HWS News
22 September 2022 HWS Theatre Announces a Thoroughly Unpredictable 2022-2023 Season
HWS Theatre has announced plans for a full season return to their home in McDonald Theatre of the Gearan Center for the Performing Arts. For the past two years, the Theatre Department has produced outdoor, audio, filmed and streamed productions, returning in person to McDonald Theatre for the first time last spring with Marisol.
“We are planning to welcome audiences safely back for the entirety of the season,” says Associate Professor of Theatre Chris Woodworth, the chair of the department. “Whether that can happen or not is yet to be seen. In the spirit of that uncertainty, HWS Theatre is leaning into the unknown by announcing a season of productions that feature provocative unpredictability.”
The season opens by chance with Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind (30 Plays in 60 Minutes) by Greg Allen, a race against time as an ensemble of actors try to beat the clock and perform 30 plays in 60 minutes (or less). Some are funny, some are poignant, some are just plain bizarre, and NONE of them are suitable for children! Who decides the order of these plays? The audience! Buckle up for hilarious, awkward, and sometimes downright uncomfortable audience participation. Running Nov. 3 and 4 at 7:30 p.m. and Nov. 5 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind (30 Plays in 60 Minutes) is directed by Associate Professor of Theatre Chris Woodworth and produced by special arrangement with Playscripts, Inc. (www.playscripts.com). The cast photo from a rehearsal is pictured above.
What happens when the best laid plans crumble? The HWS Theatre 2022-2023 season continues with Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, running Feb. 23 and 24 at 7:30 p.m. and Feb. 25 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Will love conquer all or will cynicism, short-tempers and sly brothers ruin Cupid’s plans? Directed by Associate Professor of Theatre Chris Hatch and featuring one of Shakespeare’s most beloved pairs of unlikely lovers, Beatrice and Benedick, Much Ado About Nothing will delight both witty scholars and hopeless romantics alike.
Beatrice declares with determined certainty, “I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swears he love me.” We'll see about that, Beatrice!
The 2022-2023 HWS Theatre season of unpredictability closes with Fault Lines, a world premiere performance, collectively created by the students in the Fall THTR 340 “Advanced Acting Styles: Devising for Performance” class.
Fault Lines asks: What does it take to build community on an unstable foundation? How can we join together when the world tries to divide us? Fault Lines takes a heartfelt look at the lives of multiple individuals from a single perspective. What brings them together? What pulls them apart? But most importantly, where will they find harmony?
Fault Lines runs April 13 and 14 at 7:30 p.m. and April 15 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and is directed by Professor of Theatre Heather “H” May.
Auditions for Much Ado About Nothing and Fault Lines will be held in the second half of the Fall semester. Ed Hallborg returns for his sixth season as Resident Designer / Technical Director. Kelly Walker returns for a 10th season as HWS Theatre Resident Sound and Projections Designer. Katharine Tarkulich returns as HWS Theatre Costume Designer for a fourth season.
For ticket information for all HWS Theatre productions, visit: https://www.hws.edu/HWSTheatreBoxOffice. Visit the Theatre Department website or find us on Facebook or Instagram to learn more about the upcoming season as well as other exciting HWS Theatre happenings. For specific questions, contact Department Chair Chris Woodworth (cwoodworth@hws.edu or 315-781-4581).
