently been rediscovered, while Suzan-Lori Parks, a playwright with local ties, dramatizes the life of a South African woman displayed as a freak throughout 19th-century Europe in Venus. We hope you will join us during this momentous season.
Machinal
By Sophie Treadwell
Directed by Brianna Sloane
Nov. 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
The Curtain Theater
Buy tickets to Machinal
In 1985, Doris Abramson chose Machinal as her final directing project before her retirement. We thought it fitting to open our tribute to her with a new production of a mesmerizing play that challenges us to reconsider our feelings about our industrialized society. What happens when we worship a machine? In the mechanized world of Machinal, everyone and everything is a cog in the function of the machine: simple, elegant, terrible. A young woman is trapped in a world without empathy, and the clock is ticking. As the play unfolds, Treadwell's expressionist masterpiece explores what might drive her to the desperate actions she eventually takes to be free.
Violet
Music by Jeanine Tesori, libretto by Brian Crawley,
based on the short story "The Ugliest Pilgrim" by Doris Betts
Directed by Carol Becker
Nov. 29, 30, Dec. 1, 6, 7, 8
School matinee Dec. 5
The Rand Theater
Buy tickets to Violet
What does it mean to be truly healed? This is the central question behind Violet: The Musical. Disfigured by an axe blade as a child, Violet embarks on an emotional journey to have her facial scar healed by a televangelist. On her cross-country travels, she encounters two soldiers, Flick and Monty, who challenge how she sees herself. As their friendship grows, Violet realizes that she shares a common bond with Flick as they both yearn to be connected to a world that has criticized and mocked them. Flick and Violet must make the decision to either submit to the ignorance of those around them – or to rise above it.
Dee Michel, host of WMUA's "A Little Stage Music" radio show from noon to 2 p.m. every Saturday, recorded a beautiful PSA about the show that's airing on the station now. You can also hear it by clicking below:
Special event
Every Year, Every Day, I Am Walking
By Magnet Theater from South Africa
Created by Magnet Theatre
Jan. 30, 31, Feb. 1, 2
The Rand Theater
Buy tickets to Every Year, Every Day, I Am Walking
The play, Every Year, Every Day, I Am Walking, traces the story of a young refugee in Africa who loses family and home brutally and irrevocably and is forced to journey to a new place through many dangers and uncertainties. It is a piece about dislocation, about what home means, about Africa, about loss and about the first tentative steps towards healing and recovery. A moving contemporary story told through evocative physical images by two of South Africa's foremost actresses, Jennie Reznek and Faniswa Yisa, and scored with live music by composer Neo Muyanga, Every Year, Every Day, I Am Walking celebrates the ability of human beings to heal and regain a sense of dignity and identity through the power of the imagination.
The UMass Department of Theater proudly presents
A week-long residency
With South Africa's
MAGNET THEATRE COMPANY
January 27 – February 3, 2013
Visit our Magnet Theatre residency information page
This residency would not be possible without generous funding and support from The College of Humanities and Fine Arts; Five College Multicultural Theatre Committee; Edinburgh After-Festival; UMass Arts Council; Amherst College English Department; Five College Humanities Fund; ISHA; Hampshire College Department of Theater; and UMass Departments of History, Afro-American Studies, Music and English. Thank you for your support!
Thanks also to the UMass Hotel and Conference Center for providing accommodations.
Suitors
By Ana Caro and Feliciana Enríquez ,
translated and adapted by Harley Erdman
Directed by Kara-Lynn Vaeni
Feb. 28, March 1, 2, 7, 8, 9
The Rand Theater
Buy tickets to Suitors
In early 17th-century Spain, women playwrights turned out reams of scripts that were by turns imaginative, magical, funny and raunchy. Department of Theater professor Harley Erdman is on a mission to help the world rediscover these talented women and brings us Suitors, an interpolation of two plays about women with multiple suitors who have to figure out how to get what they want from their situations. The main play, Count Partinuples by Ana Caro, is a magical fairy tale. With the help of her cousin (who is conveniently a sorceress), the empress Rosaura puts a magical spell on the man of her dreams. Invisible, she puts him to a test of love, all the while putting off these three shallow suitors whom her advisors want her to marry. The interlude, The Moldy Graces by Feliciana Enriquez, is a farce in which six grotesque, drunken suitors serenade three very horny sisters. Each play is outrageous in its own way, and both will have you wondering how it's possible that no one has seen these fabulous works in English before.
This show is not appropriate for children and young teens.
Listen to our podcasts; just click on the title to listen (MP3):
A conversation with actors Monica Giordano, Thomas Kelsey, Daniel Cuff, and Brianna Heffernan
A conversation with composer Gregory Boover and costume designer Emily Taradash
Special Event
Because Caro, Enríquez and their cohorts are now moving onto the radar after languishing so long in obscurity, there will be two opportunities for our audience members to learn more about this once-flourishing creative community of women writers. Lisa Vollendorf, Professor of Spanish and Chair of Romance, German, Russian Languages and Literatures at California State University and Nieves Romero-Diaz, Professor of Spanish, Latina/o, Latin American Studies at Mount Holyoke College, will join the department during Suitors' opening weekend for two events. The first, a panel discussion with about female playwrights of the Spanish Golden Age, is scheduled to take place March 1 at 7 p.m., Fine Arts Center Atrium.
