AFA(at)ArtsLynchburg.net

2008-09 Season:

Fences
October 31, November 1 & 2, 2008; 8 pm, 3 pm Sunday; The Black Theatre Ensemble presents Fences by August Wilson; AFA Joy and Lynch Christian Warehouse Theatre at Commerce & 5th Street. 

The Jason Bishop Show
January 10, 2009 - Two performances! 3 & 8 p.m.
Magic and illusion to entertain every family member from the youngest to the oldest. Be amazed, be thrilled, and be entertained. You won't believe your eyes. Anything could happen when Jason Bishop takes the stage: he might have a person passing through his body one moment, or make snow appear from nowhere the next. The Jason Bishop Show is the most dynamic illusion and magic performance in the US, featuring exclusive large illusions, award winning sleight of hand and Òclose-upÓ magic that is captured live and projected onto LCD screens for the audience to have a clear view of every detail.

The Second City
February 20, 2009 8 p.m.
Comedy improvisation at its finest. So popular that this group has appeared on our stage three times and counting! The Second City mines comedic gold from the day's headlines and the worlds of politics, entertainment and media. The performance will feature some of the best sketches, songs, and improvisations from Second City's forty-five plus year history. No topic or subject matter is off limits. If your parents asked you not to speak about it at the dinner table, chances are it will be made fun of in this evening with The Second City.

42nd Street
May 1-3, 7-9, 2009; 8 pm/3pm Sunday
The definitive Broadway musical. The backstage story of rehearsals for a new musical and a chorus girl who becomes an overnight sensation. A terrific cast of singers and dancers giving us great songs and tap dancing up a storm. This is the story of hard work, being in the right place at the right time, talent and love. Musical hits include You're Getting to Be a Habit with Me, Dames, I Know Now, We're In the Money, Lullaby of Broadway, Shuffle Off to Buffalo and Forty-Second Street.

GreekPlay(at)ArtsLynchburg.net

The Greek Play at Randolph College

October 10, 11, 12; 4:00 p.m. Elektra by Sophacles, translated by H.D.F.Kitto;  Mabel K. Whiteside Greek Theatre (The Dell); Free Admission.

LCTheatre(at)ArtsLynchburg.net

Lynchburg College Theatre & Dance
Lynchburg College, 1501 Lakeside Drive, Lynchburg, VA 24501
(434) 544-8100

2008-2009 Season

The Man Who Came to Dinner by George S. Kauffman and Moss Hart
October 9-12, 2008
A cranky critic lands on the doorstep of an Ohio family at Christmastime. When he injures his leg on the icy steps and cannot leave the premises, the family tries to accommodate the man and his whims while he turns the household upside down.

Amahl and the Night Visitors by Gian Carlo Menotti
December 5-6, 2008
The tale of a crippled shepherd boy, his poor widowed mother, and three mysterious visitors on their way to Bethlehem.  Co-produced by the Music and Theatre Departments.  Performance venue is Sydnor Auditorium - please call 434-544-8344 for tickets.

Festival of One-Act Plays
December 11-13, 2008
Student voices from the directing class.  Free performances, no tickets required.  Shows start at 7 p.m.
 
Sweet Smell of Success: book by John Guare; music by Marvin Hamlisch; lyrics by Craig Carnelia
February 26-28 and March 1, 2009
A musical adaptation of the 1957 film that follows the rise and fall of an ambitious press agent who lusts for success. Acclaimed composer Marvin Hamlisch wrote the jazz score.

Eurydice adapted by Sara Ruhl
April 16-19, 2009
When she abruptly dies on her wedding day, Eurydice must journey through the underworld, reunite with her father, and struggle to retain memories of her lost love. With contemporary characters and breathtaking visual effects, this play is truly a fresh look at a timeless love story.

Senior Project Plays   
April 23-25, 2009
Theatre majors direct in our Studio Theatre series.  Free performances, no tickets required.  Shows start at 7 p.m.

Show times, unless noted otherwise, are
7:30 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays
and 2 p.m. on Sundays.
  
For ticket information on The Man Who Came to Dinner,
Sweet Smell of Success, and Eurydice, call 434/544-8380. 

To reserve Amahl tickets, please call 434/544-8344. 

The Box Office is only open on weekdays one week prior to show dates from 1-5 p.m.  
Ticket prices are $10 for adults, $8 for seniors (60+), and $5 for students.

