0 0 M I 0 0 0 M w 0 < r Vl z < TEXAS TECJ l UNJVERSITYTIIIATRE'S F FTH 75TJI DIAMOND ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE AND DANCE fACULTY GRADUATE TEACHING AssiSTANTS AND PART-TIME INSTRUCTORS "- Dr. Norman A. Bert, Chair Sally Allen David McGinnis Prof. Polly Boersig Jennifer Barker Michael Moore • \~Prof. Frederick B. Christqffel Robby Burt Priscilla Newman . 'v Dr. Linda Donahue Ruth Charnay Freddy Owens ~ Dr. Elizabeth Homan Jia-hua Chin •• Catrin Parker ~Dr. Jonathan Marks Scott Crew Katherine B. Perrault* Ms. Sara Martwig Cris L Edwards Eric Skiles ""'Dr. George Sorensen, Emeritus Janeve Ellison Brittney Venable Dr. Louise Stinespring Brian Griffin Judd Vermillion Dr. David Williams Kris Harrison Keith West */** Prof. Peggy Willis-Aarnio Tiffany Howard Patrick White Shannon Kirgan •• U NIVERSITY THEATRE PRODUCTION STAFF Director of Theatre Frederick B. Christoffel Director of Front-of-House Operations Linda Donahue Audience Relations Specialist~ Cec~lia Cart:r Business Manager Mehssa "Doenges Department Secretary~ Mary Cervantes Technical Director Robert Gandfup Costume Shop Supervisor Elizabeth Zumfelde Master Electrician Jia-hua Chin** Laura Polcer•• Properties Master Shannon Kirgan Charge Painter Nate Beckman••, Robby Burt, Zach Elms••, Scene Shop Staff Carmen Gomez, Brian Griffin, J eremy Lunsford**, David McGinnis, William Roby, Judd Vermillion B.J . Ballard, Lee Elaine Bates, Lori Bivens, Costume Shop Staff Jeffery Blatt, Lisa Comer, Amanda Dulin, Janeve Ellison, Rose Fox, Tiffany Howard, J odi Ingersoll, Shannon Kirgan, Tracy Stover, Traci Screws & 3305 class members Lab Theatre Produce~ Keith West • ; •• Promotion Team "Ciis L. ~wards, Jennifer Barker, Freddy Owens Scott Crew, Ruth Charnay, Priscilla Newman, Box Office Staff Brittney Venable, Jennifer Barker, Scott Crew, Eric Skiles, Joseph Ginnane, Chrissy Johnston, Freddy Owens House Supervisor Michael Moore++ Assistant House Supervisor Jennifer Barker, Sarah Bray, Matt House Managers Chauncey, Amanda Dulin, Jeremy Lunsford, Danielle Peacock • Member: Alpha Psi Omega, national honorary theatre fraternity - Member: United States Institute for Technical Theatre (USITI), TIU Student Chapter + Member: Chi Tau Epsilon, national honorary dance fraternity ++ Member: Dramatists Guild, Inc. The DE:partment of Theatre and Dance is a member of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, the Texas EducationaiTheatre Association, Texas Nonprofit Theatres, Southwest Theatre Association, Lubbock Arts Alliance, UMed States Institute for Technical Theatre (USITI), and the American College Dance Festival Association. Texas Tech University Department of Theatre and Dance Presents A Funny Thing lfappene~n theVVay to therorum Book by Burt Shevelove & Larry Gelbart Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim Produced by special arrangement with MTI CAST Hysterium Eric C. Skiles** Senex Scott Crew Domina Rachel Frye Pseudolus Christina Hernandez* Hero Caleb Frerich Philia Amanda Johnson Lycus Billy Joe Chmielewski Miles Greg Nelsen Erronius Brian Griffin Tintinabula/Protean Kimberly Grubb Gemini 1 /Protean Kendra Kelley+ Gemini 2/Protean Brad Ballard Panacea/Protean Stephanie Laughter Vibrata/Protean Nikki Richards Gymnasium/Protean Chris Edwards Protean Sarah Cunningham DIRECTOR Elizabeth Homan Music DIRECTOR Steve Paxton COSTUME DESIGNER ScENIC DESIGNER Polly Boersig Frederik B. Christoffel LIGHTING DESIGNER SouND DESIGNER Frederik B. Christoffel Keith West**/* There Will Be 15-Minute Intermission During This Production The taking of photographs, with or without flash, and the use of video or audio recording equipment are a violation of copyright law and are strictly prohibited. Food and drink are not allowed in the theatre or lobby. Smoking is prohibited throughout the building. Late-comers will be seated by the ushers at the earliest appropriate interval in the play. Please turn off cellular phones, paging devices and wristwatch alarms. CHARLES E. MAEDGEN, JR. THEATRE On November 21, 1999, the Texas Tech University Theatre celebrated the beginning of a new era. The building was renamed for Charles E. Maedgen, Jr., a bank president and longtime civic leader who made significant contribu­ tions to the city of Lubbock and to the arts of West Texas. Charles E. Maedgen, Jr. possessed an encompassing vision, lived with tireless energy, loved to accomplish things, and never shrank from taking charge. His closest associates knew him as a "doer." A quiet, unassuming man, he made immense contributions to Texas Tech, Lubbock, and this entire region. After Charles's birth in Temple, Texas, his family moved to Lubbock where his father started Security Bank and Trust in 1917. After graduating from Texas Tech and earning an MBA from Harvard, Charles returned to Lubbock and learned banking from the ground up. He became president of the Lubbock National Bank in 1951 and became its CEO in 1972, shortly before his unexpected death. Although Charles had a passion for all the arts, he loved theatre best. Only his family's need for service in the bank prevented him from pursuing his secret longing to