The Illusion by Tony Kushner
Preview: November 7, 2022 @ 7:30pm
Performances: November 9-12, 2022 @ 7:30pm
A lawyer, facing mortality, desperate to find the son he drove away years before, travels in the dead of night to a mysterious cave. There he engages the services of a wizard, who conjures up visions of the romantic, adventurous, perilous life the lawyer’s son has been living since his father expelled him from home. THE ILLUSION, freely adapted from Pierre Corneille’s L’ILLUSION COMIQUE, is Kushner’s most joyfully theatrical play, a wildly entertaining tale of passion and regret, of love, disillusionment and magic.
24-Hour New Play Festival
Performance: January 14, 2023 @ 7pm
Over the span of 24-hours, teams composed of actors, playwrights, and directors work together to create original, ten-minute plays. Current students join Eastern alumni artists, culminating with a performance of these original plays on the mainstage at the end of the 24 hours.
This intergenerational experience fosters great art and great friendships!
Working (Localized)
Preview: March 16, 2023 @ 7:30pm
Performances: March 17-18, 23-25, 2023 @ 7:30pm on McInnis Stage; March 19, 2023 at Teatro Esperanza
Based on Studs Terkel's best-selling book of interviews with American workers, Working paints a vivid portrait of the workers that the world so often takes for granted: the schoolteacher, the phone operator, the waitress, the millworker, the mason, and the housewife, just to name a few. Nominated for six Tony Awards, this classic has been updated for a modern age, featuring songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Stephen Schwartz, Craig Carnelia, James Taylor, Micki Grant, and more. This localized version of Working gives theatres the opportunity to add local worker interviews from their own community to their production. While most of the professions have been updated, the show, still set in contemporary America, contains timeless truths. Behind every job, there is a person with a story to tell. With universal subject matter and a diverse ensemble cast of variable size, Working is one of the most accessible, relevant and substantive musicals ever created.
Eastern's 24-Hour New Play Workshop
Participants Begin: Friday September 18th, 2021 at 7pm
Show Begins: Saturday September 19th, 2021 at 7pm
Free Admission
Over the span of 24-hours, teams composed of actors, playwrights, and directors work together to create original, ten-minute plays. Current students join Eastern alumni artists, culminating with a performance of these original plays on the mainstage at the end of the 24 hours. This intergenerational experience fosters great art and great friendships!
The event begins on Friday, September 17th and culminates with a show on Saturday, September 18th at 7pm. If you would like to be a part of this experience, please email eastern24hournpw@gmail.com and we can provide you with further information.
Almost, Maine by John Cariani
November 11th, 2021 at 7:30pm
November 12th, 2021 at 7:30pm*
November 13th, 2021 at 2pm and 7:30pm
*Friday's Performance will be the only one with a live stream option.
Welcome to Almost, Maine, a place that’s so far north, it’s almost not in the United States. It’s almost in Canada. And it’s not quite a town, because its residents never got around to getting organized. So it almost doesn’t exist. One cold, clear, winter night, as the northern lights hover in the star-filled sky above, the residents of Almost, Maine find themselves falling in and out of love in unexpected and hilarious ways. Knees are bruised. Hearts are broken. But the bruises heal, and the hearts mend—almost—in this delightful midwinter night’s dream.
Almost, Maine is a free live production. You must "purchase" a ticket online in order to receive the link to view this performance virtually or in person. $5 Suggested Donation. A limited number of tickets will be available. Face masks that cover the nose and mouth are required to be worn at all times by guests.
Looking for ways to show your support for your friends or students involved? Buy them a Hershey's Hug and write them a note! For only $1 you can write a note and send hugs to members of the cast. For $10, you can hug the entire cast!
STILL HERE!
Streamed Virtually
March 24th - April 7th 2022
*March 26th 2022 at 7:30pm
*A Theatrical Film viewing in McInnis Theatre. Limited Seating.
STILL HERE! features the music of Stephen Sondheim and other composers he influenced such as Jonathan Larson (Rent), and Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey (Next to Normal) with the book written by Ardencie Hall-Karambe, Ph. D. Dr. Hall has used this powerful music to weave a story about people standing on the cusp of life unsure of their next steps. Many find it much easier to set up camp there, digging in and refusing to change which often makes things worse. STILL HERE! provides us an opportunity to see that renewal and rebirth are possible.
Looking for ways to show your support for your friends or students involved? Buy them a Hershey's Hug and write them a note! For only $1 you can write a note and send hugs to members of the cast. For $10, you can hug the entire cast!
Performing Arts Living Room
April 28, 2022 at 7:30pm
Pull up a chair and join us for the grand finale of the 2021-2022 theatre season.