Randolph College
Wildcat Theatre
Department of Theatre
Leggett Building
Randolph College
2500 Rivermont Avenue
Lynchburg, VA  242503
(434) 947-8562

2008-2009 Season

Splendora
book by Peter Webb, music by Stephen Hoffman, lyrics by Mark Campbell
November 6 through 10, 2008 [Thursday through Monday]  All performances at 7:30 p.m. except Sunday matinee at 2:00 p.m.

Winner of the 1995 Richard Rodgers Production Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters

Based on the 1978 cult novel of the same name by Edward Swift, the story takes place in Splendora -- a small town in East Texas.   People there still talk about Timothy John Coldridge, the young man who ran away from the town fifteen years ago, never to be heard from again.  They also talk about Splendora's new arrival, Miss Jessica Gatewood, a lady of Victorian dress and speech, hired to run the county bookmobile and taking up residence in the house of Timothy John's deceased grandmother, Esther Ruth.  Within weeks, Jessica captivates the town; her style is emulated by the Splendora Ladies Study Group and she is lauded for her municipal restoration efforts.  Only one person, Sue Ella Lightfoot, suspects "there's something mighty slippery beneath those frills and flippery," and makes a startling discovery:  that Jessica and Timothy John are one and the same person.  but, for how long?  As Timothy John begins to fall in love with Brother Leggett, Splendora's assistant pastor, it's clear that he must reconcile himself with his hurtful past so that he can finally leave Jessica.  And Splendora.
- from the cover
Dramatist's Play Service

$12 General Admission
$9 Randolph College Faculty/Staff
$5 all students

Savage in Limbo
by John Patrick Shanley
January 29 through February 2, 2009
[Thursday through Monday]  All performances at 7:30 p.m. except Sunday matinee at 2:00 p.m.

An arresting and brilliantly inventive play which moves from comedy to near tragedy as it explores the hopes and dreams of a group of rootless young "losers" who congregate in an anonymous Bronx bar, hoping to find respite from the drabness of their lives.        - Dramatists

The Senior Theatre Majors' Production
Free Admission

Seeing Purple
a new play by James Peterson
Professor of Creative Writing at Randolph College
April 2 through April 6, 2009
[Thursday through Monday]
All performances at 7:30 p.m. except Sunday matinee at 2:00 p.m.: in Thoresen Theatre.

What would you do if you found that what you know to be true is at odds with what everyone else thinks?  Is learning too much a crime?

After a highly successful run of his enigmatic The Falling Man in 2004, James Peterson returns to the Thoresen stage with a tale of conflicting realities, a thought provoking piece that will challenge your willingness to take too much for granted.

$12 General Admission
$9 Randolph College Faculty/Staff
$5 all students

Fences
October 31, November 1 & 2, 2008; 8 pm, 3 pm Sunday; Fences by August Wilson; AFA Joy and Lynch Christian Warehouse Theatre at Commerce & 5th Street. 
August Wilson's sensational play Fences has won every major award, including Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, New York Drama Critics, Tony and Pulitzer Prizes. Directed by Jennifer Petticolas and performed by the Black Theatre Ensemble, Fences centers around Troy Maxson, a former star of the Negro baseball leagues who is working as a garbage man in 1957. He is very bitter that he was excluded from major league baseball during his prime and was too old to play when the sport finally was integrated. Maxson's son wants a chance at professional sports, but Maxson refuses to let him try his luck.

Endstation(at)ArtsLynchburg.net

Endstation Theatre Co.  (in Residence at Sweet Briar College)
PO Box 128
Sweet Briar, VA 24595
434-381-6537

Coming in Summer 2009:  The Blue Ridge Summer Theatre Festival, Season Two, featuring the return of The Bluest Water in June and A Midsummer Night's Dream and My Brother's Knife: A Madison Heights Odyssey in rotating rep through July.

 Sweeney Todd

Oct. 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 at 7:30 pm– ECG Auditorium

Renaissance(at)ArtsLynchburg.net

The Renaissance Theatre
1022 Commerce Street, Lynchburg VA  24504-1720
(434) 845-4427

Rumors  by Neil Simon
September 5, 6, 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20, 2008
Produced by permission of Samuel French, Inc.

Four couples are set to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the deputy mayor of New York City, but the party never gets started because the host has shot himself and refuses to come out of the bedroom! On top of that, his wife is missing. The mayor's lawyer tries to make excuses as guests arrive, but things get progressively confused because nobody can remember who has been told what about whom. Doors slam and hilarity abounds!

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Directed by Brooke Farmer
October 31
November 1, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15
Produced by permission of Samuel French, Inc.

