OBU Theatre Department Announces Schedule
August 11, 2004
Oklahoma Baptist University's 2004-05 Theatre Season gets off to a special start Aug. 27-29 with a trip into Oklahoma's past in "Oklahoma's Golden West: Pistols, Presidents and Punchlines."
The three original one-person performances feature OBU faculty members as Belle Starr, Teddy Roosevelt and Will Rogers, giving their characters' take on the Oklahoma territory.
The performances on Aug. 27-28 begin at 7:30 p.m., with a 2:30 p.m. matinee set for Sunday, Aug. 29.
OBU will present "Stones in His Pockets" by Marie Jones Sept. 9-11 at 7:30 p.m. and Sept. 12 at 2:30 p.m.
"Stones in His Pockets" is set in a tiny Irish town that has been invaded by a Hollywood production crew filming a romance epic. The play revolves around Charlie Conlon and Jake Quinn, two locals who get hired as film extras and who actually portray all of the show's 15 characters, from the temperamental star to the lowliest peon. As extras, Charlie and Jake have the opportunity to gawk at the moviemakers and fantasize about joining their glamorous ranks. After a local death that the visitors from Hollywood dismiss as a professional inconvenience, Jake and Charlie become disillusioned. They emerge triumphant, however, planning a screenplay based on their film experience. "Stones in His Pockets" is still showing on the West End in London, at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles and has had a successful run on Broadway.
"The Orestia: The Legacy of Agamemnon" hits the Craig-Dorland Theatre Nov. 4-6 and 11 at 7:30 p.m., with a 2:30 p.m. matinee Nov. 13-14. Written by Aeschylus and edited by OBU's Joyce Spivey Aldridge and Emily Dial-Driver, Orestia is the sole surviving Greek tragic trilogy. Offering an opportunity to make contact with the culture of the past, these plays provide the contemporary audience a time to reflect on a theme of universal interest: the evolution of justice in human society from blood vengeance to the rule of law.
OBU's Theatre for Young People will present Moses Goldeberg's "The Wind in the Willows," adapted from the book by Kenneth Grahame at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 25-26 and March 4-5.
Toad is the rich playboy of the animal kingdom. His current enthusiasm is motor cars, which he embraces passionately without the formality of learning to drive. After several narrow shaves, his friends, Rat and Mole and Badger ground him for his own safety at his home, Toad Hall but he eludes them and appropriates a police car, which lands him in jail. In his absence, the Weasels take over Toad Hall, and Toad returns to find his elegant mansion in a shambles. It takes his friends to drive the Weasels out and restore Toad to his senses, but by that time he has acquired a new passion-airplanes!
The final production of the season is Alan Ayckbourn's "It Could Be Any One of Us" April 21-23 and 29-30 at 7:30 p.m., with a May matinee at 2:30 p.m.
With all the characters and prime ingredients of a traditional murder-mystery thriller, the play takes some unusual twists. The victim is not who we at first believe it will be; the murderer could be one of three people, the identity of whom can change every night; and the thrills are leavened throughout with tongue-in-cheek humor and slyly ironic comment.
The calendar is also peppered with Season Extras, including presentations both semesters by the College Players called "An Evening of Entertainment." Additionally, the University Concert Series will co-sponsor with the Theatre Department four "Live at the Black Box" events that are free. All of the Season Extras are at Sarkeys Studio.
For individual and season ticket information, contact the Theatre Department at 405-878-2347.