TheatreVCU kick-starts new season with the Pumpkin Pie Commencement

TheatreVCU has an exciting lineup of shows for their upcoming season featuring “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” “In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play)” and other risque performances.

The department began their 2015-16 season with the “Pumpkin Pie Show,” a collection of bedtime scary stories, and another show, “The Commencement” on Sunday, that details the horrors faced by a group of teenagers following a gruesome death at their school.

The first mainstage production featured in the Singleton Center for the Performing Arts will be “Junta High.” This show was written by Clay McLeod Chapman, who also wrote the two shows performed last weekend. It’s also a collection of connected stories. “Junta High,” however, revolves around a school-turned-warzone featuring grisly depictions of life and death at a fantastical American high school.

Barry Bell, a longtime associate professor at VCU, will be directing this show as well as overseeing the First Year Acting Program and teaching all second-year acting classes in TheatreVCU.

Then around Halloween, adjust instructor in the department Rebecca Frost Mayer will direct the notorious “Rocky Horror Picture Show.” The cult-classic musical depicts the culture clash between the titillating transvestites of Transylvania and the everyman and everywoman of the ’70s.

In December, you can celebrate the holiday season with a fresh take on the 1940s classic story “It’s a Wonderful Life.” This is a live radio show, so there will be a nontraditional performance on stage, but it still follows the same story of the ever-helpful angel who hopes to show the importance of life and happiness.

The second semester begins with the controversial show “In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play).” This play is reserved for adult audiences, and follows the story of a Victorian-era doctor who finds a curious cure for a woman’s hysteria in the dawn of the electric age.

The season will conclude with “Urinetown,” a decorated comedy directed by VCU graduate James Stover. This is a Tony-Award-winning musical about a town plagued with companies charging to use the bathroom, leading to rampant public urination.

Throughout both semesters, the Shafer Alliance Laboratory Theatre will be putting on smaller productions in the Newdick Theatre that are free for students to attend. They will also host monthly “No Shame” events, which feature performances in music, comedy and theater of VCU undergraduates and graduates in the MFA Theatre programs.


Spectrum Editor, Austin Walker

meh_mehAustin is a sophomore print journalism major. He started at the CT as a contributing writer, and frequently covers work done by artists and performers both on and off campus. He hopes to one day be a columnist writing about art that impacts culture, politics and documenting the lives of extraordinary and everyday people. // Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

walkeraw@commonwealthtimes.org

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