Randle P. McMurphy is a charming rogue who contrives to serve a short sentence in an airy mental institution rather in a prison. This, he learns, was a mistake. He clashes with the head nurse, a fierce martinet. Quickly, he takes over the yard and accomplishes what the medical profession has been unable to do: he leads others in the ward out of introversion. In doing so he becomes a sort of leader, and the conflicts with the staff increase toward an inevitable end. Winner of the 2001 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Revival.

The Kitchen Witches  by Caroline Smith
December 31, 2008*
January 2, 3, 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, 17
Produced by permission of Samuel French, Inc.

Please join us for our annual New Year's Eve Gala on December 31, 2008*. Other playdates are January 2, 3, 9, 10, 15, 16 and 17, 2008, at 8:00 p.m. with a Sunday matinee on January 11, 2008, at 3:00 p.m.

Isobel Lomax and Dolly Biddle are two "mature" cable-access cooking show hostesses who have hated each other for 30 years, ever since Stephen Biddle dated one and married the other. When circumstances put them together on a TV show called The Kitchen Witches, the insults are flung harder than the food! Dolly's long-suffering TV-producer son Stephen tries to keep them on track, but as long as Dolly's dressing room is one inch closer to the set than Isobel's, it's a losing battle, and the show becomes a ratings smash as Dolly and Isobel top both Martha Stewart and Jerry Springer!
*New Year's Eve Tickets include show, heavy hors d'oevres, non-alcoholic beverages and a champagne toast at midnight.  A cash bar will be available.  Regular pricing does not apply to this event.  Tickets for this event are $30/person.

Unless otherwise noted, showtimes are Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm, with one Sunday matinee (at 3:00pm) the
second weekend of each show's run and a special Thursday performance (at 8:00pm) the final weekend of each show's run.
Current ticket prices are: $15 for regular adult admission; $13 for seniors and groups of 10 or more, and $10 for students and children.
Please be aware that all shows, dates, times, and prices are subject to change.

The Sweet Briar College Theatre Department
Sweet Briar College
Sweet Briar, VA  24595
434-381-6120

Little Women
Music by Jason Howland, Lyrics by Mindi Dickstein, Book by Allan Knee
October 16, 1 & 18, 2008 at 7:30 p.m.
October 19, 2008 at 2:30 p.m.*
SBT's Fall Mainstage Production
Murchison Lane Auditorium ~ Babcock Performing Arts Center
Directed by Bill Kershner, Music Directed by Troy Mearkle, and Choreographed by Loretta Wittman

* Matinee will be sign interpreted.

SBC Students, Faculty, Staff, and Alumnae Free of Charge
General Public Admission: $10 adult; $7 senior; $5 student; children under 12 are free. Seating is general.

The Bread and Puppet Theatre
The Cardboard Celebration Circus*
An outdoor performance in the Upper Quad (rain location is Murchison Lane Auditorium).
October 25, 2008
Bread & Puppet is a unique group is one you won't want to miss - bring a blanket or outdoor chair and enjoy the fun!

Tickets for this Babcock Season Event go on sale Monday, October 20, 2008.
SBC Students, Faculty, Staff, and Alumnae Free of Charge
New General Public Admission: $10 adult; $7 senior; $5 student;
children under 12 are free. Seating is general.

*Community members are also needed to perform with Bread & Puppet.  They will rehearse with you the morning and day of the show - an incredibly fun opportunity you shouldn't pass up! Please call Shelbie Filson at 434-381-6228 if interested.

Big Love
By Charles Mee
Directed by Mary Susan Sinclair-Kuenning '09
December 5 & 6, 2008 at 7:30 p.m.
Black Box Theatre ~ Babcock Performing Arts Center

FREE. Limited seating is first-come, first-served.
Contains mature subject matter. Not recommended for children or young teens.

Melancholy Play
By Sarah Ruhl (contract pending)
February 26, 27 & 28, 2009 at 7:30 p.m.
March 1, 2009 at 2:30 p.m.*
SBT's Spring Mainstage Production
Murchison Lane Auditorium ~ Babcock Performing Arts Center
Directed by Geoffrey Kershner

* Matinee will be sign interpreted.

SBC Students, Faculty, Staff, and Alumnae Free of Charge
New General Public Admission: $10 adult; $7 senior; $5 student;
children under 12 are free. Seating is general.

Doctor Faustus
By Christopher Marlowe
Directed by Elizabeth Zuckerman '09
April 17 & 18, 2009 at 7:30 p.m.
Black Box Theatre ~ Babcock Performing Arts Center

FREE. Limited seating is first-come, first-served.