Our Fall 2006 production:
The O'Conner Girls
By Kate Forgette
Directed by Steve Martin
Production Dates: October 27-28, November 1-4, 2006
THE STORY: The O'Conner story takes place in 1997 in Minnesota over the Christmas holiday. Tom O'Conner has passed away, and his wife (Sarah) and children (Liz, Martha and Matt) have reunited to excavate his mountain of personal effects. As the family sifts through boxes of papers and bags of clothing, clues to the quiet patriarch's life are discovered, prompting the usual heated arguments and some unusual revelations. As the story of Tom and Sarah's marriage unfolds, the children are forced to reconsider their long-held opinions of their parents. In the midst of this emotional afternoon, a long-lost neighbor pays an unexpected visit. Also on the agenda for this day of upheaval is Catholicism, WWII, old movies, old love, new love, oversleeping, overdrinking, large purple hats and weenie hot dishes.
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Our Winter, 2007 production:
Bus Stop
By William Inge
Directed by Jody Steinke
Production Dates: Feb 02-03, 07-10, 2007
THE STORY: In the middle of a howling snowstorm, a bus out of Kansas City pulls up at a cheerful roadside diner. All roads are blocked, and four or five weary travelers are going to have to hole up until morning. Cherie, a nightclub chanteuse in a sparkling gown and a seedy fur-trimmed jacket, is the passenger with most to worry about. She's been pursued, made love to and finally kidnapped by a twenty-one-year-old cowboy with a ranch of his own and the romantic methods of an unusually headstrong bull. The belligerent cowhand is right behind her, ready to sling her over his shoulder and carry her, alive and kicking, all the way to Montana. Even as she's ducking out from under his clumsy but confident embraces, and screeching at him fiercely to shut him up, she pauses to furrow her forehead and muse, "Somehow deep inside of me I got a funny feeling I'm gonna end up in Montana …" As a counterpoint to the main romance, the proprietor of the cafe and the bus driver at last find time to develop a friendship of their own; a middle-age scholar comes to terms with himself; and a young girl who works in the cafe also gets her first taste of romance.
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Our Spring, 2007 production:
The Nerd
By Larry Shue
Directed by Charles Buchs-Hammond Production Dates: April 20-21, 25-28, 2007
THE STORY: Now an aspiring young architect in Terre Haute , Indiana , Willum Cubbert has often told his friends about the debt he owes to Rick Steadman, a fellow ex-GI whom he has never met but who saved has life after he was seriously wounded in Vietnam . He has written to Rick to say that, as long as he is alive, "you will have somebody on Earth who will do anything for you"—so Willum is delighted when Rick shows up unexpectedly at his apartment on the night of his birthday party. But his delight soon fades as it becomes apparent that Rick is a hopeless "nerd"—a bumbling oaf with no social sense, little intelligence and less tact. And Rick stays on and on, his continued presence among Willum and his friends leading to one uproarious incident after another, until the normally placid Willum finds himself contemplating violence—a dire development which, happily, is staved off by the surprising "twist" ending of the play.
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