YOU’RE A GOOD MAN CHARLIE BROWN

Based on The Comic Strip “Peanuts” by Charles M Schulz
Book Music and Lyrics by Clark Gesner
Additional Dialogue by Michael Mayer
Additional Music and Lyrics by Andrew Lippa
Original Direction for this version of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” by Michael Mayer
Originally Produced in New York by Arthur Whitelaw and Gene Persson

September 22-24, 26-28 at 7:30 PM
Sunday, September 25 at 3:00 PM
LAB THEATRE, VSU Fine Arts Building, Second Floor

PULSE: The VSU Repertory Dancers in Concert

October 13-15 at 7:30 PM
Sunday, October 16 at 3:00 PM
SAWYER THEATRE, VSU Fine Arts Building, First Floor

Sponsored by The Ballet School, LLC.

Aeschylus’

THE ORESTEIA

A new translation by Ted Hughes

November 10-12, 14-16 at 7:30 PM
Sunday, November 13 at 3:00 PM
SAWYER THEATRE, VSU Fine Arts Building, First Floor

This powerful cycle of plays from the Golden Age of Greece, when ancient Athens was the artistic and
intellectual center of the western world, laid the foundations of all western theatre to come. Set against
the treachery and curse of the mythic House of Atreus, this archetypal legend of ambition, power, war, betrayal, murder, revenge, and atonement pits women, men, and the gods in an epic struggle for universal justice. In this exciting new translation commissioned by the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain for their performance in the fall of 1999, the legend of King Agamemnon, Queen Clytemnestra, their daughter Electra, and her brother Orestes is engagingly told with wisdom, strength, and fire in the ritual arena of the ancient Greek theatron. With a company of 30 performers and the music, beauty, and passion that ignited western culture for centuries, this is one theatrical event you will not want to miss.

RAMONA QUIMBY

Dramatized by Len Jenkin

Based on the books by Beverly Cleary

February 3 at 7:30 PM
Saturday, February 4 at 10:30 AM
SAWYER THEATRE, VSU Fine Arts Building, First Floor

For tour information or to book a tour date for February or March, 2012, please contact Jacque Wheeler at (229) 333-5820.

VSU Theatre & Dance Area is committed to serving the young people of South Georgia and North Florida by bringing live theatrical events to them.  This tradition will continue in the 2011-2012 season with this presentation for young audiences.

Unpredictable. Exasperating. Boisterous and independent. That’s Ramona Quimby. As narrator, Ramona’s big sister Beezus introduces us to their family and friends on Klickitat Street in Portland, Oregon, setting the scene for a delightfully funny and moving collection of vignettes from Beverly Cleary’s books that trace Ramona’s tumultuous third-grade year. The challenges and joys that these
memorable characters meet are timely and familiar, and their togetherness in tackling their sacrifices and adjustments for each other are a reassuring reminder that, though life isn’t always easy, sometimes happy and sometimes sad, it’s our commitment to each other that makes life go on in a kind of miraculous way.
Distinguished Play Award Winner, American Alliance for Theatre and Education

A LESSON BEFORE DYING

By Romulus Linney

Based on the novel by Ernest J. Gaines

February 23-25, 27-29 at 7:30 PM
Sunday, February 26 at 3:00 PM
LAB THEATRE, VSU Fine Arts Building, Second Floor

Jefferson, an innocent young man, is condemned to death in backwoods Louisiana in 1948. At the trial his lawyer, trying to save his life, called him no more a human being than a hog. In prison, he acts like one, insisting that he will be dragged like that hog to his death in the electric chair. His godmother asks a schoolteacher to teach him to die like a man. The teacher, Grant Wiggins, struggling to quit
his poor parish school and leave the South, faces both Jefferson and himself as execution day arrives. Ernest J. Gaines’ celebrated novel makes an engrossing, moving and finally devastating play for the stage.

Sponsored in part by 100 Black Men of Valdosta, Inc.

STATE FAIR

Book by Louis Mattioli and Tom Briggs

Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein, II

Music by Richard Rodgers

March 29–31, April 2-4 at 7:30 PM
Sunday, April 1 at 3:00 PM
SAWYER THEATRE, VSU Fine Arts Building, First Floor

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s only musical written directly for the screen (released in 1945 and remade in 1962) was adapted for the stage making its Broadway debut in 1996. Set against the colorful backdrop of an American heartland tradition, State Fair travels with the Frake family as they leave behind the routine of the farm for three days of adventure at the annual Iowa State Fair. Mom and Pop have their hearts set on blue ribbons while their daughter and son find romance and heartbreak on the
midway. Set to the magical strains of an Academy Award-nominated score and augmented by other titles from the Rodgers & Hammerstein songbook, State Fair is the kind of warm-hearted family entertainment only Rodgers & Hammerstein could deliver.

Sponsored by Jerry & Kay Jennett

EMERGING ARTISTS SHOWCASE

Musical Theatre Performances and Readers Theatre

by VSU Theatre & Dance Students

Musical Theatre Showcase
April 19 at 7:30pm
April 21 at 7:30pm
Southern Writers Readers Theatre Showcase
April 20 at 7:30 PM
April 22 at 3:00 PM

SAWYER THEATRE, VSU Fine Arts Building, First Floor

VSU Theatre and Dance Audiences have long enjoyed watching our students as they progress through their programs of study.  Last year's first showcase met with great response. Now audiences can enjoy a performance of musical theatre or a readers theatre performance or both as graduating seniors from the musical theatre program and actors make their “final” presentations.  Each performance of the showcase will spotlight our outstanding students. 

SPECIAL EVENTS!

The Annual Cabaret Fund-raiser:

Songs from the Silver Screen

Sunday, November 20, 2011
VSU Student Union Ballroom
This event benefits the Golden Circle Scholarship & Support Fund

Sleeping Beauty
The Ballet
Produced by The Valdosta School of Ballet
January 21 & 22, 2012
Valdosta High School Performing Arts Center
Proceeds Benefit VSU Theatre & Dance Scholarships

The VSU Theatre & Dance Box Office is open from 2 - 5 P.M. Mondays through Saturdays. Contact the box office for advance reservations and information about season memberships. The Box Office phone number is (229) 333-5973.

All evening performances are at 7:30 P.M. Matinees are presented on Sundays at 3:00 P.M. The Theatre-For-Youth production will be presented Saturday, February 3, 2010 at 10:30 A.M.

Tickets can be picked up outside the production's specific performance venue approximately 30 minutes prior to curtain. Please note: the Lab Theatre is on the second floor of the Fine Arts Building.

RESERVED TICKETS
NOT PICKED UP WITHIN 15 MINUTES OF CURTAIN
ARE SUBJECT TO RELEASE TO THE WAITING LIST.

Visitors to the campus should allow sufficient time to travel, park, and walk to the theatre. Available parking may be found in the Oak Street Parking Deck, in the Toombs Street lot, 1/2 block south of the Fine Arts Building, or in the University Center lot 1 block east of the Fine Arts Building.