Our 2009–2010 Main Season:
This is the place for LAUGHTER and SONG!
We've chosen productions that will showcase the marvelous talent that the Rapids area has, and we KNOW you are going to love these plays! (And we think you would enjoy being a part of them...think about auditioning. WRCT is ALWAYS looking for new people to join us onstage AND behind the scenes!)
Read on....
Our Fall 2009 production:
Red Herring
By Michael Hollinger
Co-directed by Chuck Buchs-Hammonds and Jody Steinke
Comedy
3 men, 3 women (each character is triple-cast)
October 16-18; 22-24, 2009
THE STORY: Three love stories, a murder mystery, and a nuclear espionage plot converge in this noir comedy about marriage and other explosive devices. It’s 1952: America’s on the verge of the H-bomb, Dwight Eisenhower’s on the campaign trail, and I Love Lucy’s on Monday nights. Meanwhile, Senator Joe McCarthy’s daughter just got engaged to a soviet spy, and Boston detective Maggie Pelletier has to find out who dumped the dead guy in the Harbor – or else lose out on a honeymoon in Havana. A blunt-nosed, sharp-eyed look at love and tying (and untying, and retying) the knot.
Read more!
Our Early Winter 2009–2010 production:
The Last Resort
By Michael Edgren
Co-directed by Michael Barrett and Gail Lundberg
Comedy
5 men, 2 women
December 11-13; 17-19, 2009
THE STORY: This comedy from local playwright Michael Edgren is adapted from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Viola has lead a life overshadowed by her irresponsible brother and business partner, Tony. Their most important client, rock and roll legend Duke Orsino, refuses to go on tour until the love of his life, Olivia, returns. Olivia hides out in a tiny resort town in Saskatchewan and Tony is nowhere to be found. It is up to Viola, masquerading as her brother masquerading as a fish and wildlife agent, to convince Olivia to return. As Viola struggles to act like a man, Olivia searches her heart for what she really wants. As the plot unfolds, each will learn from the other what she needs to survive. Complementing the themes of love and gender confusion are two fishing guides, a lovesick realtor, and an enchanted jukebox with an incredible knack for playing just the right song at just the right time.
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Our Winter 2010 production:
Sweet Charity
Music by Cy Coleman
Lyrics by Dorothy Fields
Book by Neil Simon
Directed by Susan Edgren
Musical Comedy
5 men, 4 women, and extras
March 5-7; 11-13, 2010
THE STORY: Adapted from Nights of Cabiria, a film by Federico Fellini, Sweet Charity tells the story of an optimistic young woman, Charity, who not only wears her heart on her sleeve, she's had it tattooed to her arm! As the play begins, Charity finds herself dumped by the married man on whom she had pinned all her hopes and dreams, and she vows never again to be taken advantage of by a man. But Charity is too trusting and soon finds herself involved with an Italian movie star. The actor, however, is no better than the other men Charity has dated, and once again she finds herself jilted and alone. The next night, however, as fate would have it, she finds herself trapped in an elevator with a claustrophobic tax accountant who soon sweeps Charity off her feet. Soon it becomes clear that this man is different--that he actually wants to marry her--but will he still feel the same way when he finds out that Charity works at the Fan-Dango as a dance hall hostess?
Read more!
Our Spring 2010 production:
Hay Fever
By Noel Coward
Directed by Linda Garski
Comedy
4 men, 5 women
May 21-23; 27-29, 2010
THE STORY: Hay Fever is a comic play written by Noel Coward in 1924 and first produced in 1925. Best described as a cross between high farce and a comedy of manners, the play is set in an English country house in the 1920s, and deals with the four eccentric members of the Bliss family and their ourtrageous behavior when they each invite a guest to spend the weekend. The self-centered Blisses are so engaged in this family row that they do not notice their guests' response to their actions.
Read more!
Our 2010–2011 Main Season:
This is the place for BRILLIANTLY WRITTEN PLAYS!