Here, students take the stage and create a showcase of music performances and creative expression.
What makes this even more unique is that it is entirely student produced and performed!
Let Our Voices Rise: A Crescendo of Resilience
Let Our Voices Rise: A Crescendo of Resilience
Saturday, November 21, 2020 at 7:30pm
Virtual Performance
A montage of selected musical theatre songs to lift up our voices and each other.
Let our Voices Rise is a free virtual production. You must "purchase" a ticket online in order to receive the link to view this performance.
$5 suggested donation.
Let Our Voices Rise Program
A season of perseverance and finding joy in the journey...
Eastern's 24-Hour (Virtual) New Play Workshop
Participants Begin: Thursday, January 28th at 5pm
Show Begins: Saturday, January 30th at 7pm
Watch Performance Here
Free Admission
Over the span of 24-hours, teams composed of actors, playwrights, and directors work together to create original, ten-minute plays.
Current students join Eastern alumni artists, culminating with a performance of these original plays on the mainstage at the end of the 24 hours. This intergenerational experience fosters great art and great friendships!
Tartuffe in Quarantine
- Thursday, March 25 at 7:00pm
- Friday, March 26 at 7:30pm
- Saturday, March 27 at 2:00pm and 7:30pm
Tartuffe in Quarantine Program
Tartuffe, by Molière, is the funniest show of the past 350 years. This new translation takes place in 2021, during a pandemic, where the characters have just over an hour to solve all of their problems during the most epic Zoom call of all-time.
Orgon becomes irrationally devoted to the religious man Tartuffe, even though Tartuffe’s actions clearly show that he is an imposter and is quite wicked. When Orgon declares his daughter will marry Tartuffe today (even though she loves her fiancé!), the family decides to take more drastic measures to combat Orgon’s cognitive dissonance. Unfortunately, they each have a different plan. Hopefully, Mariane doesn’t marry Tartuffe, the executive assistant doesn’t get fired, and no gets seduced or killed (but at least one of those things will happen). And don’t even get me started on the grandmother.
Tartuffe in Quarantine is a free virtual production. You must "purchase" a ticket online in order to receive the link to view one of the performances. $5 suggested donation.
Antigone
By: Sophocles
Translated by: Richard Emil Braun
Thursday, November 14, 2019 at 7:00pm**
Friday, November 15, 2019 at 7:30pm
Saturday, November 16, 2019 at 2:00pm & 7:30pm
The battle for Thebes has just ended and two brothers lie dead on the field: one a hero, mourned and honored, the other, a supposed usurper, denied proper burial. Incensed at such impiety, Antigone has determined to show proper reverence for the dead, even in defiance of the edict issued by her own uncle, himself newly installed as sovereign of war-ravaged Thebes. But when loyalty to the state and fidelity to the gods make equal and absolute demands, where is one to turn? Antigone and her Uncle Kreon's choices throw their world into chaos and the collateral damage from their actions is emotionally devastating. Sophocles’ timeless tragedy asks us to reflect upon the true nature of piety, and the desperate ends to which love, loyalty, and devotion may compel us. “Many marvels walk through the world, terrible, wonderful, but none more than humanity.”
Eastern 24-Hour New Play Workshop
Saturday, February 1, 2020 at 8:00pm
Free Admission
Over the span of 24-hours, teams composed of actors, playwrights, and directors work together to create original, ten-minute plays. Current students join Eastern alumni artists, culminating with a performance of these original plays on the mainstage at the end of the 24 hours. This intergenerational experience fosters great art and great friendships!
Canceled: Little Women: The Broadway Musical
This event has been canceled due to COVID-19.
Book by Allan Knee Lyrics by Mindi Dickstein Music by Jason Howland. Based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott
Thursday, March 26, 2020 at 7:00pm
Friday, March 27, 2020 at 7:30pm
Saturday, March 28, 2020 at 2:00pm & 7:30pm
"Based on Louisa May Alcott's timeless and semi-autobiographical novel, Little Women follows the adventures of sisters, Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy March. Jo is trying to sell her stories for publication, but the publishers are not interested – her friend, Professor Bhaer, tells her that she has to do better and write more from herself. Begrudgingly taking this advice, Jo weaves the story of herself and her sisters and their experience growing up in Civil War America.
Produced nationally and internationally, Little Women has been praised by critics for its ambition in adapting such a well-known story for the stage. This timeless, captivating story is brought to life in this glorious musical filled with personal discovery, heartache, hope and everlasting love." - MTI
“Little Women: The Broadway Musical” is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI: www.MTIShows.com.
Canceled: Performing Arts Living Room
This event has been canceled due to COVID-19.
