43
YSU Theater will go around the world for drama, comedy
The season will end, as usual, with an opera and a dance concert.
YOUNGSTOWN — The theater sometimes does its finest work when times are tough, says W. Rick Schilling, an instructor in YSU’s theater department.
The Youngstown State University theater and dance department will keep that adage in mind next season, when it will present an eclectic lineup of dramas, musicals, opera and dance, ranging from Shakespeare to Gilbert and Sullivan.
Anchoring the season is “The Baker’s Wife.” The musical, based on a 1938 film, will be staged Nov. 12-15 and 20-22 in Ford Theater, inside Bliss Hall. It toured the United States in 1976 and was mounted in London in 1990. Schilling will direct YSU’s version.
“The Baker’s Wife” is set in a small town in France, where the bickering residents find peace and contentment in the delicious bread of a newly arrived baker and his attractive young wife. But when the wife is lured away by a handsome gigolo, the middle-aged baker loses his zest for baking, which throws the community into chaos.
“Old-world charm permeates this bittersweet, wise and gently offbeat fable,” said Schilling at a press conference last week to announce the 2009-10 season.
The schedule also includes the comedies “Around the World in 80 Days,” adapted from the Jules Verne novel, Oct. 1-4 and 9-11; and Shakespeare’s “As You Like It,” which contains some of the Bard’s most famous lines, Feb. 19-21 and 26-28. Both will be in Ford Theater.
Renowned dialect coach Paul Meyer will serve in residence at YSU to instruct the cast of “Around the World.”
An unusual treat will be “The Cripple of Inishmaan,” which will be staged March 25-28 and April 1-3 in Ford Theater. The comic drama by Martin McDonagh is set on a remote island off the coast of Ireland in 1934. McDonagh, 39, is an English-born Irishman who has become a hot name in theater. “His name sells tickets,” said Frank Castronovo, chairman of the YSU theater department.
Rounding out the season are two student-produced plays which will be presented in Spotlight Arena Theater, the smaller black box venue in Bliss Hall. They are “How I Learned to Drive,” a comic drama by playwright Paula Vogel, Sept. 10-13; and “The Shape of Things,” a drama by American playwright Neil LaBute, Jan. 28-31.
The season will end, as usual, with an opera and a dance concert.
Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Mikado” will be presented April 9-11 and 16-18 in Ford Theater.
“You don’t need to know too much about ‘The Mikado’ except that it’s one joke after another,” said Allan Mosher, professor in the Dana School of Music, who will direct the opera.
Capping the year will be a dance concert April 29-30 and May 1 in Ford Theater, produced by dance professor Christine Cobb.
The department will be enhanced next season by an artist-in-residence program that will bring Rhythm in Shoes Dance of Dayton to YSU.
XFor information, call the box office at (330) 941-3105.