Lineup features ‘Polaroid Stories,’ ‘Or,’ ‘By the Way, Meet Vera Stark’ and ‘Into the Woods’
By
Tony
LaRoche
 |
| URI Theatre presented “Clue: On Stage” as part of last year’s season. (URI Photo by Jesse Dufault) |
The University of Rhode Island Theatre Department’s upcoming season will transport audiences from the darkest edges of the city where “dreamers, dealers and desperadoes” roam, to a 17th century London flat and the meetings of lovers and spies, to the trials of a young Black actress in 1930s Hollywood, and leave them deep “Into the Woods” listening to Sondheim’s Tony Award-winning music.
Always
a diverse lineup, URI’s season will bring to the Robert E. Will
Theatre stage thought-provoking and, at times, laugh-out-loud funny
contemporary works by award-winning playwrights – that are equally compelling
for audiences and theatre students, on stage and behind it.
“Each
of our four productions has such an exciting and unique perspective,” says
David Howard, chair of the Theatre Department. “We have a lot of new plays that
are being produced and we will have a lot of new guest artists joining us.”
The
season opens Oct. 13 with Naomi Iizuka’s 1997 “Polaroid Stories,” which
mixes classical mythology and real-life stories of drugs, violence, and money
from kids living on the streets in society’s shadows. Howard calls it “a very
modern and edgy piece that students are really excited about.”
The play, directed by guest artist Patrick Saunders, introduces street-wise kids whose characters are adapted from Ovid’s “Metamorphoses,” an epic poem of mythic heroes and monsters. While the play has a mean-streets feel of graffiti, garbage and concrete, scenic designer James Horban is exploring a setting that recognizes the play’s abstract bridging of stories tied together through mythology.
“‘Polaroid
Stories’ is the type of play that can be produced in a variety of ways,” he
said. “It’s less strict about dictating the setting. From a design perspective,
what was really important to me in choosing our season was having room to grow
on the spectrum of realistic sets or something more open ended.”
For
the season’s second play – Liz Duffy Adams’ hysterical and historical “Or,” which opens Dec. 8 – the Theatre Department is
trying something a little different. “Or,” will be the annual student-run,
full-length production, where students fill every job, from actor to director
to designer. Instead of being produced on the season’s fringes, the play will
be part of the main productions, allowing students to throw in all the bells
and whistles available. While students have an equal say in choosing each
season’s lineup, “Or,” was selected by senior Sarah Taylor, who will direct the
play.
Set
in the 17th century, “Or,” takes place over mostly one
night in the life of Aphra Behn (1640-1689), a poet, spy and soon-to-be first
professional female playwright, as she tries to finish writing a play as she
parries the advances of King Charles II, rubs elbows with a celebrated actress,
and tests wits with a former spy colleague, in this door-slamming farce.
“What
makes this kind of cool is it will be our period show of the year,” Howard
said. “So, that gives the opportunity for the student designers to really
explore doing something that we would not normally do. We always support our
student productions, but this time it’s full on. They have full access to the
shops of technical director and carpenters, and scenic artists and costume shop
manager and cutters and drapers and stitchers.”
On
Feb. 23, “By the Way, Meet Vera Stark,” by two-time Pulitzer
Prize winner Lynn Nottage, will take over Will Theatre. Based on the story of
actress Theresa Harris, “Vera Stark” follows the life of a Black maid, Gloria
Mitchell, as she goes from budding actress in 1930s Hollywood to a fading star trying
to hold on to her career. The play draws on screwball comedies of the era to
provide an irreverent look at racial stereotypes in Hollywood.
The
play will be directed by Assistant Professor Rachel Walshe, who is directing
another Nottage play, “Sweat,” at the Gamm Theatre in Warwick. “Lynn Nottage’s
work is intensely relevant and human. It’s political but it’s always done in a
very wily comic way,” she said. “If you get to work on a Lynn Nottage play,
that is, in and of itself, a really great season. As faculty members, our job
is to give students a really diverse experience as it relates to the type of
plays and the type of styles they work on while always being in the hands of
excellent writers.”
The
season closes in the spring with the annual musical – the Tony Award-winning
and Academy Award-nominated “Into the Woods,” Stephen
Sondheim and James Lapine’s classic reworking of popular Brothers Grimm
fairytales. The play, directed by URI lecturer Tracy Liz Miller, opens April
20.
The
musical centers on the quest by a baker and his wife to begin a family. But
they’re stymied by a witch’s curse. To cancel the curse, they must filch Little
Red Riding Hood’s cape, a lock of Rapunzel’s hair, Cinderella’s golden
slippers, and the cow belonging to Jack (of Jack and the Beanstalk).
“Anytime
we produce Steven Sondheim is very exciting,” said Howard. “His work is
intellectual, it’s smart and it’s always important and always resonates. It’s
some of the most complex musical theater to work on.”
Sondheim
has been a popular go-to musical for the department’s year-end show, probably
because Howard and former chair Paula McGlasson are big fans. URI last produced
“Into the Woods” in 2004 – when Howard designed costumes and played the baker.
(He still sings the score in the shower every day, he said.)
“I
am incredibly sentimental about that experience,” he said. “It was really
important for me and it changed how I worked with students in a lot of ways. It
really hit home how invested and how hard working our students are. I’m really
looking forward to the students being able to hopefully share the experience
that I had with it.”
For
a full list of show dates and times, go to the 2022-23 season webpage.
Tickets for all the season’s shows go on sale online on Sept. 5. To buy tickets
online and see up-to-date COVID-19 guidelines, click here. Tickets may also be purchased in person starting
Sept. 26 by phone at (401) 874-5843 or in person at Room 101H in the Fine Arts
Center, 105 Upper College Road.
