The Moravian College Theatre Company

2011-12 Season

The Moravian College Theatre Company is proud to offer a season featuring THREE WORLD PREMIERES.  In addition to these three full productions,  we will present five play readings, a student cabaret, a guest performance and a workshop.

What does this mean for you?  It means lot's of opportunities to be involved—either on stage, back stage, or in the audience—in some exciting theatre.  Email cshorr@moravian.edu if you'd like to receive information about auditions, or would like to get involved back stage.  Not ready for that?  We encourage you to stay after one of our Friday night performances for a discussion about the production.  It's a great way to learn more about theatre.  

This year, one of our world premiere productions will be a community-based theatre piece—a production intended to make a difference in the community we serve.  The play is called "A Resting Place" and it will help Bethlehem mark the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.  The play will be performed in April, but all year long we will be working to engage the greater Bethlehem community in this process.  If you are a community-minded student interested in learning how to use the arts to make a positive change in your world, get involved in this project!

All performances are in the Arena Theatre, located on the lower level of the Haupert Union Building on Monocacy Street between Locust and Laurel Streets, one block west of Main Street. (Unless otherwise noted.)

September 15, 7:00PM
READING:  A Resting Place
By Alison Carey
Directed by Christopher Shorr
At Touchstone Theatre 
The first reading of an original script.  We want your feedback!
FREE Admission

September 30, 8:00PM
READING:  Tooth and Claw
By Michael Hollinger
Directed by Christopher Shorr
At Moravian College's Arena Theatre 
Part of MCTC’s Friday Night Play Reading Series
IN-FOCUS theme event
FREE Admission

From the publisher:
THE STORY: Reptile specialist Schuyler Baines—"the Savior of Giant Tortoises" and the first female director of the Charles Darwin Research Station—arrives in Galápagos full of ideas and idealism. But when she becomes aware of an exploding black market that threatens to destroy the islands' fragile ecosystem, Schuyler shuts the industry down, sparking a deadly, survival-of-the-fittest conflict with native fishermen. A bold, theatrical exploration of evolution, extinction, and the ever-present nature of Darwin’s "struggle for life."

October 14, 8:00PM
READING:  Good People
By David Lindsay-Abaire
Directed by Bill Bauman
At Moravian College's Arena Theatre 
Part of MCTC’s Friday Night Play Reading Series
FREE Admission

Recently fired, single mother, ex-dollar store clerk, Margie, from Southie (aka: South Boston, a working class Irish neighborhood) decides to visit an old flame (Mike), now a married physician, to seek employment. Through a misunderstanding, Margie ends up at Mike's posh suburban home for his cancelled birthday party. The confrontation between Mike, his wife, and Margie leads us to the question: you can take the man out of Southie, but can you take the Southie out of the man?

October 28, 8:00PM
READING:  All in the Timing
Short plays by David Ives
Directed by Dan Marrero
At Moravian College's Arena Theatre 
Part of MCTC’s Friday Night Play Reading Series
FREE Admission

THE PLAYS:  The world according to David Ives is a very add place, and his plays constitute a virtual stress test of the English language -- and of the audience's capacity for disorientation and delight. Ives's characters plunge into black holes called "Philadelphias," where the simplest desires are hilariously thwarted. Chimps named Milton, Swift, and Kafka are locked in a room and made to re-create Hamlet. At once enchanting and perplexing, incisively intelligent and side-splittingly funny.

"Theater that aerobicizes the brain and tickles the heart...Ives is a mordant comic who has put the play back in playwright." – Time

November 11-12, 8:00PM
WORLD PREMIERE:  The Book of Gig
A Jazz Opera by Tony Gairo and Lou Lanza
**World Premiere**
A co-production of the Moravian College Music Department’s Jazz Program and the Moravian College Theatre Company
Directed by Christopher Shorr
At Moravian College's FOY HALL 
Admission:  $15/$10

THE STORY:  A tragic jazz opera.  This is a story based on the book of Job, Medea, and the all-too-common tragedy that plagues our world.  A boy—Gig Wright—is born with a musical gift and rises to fame as a jazz musician.  Along the way, he meets and marries the love of his life, and has two children.  Gig loves his wife and kids, but spends a lot of time on the road.  The wife succumbs to depression, and takes her own life.  Gig goes on with his life and career, but is overwhelmed with grief.  Not wanting live in a world without his wife, and not wanting his children to be orphaned, he does the unthinkable.

Thursday, November 17 at 8:00PM
GUEST PERFORMANCE:  Killadelphia
Written and performed by Sean Christopher Lewis
At Moravian College's Arena Theatre 
FREE Admission

In the Summer of 2008, it was often said that Philadelphia had “more bodies than days.” The city was in the midst of a murder epidemic that put it on par with some third world countries.  Determined to take an unflinching look at the causes of the crime rate and its effect on the community, playwright/performer Sean Christopher Lewis introduces us to the inmates of Graterford Prison – men employed to beautify the city even as they serve out life sentences.  The voices of the prisoners, their victims, Mayor Nutter, local rappers, conservative talk show hosts, trauma surgeons, and the citizens of the City of Brotherly Love crowd the stage to say their piece.

Saturday, November 19 from 1-4PM 
WORKSHOP
Sean Christopher Lewis, actor/writer of "Killadelphia" will lead a
performance workshop for students
At Moravian College's Arena Theatre 
FREE Admission

February 2-5
WORLD PREMIERE:   Frankly
A new Musical Written and Directed by Alanah Cervantes
At Moravian College's Arena Theatre 

Frank Liston is young, successful, and a heck of a salesman. He has a nice car. He has a vacation home. He has better taste in scotch than most people.  He's got his whole life ahead of him, and no regrets worth mentioning while sober.  It's a Tuesday when he finds out that his ex-girlfriend is pregnant with his kid, and about five minutes later when the President gives an address announcing the end of the world.  Yikes.  Sorry, Frank.

CLICK HERE for tickets to the new musical "FRANKLY"

February 23-26
2012 Student Cabaret
Directed by Jasmine Thomas
At Moravian College's Arena Theatre  
Admission by Donation to Charity TBA

A production by students and for students, the annual student cabaret brings together singers, actors, dancers, comedians and more for a night of fun performing arts.  Join us for a celebration of our students.  Look out, world—Moravian's got talent!

March 23
READING:  Disco Pigs
By Enda Walsh
Directed by Gina Ambrosino
Part of MCTC’s Friday Night Play reading Series
At Moravian College's Arena Theatre  
FREE Admission

Pig and Runt are Irish teenagers with a powerful bond. It began when they were born within minutes of each other in the same hospital, and intensified as they grew up neighbors. They are everything to each other.  But that will all change on their 17th birthday, when Runt realizes she wants something other than Pig and his extremely violent nature.

April 12-15
WORLD PREMIERE:  A Resting Place
By Alison Carey
A co-production of Touchstone Theatre and the Moravian College Theatre Company in association with the City of Bethlehem and the Historic Bethlehem Partnership
Directed By Christopher Shorr
Location TBA

A loving mother decides to break ground for a memorial to the long-dead of our nation's bloodiest conflict.  But when she digs up more than she expects, Bethlehem present comes face to face with Bethlehem past, our cemeteries give up their precious stories, and soldiers, students, travelers and clowns mark moments on our long, shared journey.  After a hundred and fifty years, can the Civil War finally be put to rest?

Moravian College encourages persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact the event sponsor (cshorr@moravian.edu), or call 610-861-1489.