Edmonton, AB - What do a couple of teenage runaways, some dimwitted thugs with a hand puppet and two homegrown theatre stars with a flair for darkly poetic storytelling have in common? They're all part of UofA Studio Theatre's exciting Season 2011/12 Season, Rulebreakers and Scenemakers.
Studio Theatre is thrilled to have two U of A Drama alumni return to their alma mater with an exciting new project. Jonathan Christenson (MFA Directing '96), our 2012 Mary Mooney Distinguished Visiting Artist, and Bretta Gerecke (MFA Theatre Design '96)-the creative team behind Catalyst Theatre's celebrated productions of Frankenstein, Nevermore and Hunchback-will bring their distinctive vision and process to the creation of a new work. Rounding out the team is their frequent collaborator, award-winning choreographer Laura Krewski. Developed in association with Catalyst Theatre, the yet to be officially named Untitled will hit the Timms main stage March 29 to April 7, 2012. Studio Theatre audiences will be the first to see a new creation from this daring theatrical team that's turning heads across Canada, in London and New York!
Nationally acclaimed director, actor and playwright Ron Jenkins directs Fuddy Meers - a twisted comedy by David Lindsay-Abaire in which a woman with amnesia is kidnapped by a bizarre man in a ski mask and his hand puppet-toting sidekick. Fuddy Meers runs from December 1 through 10, 2011.
The season kicks off September 22 through October 1 with Doubt, A Parable by John Patrick Shanley. Winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play, Doubt gained a wider audience in 2008 when it was adapted into a film featuring Meryl Streep. An exploration of the nature of truth and certainty as seen through the eyes of a nun at odds with a priest, Doubt is the thesis production for MFA candidate Leigh Rivenbark (Directing).
Rounding off a season full of characters pushing at the boundaries of society are Yellow Moon, a gritty drama about two teens on the run written by Scottish playwright David Greig and directed by U of A Drama Professor Jan Selman which runs November 3 through 12, 2011, and Cymbeline, a genre-defying Shakespeare play mixing tragic, comic and historical elements, directed by U of A Department of Drama Chair Kathleen Weiss. Cymbeline is the MFA thesis production for Suraiya Farzana (Design) and runs from February 9-18, 2012. The season wraps up with the classical Greek drama Medea by Euripides, running May 17 through 26, 2012. Medea is the MFA thesis production for Donna Marie Baratta (Directing).
These six plays were selected for full-scale production on the Timms Centre main stage to showcase a company of Canada's leading university theatre students in acting, directing, design, vocal coaching, technical theatre and stage management. Audiences are invited to see the theatre leaders of tomorrow today and experience for themselves why the Department of Drama at the University of Alberta is widely regarded as one of North America's top training grounds for theatre.
Subscriptions are $53 students and as low as $63 for adults and are on sale now through the Timms Centre for the Arts box office-c all 780.492.2495 or email uofastudiotheatre@gmail.com to arrange ticket purchase. Advance tickets for each show are also available now for purchase through the Timms Box Office and through TIX on the Square online or by phone 780.420.1757. (TIX on the Square service charges will apply).
For more information, visit www.studiotheatre.ca or www.timmscentre.ca.