2002 - 2003 SEASON

 Directed by Erin Rennard

The Cradle Will Rock

October 1 - 5, 2002

Curtain 8:00 p.m.

Ruppenthal Middle School Auditorium
400 Elm Street - Russell, KS  67665

Towards the end of the depression, Mark Blitzstein created a musical about the condition of the working man and his efforts to survive and support his family. Unionization appeared to be the only hope.

Blitzstein's portrayal of the forces opposing the union scandalized the powers that be and just before the curtain opened on opening night, the theatre was pressured to prohibit the performance. Orson Wells, the director, immediately relocated to the Mercury Theatre in New York and the actors and audience walked the few blocks together to perform and view The Cradle Will Rock.

Today, with unions ever present, the shock value of the musical has lessened but the wit and humor of Blitzstein's script and music endure.

This musical spears the high and mighty, the self-righteous and the rich - something to which most of us can still relate.

 

Directed by Mark Arthur

Bedroom Farce

April 29 - May 3, 2003

Curtain 8:00 p.m.

 Ruppenthal Middle School Auditorium
400 Elm Street - Russell, KS  67665

To say that Alan Ayckbourn is the British Neal Simon is an injustice to Ayckbourn.

Bedroom Farce is as funny as anything he has ever written and will provide an enormously hilarious evening in the theatre.

The play is about the blithe inconsideration of the suffering. Trevor and Susannah are a couple whose marriage is heading toward the rocks - and the play depicts an endless night in which they inflict their miseries on their nearest and dearest, three other couples. Taking place sequentially in the three beleaguered couples bedrooms, Trevor and Susannah implicate the others in their public anst - and in the course of one long Saturday night, ruffle beds, tempers, marriages and domestic order.

 

Directed by Renelle Mooney and Kristy Nyp

Plaza Suite

July 8 - 12, 2003

 Dinner Theatre - Reservations Required

Curtain 8:00 p.m.

Russell Elks Lodge
South Highway 281 - Russell, KS  67665

Neil Simon needs no introduction. His plays have been the rage in community theatre for years

In Plaza Suite, hilarity abounds in his portrayal of three couples successively occupying a suite at the Plaza. A suburban couple takes the suite and it turns out to be the one in which they honeymooned 23 (or was it 24?) years before - and was yesterday the anniversary, or today?

The second couple is a Hollywood producer who is looking for fresh fields and his childhood sweetheart who is now more than the match he bargained for.

Finally, a mother and father fight about the best way to get their daughter out of the bathroom in time for her wedding.

This richly funny play is for mature audiences.


 
 
 
 
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Phone (785) 483-4057

 Last updated April 27, 2003.