SCC's Center Stage Theatre Announces Productions for 2009-10

Published: 08/06/2009

Reduced Prices on Wednesdays Throughout Season

Unelss otherwise noted, all shows will be presented at 8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday and at 2 p.m. on Sundays in the theater of the Donald D. Shook Fine Arts Building (FAB) on the college campus, located at 4601 Mid Rivers Mall Drive in Cottleville.
 
Tickets for the general public are $7; $5 for senior citizens and students; and free for SCC students with a valid I.D. High school matinees are $5 per student, and one free chaperone ticket is provided for every 15 students in attendance.  High school matinee shows are at 10 a.m.
 
New this year, Center Stage Theatre will offer “Budget Wednesdays.”  For Wednesday night productions, all tickets will be $4.  SCC student tickets will remain free with valid I.D.
 
The first play of the season is Neil Simon’s “Broadway Bound,” directed by SCC theater professor Pamela Cilek. The third part of a trilogy based on Simon’s own life, this comedy/drama will keep audiences laughing as they follow two brothers, Eugene and Stanley, on their road to success.  The brothers are aspiring comedy writers looking to land their first big gig.  But just as they find potential success, they are also forced to make some big decisions about moving away from members of their family who have fallen into troubling situations.  Auditions will be 1-3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 15, and 7-9 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 18, in the FAB.  The play will be performed Sept. 30-Oct. 4, with a matinee performance for high school students at 10 a.m. Oct. 1.
 
Lonna Wilke, SCC associate theater professor, will direct Sam Shepard’s “Buried Child,” the second play of the season. The 1979 Pulitzer Prize winner digs deep into family dysfunction and the deterioration of the American dream. When grandson Vince returns to the family farm with his girlfriend Shelley, no one seems to recognize or remember him. In Vince’s persistent search for recognition, he unearths a deep, dark family secret. Auditions will be 1-3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3, and 7-9 p.m. Monday, Oct. 5, in the FAB. Performances will be Nov. 18-22, with a high school matinee Nov. 19. This show contains mature content.
 
Hal Berry, SCC professor of history and theater will direct Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun.”  The classic play shows the tragic impact of American history on a black family residing in Chicago in the 1950s. The family receives an insurance check after the death of the father, and faces many conflicts as the members of the family each want to spend the money on their own version of the American dream. While struggling to make the best decision, the family is nearly torn apart.  A Raisin in the Sun won the New York Drama Critics’ Award as the Best American Play of 1959 and was the first play written by an African-American, female playwright to open on Broadway.  Auditions will be 1-3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 16, and 7-9 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 19, in the FAB.  Performances are March 3-7.  A high school matinee performance will be March 4.
 
The bright, funny, and sentimental “Isn’t It Romantic,” written by Wendy Wasserstein, will be the fourth show in the 2009-10 season.  The show, directed by adjunct theater professor Debbie Phillips, follows the post-college careers of two former classmates, Julia Blumberg and Harriet Cornwall. Both are struggling to escape from well meaning, yet overbearing parents, and to establish their own lives and identities. Told in a fast-moving series of alternately hilarious and touching scenes, the story explores the parallel stories of these two very different women. This play has mature language and content.  Auditions will be 1-3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 27, and 6-7 p.m. Tuesday, March 2, in the FAB.  “Isn’t It Romantic” will be performed April 21-25. A high school matinee performance will be April 22.
 
The final show of the season will be the musical production “South Pacific,” directed by SCC adjunct theater professor Lynne Snyder, with musical direction by Gene Ditch, SCC professor of music. Based on James Michener’s novel, “Tales of the South Pacific,” this Pulitzer Prize-winning musical is one of the most beloved of all time. Set on an island paradise during WWII, two parallel love stories are threatened by the dangers of ethnic prejudice and war. Although well known for its extraordinarily beautiful score by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, South Pacific is also a deeply felt portrayal of Americans stationed in a foreign culture during war times. It is as relevant today as when it first thrilled audiences in 1949. Auditions will be 7 p.m. Monday-Tuesday, May 17-18, in the FAB.  The show will be performed Tuesday-Sunday, July 20-25.
 
Center Stage Theatre shows are selected for mature audiences.  Children under 10 years of age will not be admitted unless the play is specifically labeled “suitable for children.”  Theater patrons should contact the SCC Young People’s Theatre for performances geared toward younger audiences.
 
For more information about Center Stage Theatre, contact the SCC Division of Arts and Humanities at 636-922-8254, or visit www.stchas.edu/calendars.  For tickets, call 636-922-8050.