Friday, May 1, 2020 at 7:00pm
Free Admission
Pull up a chair (or a living room couch!) and join us for the grand finale of the 2019-2020 theatre season. Here, students take the stage and create a showcase of live theater, spoken-word, dance, human videos, music performances and creative expression. What makes this even more unique is that it is entirely student produced, directed, and performed! Free admission, coffeehouse style on stage.
Three Sisters
By: Anton Chekhov
Rendered by: Sarah Ruhl
Thursday, November 15, 2018 at 8:00pm
Friday, November 16, 2018 at 8:00pm
Saturday, November 17, 2018 at 2:00pm & 8:00pm
Anton Chekhov’s Russian classic Three Sisters, in this fresh adaptation by, “One of America’s Most Original Playwrights”, Sarah Ruhl. This classic play tells of the privileged Prozorov family feeling trapped inside their now provincial home. It is 1901 a time, not unlike our own, with political change and social unrest. It is a new era in Russia where the upper-class became superfluous and the Prozorov family seemed irrelevant. Even though the society is in flux we find the three sisters and their brother still holding hope in their dream to return to their bustling childhood city of Moscow. Through love and loss, the three sisters are at the brink of seeing where, if possible, could their life’s happiness lie in this ever-changing society.
The Eastern Experiment 2019
Saturday, January 19, 2019 at 8:00pm
Free Admission
Produced by Chalkboard Theater Project (CTP), artists will have 24 hours to create original ten-minute plays. The Eastern student can choose to be playwright, director, or actor for this adventure into generating a new work. Current students join Eastern alumni artists and their collaboration is presented on the mainstage to an audience. It is an intergenerational experience where great art and great friendships are made!
Into the Woods
Book by: James Lapine
Music by: Stephen Sondheim
Thursday, March 28, 2019 at 8:00pm
Friday, March 29, 2019 at 8:00pm
Saturday, March 30, 2019 at 2:00pm & 8:00pm
James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim Tony Award winning musical that sees wishes come true and what may be after our favorite classic fairy tales’ “happy ever…”. A masterful score that comes alive alongside a book that delights with familiar Grimms’ characters. Cinderella, Rapunzel, Red Riding Hood, Jack from the Beanstalk are all intertwined by The Baker and his Wife and their desire for a child. In these woods, the classic characters will be joined along the path by a Witch, a Wolf, Giants, a Prince or two, one beloved cow and many hard choices to be made. This dark comedy is a riveting reminder that life may be best along the journey.
Performing Arts Living Room
Friday, May 3, 2019 at 8:00pm
Pull up a chair (or a living room couch!) and join us for the 2018-2019 theatre season’s Grand Finale. Here students take the stage and create a student produced showcase of live theater, spoken-word, dance, human videos, music performances and creative expression. Free admission, coffeehouse style on stage.
The Crucible
Play by Arthur Miller
Directed by Lori Reed
Thursday, November 16 at 8:00pm
Friday, November 17 at 8:00pm
Saturday, November 18 at 8:00pm
Sunday, November 19 at 3:00pm
Winner of the Tony Award for the Best Play of 1953, The Crucible is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1692-1693. The play is Arthur Miller's allegory for the McCarthy era witch hunts against perceived Communists in America. Originating with a presidential executive order, the "red scare" became an obsession, ripping through all aspects of American life. It was a campaign of fear that turned people against each other, destroying lives, careers and friendships in its wake. Arthur Miller's The Crucible stands as a rallying cry against all kinds of hysteria in public life, disinformation and the spreading of false "facts". Miller himself was questioned by the House of Representatives' Committee on Un-American Activities in 1956 and convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to identify others present at meetings he had attended.
The Eastern Experience
Saturday, January 20 at 8:00pm
Free Admission
Produced by the Chalkboard Theater Project, artists will have 24 hours to create new ten minute plays. Come join us Saturday evening for the outcome of their madness. Current Eastern students, alumni writers, directors, and actors participate in this creative, chaotic romp where new collaborative teams that bridge generational gaps are forged.
Peter and the Starcatcher
Play by Rick Elice
Music by Wayne Barker
Based on the novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
Directed by Lori Reed
Thursday, March 22 at 8:00pm
Friday, March 23 at 8:00pm
Saturday, March 24 at 2:00pm and 8:00pm
Peter and the Starcatcher provides a backstory for the timeless character Peter Pan and his notorious nemesis Captain Hook. In this hilarious and heartwarming play, we first meet an orphaned child named Boy. His world of isolation and loneliness is changed when he meets Molly, the daughter of the great Starcatcher Lord Aster. Molly is on a mission to save the world and destroy a treasure trunk of starstuff before it gets into the hands of anyone evil including the villain Black Stache and his trusty sidekick Smee. As they travel aboard a ship named "The Neverland" Molly and Boy, and a cast of colorful characters, celebrate the power of finding one's true place in this world through the help of others.
