University Theatre has announced its 2014-2015 lineup, which includes the 2012 Tony Award-winning A Raisin in the Sun spinoff Clybourne Park, a stage adaptation of literary and film classic The Great Gatsby presented as part of the UGA Spotlight on the Arts Festival, Shakespeare’s classic comedy Much Ado About Nothing and the biting satire Mein Kampf.
The season consists of four University Theatre Mainstage productions and three Studio Series presentations that offer live theater in a vibrant, stripped-down format. Tickets for Mainstage productions are $16 for the public and $12 for UGA students. Studio Series tickets are $12 for the public and $7 for UGA students. Subscriptions, which save 25 percent off single ticket prices, are on sale now through the Performing Arts Center. Tickets and subscriptions are available by calling 706-542-4400 or going to www.drama.uga.edu.
This year’s season contains new offerings, such as Catherine Trieschmann’s Hot Georgia Sunday and George Tabori’s Mein Kampf, a satirical sendup of Adolf Hitler’s failure as an artist that led him to pursue his other dream-of taking over the world. A Lesson Before Dying, based on the Ernest Gaines novel examining the life of an innocent man on death row in 1948 Louisiana, rounds out the pack.
“In one of the most exciting and diverse seasons we’ve ever presented, we’re striking a balance between well-known and beloved titles-such as Gatsby, Hedda Gabler and Much Ado-and really fantastic plays that many people probably have never encountered,” said David Saltz, head of the theatre and film studies department in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. “In addition, we’re featuring Trieschmann, a UGA alumna with a growing national reputation, and George Tabori, who is renowned in Germany as one of the major 20th-century playwrights but almost unknown here in the United States.”
Mein Kampf will be presented in conjunction with the international conference, “George Tabori and the Theatre of the Holocaust,” hosted by UGA in honor of the 100th anniversary of Tabori’s birth.
The 2014-2015 University Theatre Mainstage productions include:
• Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris; guest director Paul Pierce; Cellar Theatre; Sept. 25-26 and 30 and Oct. 1-3 at 8 p.m.; Sept. 28 and Oct. 5 at 2:30 p.m. Winner of the 2012 Tony Award for best play, an Olivier Award and the Pulitzer Prize, this satiric comedy about race and real estate spins off Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun to follow one house over 50 years-from the era of segregation to gentrification.
• The Great Gatsby adapted by Simon Levy from the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald; directed by T. Anthony Marotta; Fine Arts Theatre; Nov. 6-8 and 12-14 at 8 p.m.; Nov. 9 and 16 at 2:30 p.m. A special matinée will be held for area schools Nov. 11 at 10 a.m. A self-made millionaire and the socialite he loves personify the Jazz Age in this new adaptation of Fitzgerald’s famous novel of glamour, greed and excess.
• Mein Kampf by George Tabori; guest director Del Hamilton; Cellar Theatre; Feb. 19-21 and 24-28 at 8 p.m. and March 1 at 2:30 p.m. This bold, hilarious farce, penned by one of Germany’s greatest 20th-century playwrights, portrays Adolf Hitler as a young, struggling artist secretly yearning to take over the world and whose life is changed by a chance encounter with a Jewish Bible seller.
• Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare; directed by Kristin Kundert-Gibbs; Fine Arts Theatre; April 9-11 and 15-18 at 8 p.m., April 19 at 2:30 p.m. A special matinée will be held for area schools April 14 at 10 a.m. Shakespeare’s beloved comedy features romantic hijinks and misunderstandings when soldiers return from war to the women who are charmed by men in uniform-or who, like the wittily disdainful Beatrice, profess to be immune to their charms.
The 2014-2015 University Theatre Studio Series productions include:
• Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen; directed by Ray Paolino; Cellar Theatre; Oct. 14-19 at 8 p.m. and Oct. 19 at 2:30 p.m. This drama features one of the most fascinating and complex characters in dramatic history, Hedda Gabler, who yearns for independence and passion in a repressive world-no matter the cost to anyone in her way.
• A Lesson Before Dying by Romulus Linney based on the novel by Ernest J. Gaines; directed by George Contini; Seney Stovall Theatre; Feb. 3-8 at 8 p.m. and Feb. 8 at 2:30 p.m. The wrenching and inspiring story is about an innocent man condemned to death by electric chair in 1948 Louisiana. His failed defense portrayed him as less than human, but he learns to die like a man.
• Hot Georgia Sunday by Catherine Trieschmann; directed by Geoffrey Douglas; Cellar Theatre; March 24-29 at 8 p.m. and March 29 at 2:30 p.m. This dark comedy tells a tale of lust, betrayal and the limits of faith in a small Georgia town from a fierce and theatrical new voice.