Our Fall 2010 production:
The Grass Harp
By Truman Capote
Directed by Jenni Guggenheimer
Light Drama
5 men, 3 woman, and extras
October 8-10; 14-16, 2010
The Grass Harp was originally released in book form in 1951, made into a play in 1952, and released as a movie in 1966.
THE STORY: Set in Alabama in the 1930s, The Grass Harp is loosely based on Capote’s childhood experiences. Fifteen-year-old Collin is sent to live in a houseful of women, made up of Aunt Dolly of a sweet and gentle disposition, Aunt Verena , who’s controlling and angry, and their unconventional servant Catherine. Dolly, with the help of Collin and Catherine, has created an effective cure for dropsy. Verena brings in questionable Dr. Morris Ritz who wants to buy the recipe to the dropsy cure, leading to a series of events that shock the town and threaten to destroy the family. Part adventure, part family drama, part philosophical musing, this play is an odd slice of small town Southern life.
Our Holiday 2010 production:
Arms and the Man
By George Bernard Shaw
Directed by Susan Edgren
Comedy
5 men, 3 women, and extras
December 3-5; 9-11, 2010
Although Shaw's drama was not generally appreciated or understood in his early years as a playwright, he was eventually recognized for his genius and is now considered one of the most important British playwrights of modern times, second only to Shakespeare in the history of British theater.
THE STORY: The play, written in 1894, takes place during the 1885 Serbo-Bulgarian War. It tells the story of a young Bulgarian woman, Raina, who encounters Bluntschli, a mercenary Swiss soldier for the Serbian army, when he bursts into her bedroom and begs her to hide him. Through the course of the play, her affections shift from Sergius, her fiancé—an idealistic but blundering hero of the war— to Bluntschli, a man who is ruled by reason.
Our Winter 2011 production:
The Shadow Box
By Michael Cristofer
Directed by Cynthia Welling
Drama
5 men, 4 women
February 25-27; March 3-5, 2011
1977 Tony award for best play; 1977 Pulitzer Prize for drama; nominated for 1977 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New American Play. WRCT produced this play in the fall of 1983.
THE STORY: The play revolves around a trio of terminally ill patients, each of whom lives in a separate cottage at a hospice. Each is being interviewed about the process of dying. For most of the play, the interviewer is unseen, which means that characters speak directly to the members of the audience, as if they were the interviewer. The first dying person is Joe, a middle-aged, blue-collar family man. Joe seems well-adjusted, and has accepted that he is dying. However, his wife Maggie is in denial, and has not told their son Steve about his father's condition. The second dying person is Brian, a bisexual English professor. He's being cared for by his lover, Mark. They receive a visit from Brian's flamboyant, slightly trashy ex-wife Beverly. Beverly's presence lifts Brian's spirits, but rankles Mark. The final dying person is Felicity, an elderly, cantankerous, somewhat senile woman, who is cared for by her long-suffering daughter Agnes. Felicity is in great pain, but refuses to die, because she remains hopeful that her favorite daughter, Claire, will return to her soon.
Our Spring 2011 production:
Shakespeare in Hollywood
By Ken Ludwig
Directed by Jodi Steinke
Comedy
8 men, 4 women, and extras
May 13-15; 19-21, 2011
Commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare in Hollywood had its world premiere in 2003 at Arena Stage and won the Helen Hayes award for Best New Play of the Year.
THE STORY: It's 1934, and Shakespeare's most famous fairies, Oberon and Puck, have magically materialized on the Warner Bros. Hollywood set of Max Reinhardt's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Instantly smitten by the glitz and glamour of show biz, the two are ushered onto the silver screen to play (who else?) themselves. With a little help from a feisty flower, blonde bombshells, movie moguls, and arrogant "asses" are tossed into loopy love triangles, with raucous results. The mischievous magic of moviedom sparkles in this hilarious comic romp.
Look for more information on these productions soon!
Gilbert and Jaylee Mead Auditorium
Centralia Center
Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin
