Mainstage Season

Mainstage productions are directed by faculty, typically designed by professionals, and always brought to life by students. There are four mainstage productions each year: the first three vary widely between scripted pieces and devised works; the fourth production is typically dance.

Fall 2024

  • A fire emoji, as often pictured in cell phone libraries

    Staged Reading

    The Burn

    by Philip Dawkins

    directed by Jen Shook

    The Crucible, but high school social media. Mercedes is an outsider. Tara makes sure she knows it. When a high school production of The Crucible forces them together, tensions escalate into acts of bullying — both online and IRL.

    Format: Auditioned with several rehearsals (info forthcoming)
    Performs: Friday, Nov. 8, 7:30 p.m. in Humanities and Social Studies Center, Room A2231 - Auditorium
    Commitment: 7 days / 22 hours
    Credits: 0.5

    Reserved Seating: Tickets are available in advance and at the door. To reserve your ticket in advance, visit the Bucksbaum Box Office or call 641-269-4444 from noon–5 p.m. on the following dates:

    • Thursday, Nov. 7
    • Friday, Nov. 8

    Content Notice: (this is a work in progress) Depiction of bullying and abusive language including racist, sexist, ableist, anti-fat, and homophobic slurs. Descriptions of violence.

    The Burn is presented by special arrangement with Broadway Licensing, LLC, servicing the Dramatists Play Service collection.

  • Text: PITY by Rory Mullarkey. Image: A stylized drawing of a sun with a face. The sun winces in anguish as it gets hit in the eye with a cartoonish projectile.

    Fully Produced Mainstage

    Pity

    by Rory Mullarkey

    directed by Karie Miller

    There’s ice cream. Sunshine. Shops. Some dogs. A wedding. Bombs. Candles. Blood. Lightning. Sandwiches. Snipers. Looting. Gunshots. Babies. Actors. Azaleas. Famine. Fountains. Statues. Atrocities. And tanks. (Probably.) Rory Mullarkey’s new play asks whether things really are getting worse. And if we care.

    • Saturday, Nov. 16, 7:30 p.m.
    • Sunday, Nov. 17, 2 p.m. (relaxed performance*)
    • Thursday, Nov. 21, 7:30 p.m.
    • Friday, Nov. 22, 7:30 p.m.
    • Saturday, Nov. 23, 2 p.m.

    Roberts Theatre
    Watch this space for livestream links

    Reserved Seating: Tickets are available in advance and at the door. To reserve your ticket in advance, visit the Bucksbaum Box Office or call 641-269-4444 from noon–5 p.m. on the following dates:

    • Thursday, Nov. 14
    • Friday, Nov. 15
    • Thursday, Nov. 21
    • Friday, Nov. 22

    Content Disclosures: Watch this space for content notices and disclosures.

    *A relaxed performance will typically keep house lights on at a dim level, fidget toys are provided, and it is understood that audience members are welcome to get up, move around, etc.

  • A drawing of an ear of corn in harvest colors of amber and eggplant

    Staged Reading

    The Thanksgiving Play

    by Larissa FastHorse

    directed by Jen Shook

    Well-meaning white people try to DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion). Four theatre people walk into an elementary school. The work at hand: a Thanksgiving pageant that won’t ruffle any feathers. What could possibly go wrong? … Everything. Heaping servings of hypocrisies on a big, family-style platter in a not-altogether-politically-correct comedy by Sicangu Lakota playwright Larissa FastHorse.

    Format: One rehearsal, one public reading
    Performs: Wednesday, Oct. 16, 4:30 p.m. in HSSC, Room A2231 - Auditorium
    Commitment: 2 days / 4 hours
    Credits: none. Staff/faculty also welcome

    Ticketing: No tickets required.

    Content Notice: Discussion of genocide, exaggerated stage violence, comedic yet very real depictions of racism.

    The Thanksgiving Play is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc.

  • A drawing of a cartoonish yellow lightning bolt. reminiscent of Zeus

    Staged Reading of a Musical

    The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical

    Book by Joe Tracz
    Music and Lyrics by Rob Rokicki
    Adapted from the book by Rick Riordan

    directed by Jen Shook
    co-directed and music directed by Andra Velis Simon

    The Greek gods are real, and their kids have issues.  When teenager Percy Jackson discovers he’s a demigod, he and his friends embark on an epic journey to find Zeus’ missing lightning bolt and prevent a war among the gods.

    Format: Auditioned with several rehearsals
    Performs: Saturday, Oct. 5, 7:30 p.m., and Sunday Oct. 6, 2 p.m., Sebring-Lewis Hall, Bucksbaum Arts Center
    Commitment: 4 weeks / 45 hours
    Credits:  1

    Reserved Seating: Tickets are available in advance and at the door (if available). To reserve your ticket in advance, visit the Bucksbaum Box Office or call 641-269-4444 from noon–5 p.m. on the following dates:

    • Thursday, Oct. 4
    • Friday, Oct. 5

    Content Notice: Death, staged violence, absent parents, discussion of war.

    The Lightning Thief is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals.

  • A cartoonish "Uncle Sam" hat.

    Staged Reading

    The Outsider

    by Paul Slade Smith

    directed by Jen Shook

    “Number-cruncher Ned Newly is a complete unknown with a paralyzing fear of public speaking and no political instincts — he certainly doesn’t want to be Governor. But when his boss gets booted after a scandal, Ned is catapulted into the public eye. With the threat of a special election just days away, his oddball team of consultants scrambles to give him a political makeover. The Outsider is a hilarious, non-partisan send-up of modern American politics and an inspirational tribute to democracy.” 
    – Dramatists Play Service

    Format: Fun run — Show up and read! 
    Performs: Sunday, Sept. 1, 7 p.m. (readers show up at 6:30 p.m.) in Roberts Theatre
    Commitment: 1 day / 3 hours
    Credits: none. Staff/faculty also welcome!

    Ticketing: No tickets required

    Content Notice: Suggested age 12+ due to mildly vulgar language.

    The Outsider is presented by special arrangement with Broadway Licensing, LLC, servicing the Dramatists Play Service collection.

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