become an actor. But nothing kept him from supporting the theatre - both at Texas Tech and also in the community - with his influence, his philanthropy, and his presence at performances. As season ticket holders, Charles and his wife Louise attended Tech productions with relish. We invite you to share the spirit of this visionary businessman, this patron of the arts, as you attend this performance in the Charles E. Maedgen, Jr. Theatre. ~1~ WHAT'S IN A NAME ... While the Theatre has been renamed, our patrons will still see the Texas Tech University Theatre logo in printed materials. As a symbol of excellence, the logo will continue to identify the producing arm of the Depart­ ment of Theatre and Dance. OuR MISSION • To foster the arts of theatre and dance by nurturing, educating, and training students and by cultivating an audience. • To develop - equally through academic instruction and through theatri­ cal productions - our students' knowledge and skills and to instill in our students a commitment to collaboration, ethics, excellence, scholarchip, professionalism, and growth. • To provide cultural leadership to the university, the community, the state, the region, the nation, and beyond. DIRECTOR's NoTES Playgoers, Tonight we bring you a comedy, the roots of which reach back to the farces of Roman playwright Titus Maccius Plautus. While these roots have blossomed over the centuries into traditions like the Commedia dell'arte, the Comedie of Moliere, the slapstick of Vaudeville, and the striking novelty of Ameri­ can Musical Theatre, they burst to life in this theatre tonight through the ef­ forts of a committed and energetic ensemble whose comedic heritage runs more along the lines of Frasier, Seinfeld, and The Simpsons. Yes, they have borrowed a great deal from their elders - stolen schtick, if you will - but in the great spirit of successive generations, they have tried, tested, tweaked, and twisted the Great Traditions in order to bring you their own vision. While Forum was an innovation in its own time, nearly forty years later it still fuels the fire of innovation in the present. As the authors suggest, the play is a "scenario for vaudevillians ... many details have been omitted from the script (that) are part of the comedian's bag of tricks: the double take, the mad walks, the sighs, the smirks, the stammerings." This evening, we bring you our version of vaudeville, created from a highly eclectic, Twenty-First Century bag of tricks that, as always, holds "something familiar, something peculiar, some­ thing for everyone .... " DRAMATURG's NoTES Forum opened at the Alvin Theatre on May 8, 1962 and ran for 964 performances. The first show to feature both Sondheim's music and lyrics, it has spawned two Broadway revivals, numerous overseas and national touring productions, and countless regional, community and educational performances. Of the three Broadway productions (1962, 1972 and 1996), it has garnered 14 Tony nominations and 9 awards, including one for each of Forum's leading men: Zero Mostel, Phil Silvers, and Nathan Lane. However, Forum was the musical that almost wasn't. Gelbart and Shevelove decided to create a musical based on the writings of Plautus, a comic Roman playwright, from his plays Miles Gloriosus, Pseudolus and Mostellaria. It took the team 11 complete and distinct separate drafts to produce the script you are about to see. Gelbart claims Sondheim threw out more songs from the score than in any of his subsequent works (7 in the first production, with numbers added and taken away in subsequent reviv­ als). One of the stumbling blocks for the show was its opening. Forum had a disastrous out-of-town tryout in New Haven and Washington. Many au­ dience members came to the theatre expecting a light comedy or an intellec­ tual Roman play, and were never told that "it was okay to laugh." Jerome Robbins, who was originally slated to direct Forum, was hired as a "play doctor" (or consultant). He immediately told the creative team to change the opening number; to tell the audience what the show's about (low com­ edy). Sondheim wrote Comedy Tonight over a weekend and Robbins staged the production number in a week. With its new opening ready for the first New York previews, the show became an instant success. HISTORY OF TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY THEATRE by Peter Harris, B.A. 1995, M.A. 1997 Within a month after Texas Tech began classes, the Sock and Buskin society began producing short plays, and by April 1926 Tech was the home of a chapter of tile theatre honors society Alpha Psi Omega. Since its first major production, The Youngest, in May 1928, Texas Tech University Theatre has pro­ duced over 500 plays for the Texas Tech and Lubbock communi­ ties: 250 Mainstage productions, 183 Laboratory Theatre presen­ tations, and 108 Summer Rep shows. More than 1,000 informal and developmental productions have been presented by stu­ dents, including many original scripts. Established to serve as an educational resource for Texas Tech University and a cultural resource for the Lubbock community, Tech Theatre offered courses as early as 1930.