Leaving Iowa
Written by Tim Clue and Spike Manton
Directed by Chris “Fing” Guyotte
April 28, 29, 30 – May 5, 6, 7 at
Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center
April 28, 29, and May 5, 6 at 7:30pm
April 30 and May 7 at 2:00pm
Leaving Iowa is the story of Don Browning, a middle-aged writer, who returns home and decides to finally take his father’s ashes to his childhood home, as requested. But when Don discovers Grandma’s house is now a grocery store, he begins traveling across Iowa searching for a proper resting place for his father. This father-and-son road trip shifts smoothly from the present to Don’s memories of the annual, torturous vacations of his childhood. Don’s existential journey leads him to reconcile his past and present at the center of the United States. Leaving Iowa is a postcard to anyone who has ever found himself or herself driving alone on a road, revisiting fond memories of his or her youth.
The Curious Case of Covingston Manor
Written & Directed by Mia-belle Shannon
June 16, 17, 18 – June 23, 24, 25 at
Parkland College Second Stage Theatre
June 16, 17, 23, and 24 at 7:00pm
June 18 and 25 at 2:00pm
Seven people meet at a mansion of their close friend. When he turns up dead, each of them is a suspect, with a piece of the story to tell, a piece of the story that will reveal the Curious Case at Covingston Manor.
My Little Titus Andronicus
Written by Don Zolidis
Directed by Missy Burke-Marquart
August 4, 5, 6 – August 11, 12, 13 at
Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center
August 4, 5, 11, and 12 at 7:30pm
August 6 and 13 at 2:00pm
At last, the sparkly pep of My Little Pony meets the violent tragedy of Titus Andronicus. It’s Princess Millennia’s birthday, and Early Evening Glimmer is determined to put on a play. Unfortunately, Shakespeare’s classic is less about believing in yourself and more about the folly of ambition in a polluted world filled with moral ambiguity. Will the ponies put on the play with more musical numbers or bloodshed? Friendship is magic and all nobility is savagery in this delightfully irreverent romp.
Seascape
Written by Edward Albee
Directed by Mark Highland
October 27, 28, 29 – November 3, 4, 5 at
Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center
October 27, 28, and November 3, 4 at 7:30pm
October 29 and November 5 at 2:00pm
On a deserted stretch of beach a middle-aged couple, relaxing after a picnic lunch, talk idly about home, family and their life together. She sketches, he naps, and then, suddenly, they are joined by two sea creatures—lizards who have decided to leave the ocean depths and come ashore. Initial fear, and then suspicion of each other, are soon replaced by curiosity and, before long, the humans and the lizards (who speak admirable English) are engaged in a fascinating dialogue. The lizards, who are at a very advanced stage of evolution, are contemplating the terrifying, yet exciting, possibility of embarking on life out of the water; and the couple, for whom existence has grown flat and routine, holds the answers to their most urgent questions. These answers are given with warmth, humor and poetic eloquence, and with emotional and intellectual reverberations that will linger in the heart and mind long after the play has ended.