Performing Arts Living Room
Friday, April 27 at 8:00pm
Saturday, April 28 at 8:00pm
Join us for the annual student produced showcase of live theater, dance, and music performances. Free admission, coffeehouse style on stage.
SEPTEMBER PROJECT: "BROKEN"
Score by Kevin Monaghan (EU alum - 2010)
Friday, September 23 at 8:00pm
Saturday, September 24 at 8:00pm
Broken is a theatrical song cycle centered around the topic of divorce and the family. The songs touch upon varying perspectives and emotions from anger, grief, to even humor as we get glimpses into varying experiences surrounding divorce. Intended for mature audiences, this piece will spark open conversations about a topic often kept hidden in the dark.
WAITING FOR LEFTY
by Clifford Odets
Directed by Griffen Stanton Ameisen
Thursday, November 17 at 8:00pm
Friday, November 18 at 8:00pm
Saturday, November 19 at 8:00pm
Sunday, November 20 at 3:00pm
Clifford Odets is considered the most prolific American social protest dramatist of the thirties. In 1939, Odets wrote of his plays, "let them stand, crudities and all, as a small parade of a young talent discovering and shaping itself." Set in the Great Depression Waiting for Lefty uses archetypal characters during a taxi strike to comment on the state of Capitalism in America and those it seems to leave behind. 1930's or present day? You decide.
THE EASTERN EXPERIENCE
Saturday, January 21 at 8:00pm
Free Admission
Produced by the Chalkboard Theater Project, artists will have 24 hours to create new ten minute plays. Come join us Saturday evening for the outcome of their madness. Current Eastern Students and Eastern Alumni Writers, Directors, and Actors participate in this creative chaotic romp and new collaborative teams that bridge generational gaps are forged.
SPRING MUSICAL: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Book by Rachel Sheinkin and score by William Finn
Directed by Natalie Cisternas Hann (EU Alum - 2008)
Thursday, March 23 at 8:00pm
Friday, March 24 at 8:00pm
Saturday, March 25 at 8:00pm
Sunday, March 26 at 3:00pm
An eclectic group of six mid-pubescents vie for the spelling championship of a lifetime. While candidly disclosing hilarious and touching stories from their home life, the tweens spell their way through a series of [potentially made-up] words hoping to never hear the soul-crushing, pout-inducing, life un-affirming "ding" of the bell that signals a spelling mistake. Six spellers enter; one speller leaves! At least the losers get a juice box. A riotous ride complete with audience participation, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is delightful den of comedic genius.
PERFORMING ARTS LIVING ROOM
Friday April 28 at 8:00pm
Saturday April 29 at 8:00pm
Join us for the annual student produced showcase of live theater, dance, and music performances. Free admission, coffeehouse style on stage.
NEW PLAY WORKSHOP
Saturday, September 19 at 8 p.m.
Facilitated by alumni Kendra DeMicco, Eva Farrell & Ben Hennesy
New Play Workshop premieres one-act plays that are written, staged, and performed by students and alumni in just 24 hours.
FINE ARTS FESTIVAL
Friday, October 9 at 7:30 p.m.
General Admission $5.00
A Homecoming favorite featuring 90 minutes of engaging performance by Music, Dance, and Theater Students, Alumni, and Faculty.
FALL MUSICAL: RISE
Thursday, November 12 at 8 p.m.
Friday, November 13 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, November 14 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, November 15 at 3 p.m.
Book by Edgar Mendoza
Lyrics by Rebecca Coppola and Joelle Doriani
Music by Dennis Atkinson, Joelle Doriani, Steven Ford, Ron Matthews, and Gregory Silverman
Directed by Jenny Tibbels ‘99
Inspired by the story of the two disciples walking on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24:13-35, RISE tells the story of two sisters who travel a journey of grief after the death of their father and discover new life along the way.
This musical is an interdisciplinary collaboration between the Theater, Dance and Music Departments
SPRING PRODUCTION: RHINOCEROS
Thursday, March 17 at 8 p.m.
Friday, March 18 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, March 19 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, March 20 at 3 p.m.
Written by Eugene Ionesco, Directed by Jenny Tibbels--When residents of a small Parisian town start turning into rhinoceroses, citizens must decide: conform or remain true to oneself?
PERFORMING ARTS LIVING ROOM
Friday, April 29 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, April 30 at 8 p.m.
Join us for the annual student produced showcase of live theater, dance, and music performances. Free performance, coffeehouse style on stage.