It is free and open to the public. Professors Vollendorf and Romero-Diaz will also participate in the Department of Theater's customary First Friday Q&A, held on March 1 immediately following the performance. That event is free with admission to the show.
Venus
By Suzan-Lori Parks
Directed by Judyie Al-Bilali
March 28, 29, 30 April 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
The Curtain Theater
Buy tickets to Venus
In Venus, Suzan-Lori Parks remembers and re-imagines the historical figure of Sarah Baartman, known to the world as "the Hottentot Venus." In the early 19th century, Baartman, a Khoisan woman from South Africa, was taken from her country and displayed across Europe as a freak and a medical anomaly for her large buttocks. Venus examines how mainstream culture views Black bodies, specifically Black female bodies. Parks uses Baartman's story and the medium of theater as a powerful platform to ask audience members to consider what it means to watch, to be seen, and to engage in a performance. Because Venus' sexuality is taboo, is it not indecent for the audience to watch her? Is Venus, in re-imagining Baartman, objectifying her all over again? Expect to leave Parks' Obie Award-winning play engaged in passionate discussions with your fellow audience members.
This show is not appropriate for children and young teens.
Listen to our podcasts; just click on the title to listen (MP3):
An interview with director Judyie Al-Bilali
Special Event
In conjunction with our production, the Department of Theater will host a free panel discussion and live demonstration examining the relationship between Baartman's image and the image of "Video Vixens" in Hip Hop today. To be held on April 5 at 4 p.m. in the Fine Arts Center Atrium, the event will feature Hip Hop activist Rosa Clemente and DJ Reborn. This special event is made possible in part by Amherst College, the Five College Multicultural Fund, the Lois E. Toko Fund, and the UMass Arts Council.
We also invite audience members to attend our traditional First Friday Question and Answer session immediately following the March 29 performance.
Casanova
UMass alumna Connie Congdon
Directed by Brianna Sloane
April 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 27
The Rand Theater
Buy tickets to Casanova
The University of Massachusetts-Amherst Department of Theater is fortunate to count renowned playwright Constance Congdon among its alumnae. We are pleased to end our celebrating of women playwrights with one of her favorite works, Casanova. This play nimbly examines the story of the famous Italian seducer and across time and space, weaving memory with fantasy and prompting intriguing questions about the nature of love and remembrance. Sensual and rich, elements that include touches of Restoration comedy, hints of Commedia dell'Arte and allusions to the lavish and bawdy European capitals of the 18th century come together to create a delightful and insightful whole.
Due to adult language and content, this show is not appropriate for children and young teens.
Special Event
Gender in Adaptation: A Discussion with Professor Harley Erdman and Playwright Constance Congdon 7:00pm Friday, April 26th, 2013
in the Fine Arts Center Lobby
Join Professor Harley Erdman and Playwright Constance Congdon as they discuss the politics and possibilities of gender in adaptation through an in-depth look at their plays Suitors and Casanova, both featured in the UMass Department of Theater's 40th Anniversary Season.
Tickets, subscriptions and group rates
Tickets are $16 general admission, $8 for students and seniors
Order all 6 shows at a discount of 20 percent per single subscription, or 25 percent for a couple's subscription:
$76.80 General admission single
$144 General admission couple
$38.40 Student
or senior single subscription
$72 Student or senior couple subscription.
Or order 3 or more at a reduced price: $12.80 per ticket general admission, $6.40 per ticket student or senior admission.
To order any of our subscription packages, download our subscription form (PDF) here and bring or mail it to the Fine ArtsCenter Box Office, Fine Arts Center, UMass Amherst, Amherst, MA 01003.
20 for 20: Buy 20 or more tickets, and get 20 percent off. Call the box office at 1-800-999-UMAS or 545-2511.
School groups: Whether attending a special school matinee or an evening show, school groups are entitled to special rates: $8 per student, only $6 per student for groups of 20 or more. Chaperones are always FREE. To reserveschool group tickets or for more information email the public relations director or call 545-6808.
Tickets
- $16, $8 students/seniors
- Subscription and group rates available
- Download our subscription form (pdf)
- Call 545-2511 or 1-800-999-UMAS
- For single ticket purchases, visit the Box Office Online.
Entertainment Suggestions
- Interested in exploring other cultural events on campus? We encourage you to visit the websites of the Music and Dance Department, the Art Department, and the Fine Arts Center.
- Coming from out of town? Consider the UMass Hotel for your accommodations!
- Try Dine Best for Less for dinner before the show.
- Five College Event Calendar
- Five College Theater Calendar
- Please see the Production Calendar for rehearsal and performance information.
- In the case of inclement weather or emergency, the Department of Theater follows the University's closing policy. If UMass Amherst closes, Department of Theater events including performances and special events will be cancelled. The Department of Theater may also cancel events during the evening or on the weekend. If inclement weather is expected, check this page or call 545-3490 for updates regarding our status. If a ticketed event is cancelled, please contact the box office at 545-2511 when the university reopens to exchange your ticket for one to a later performance, as available.
