Theater - 2004-2005

1776

October 7–9, 2004

Spotlight Operators: Tony Lewis '07, Braden Pemberton '07

1776 was Wabash's first full scale musical theater production in over 20 years. It is a legendary and unique Broadway musical, was first performed in 1969 (becoming a lavish screen musical in 1972) and received the Tony Award as Best Musical. 1776 is set in the Continental Congress in May, June, and July 1776 as the founding fathers struggle against congressional apathy, military disaster, personal pressures, and Philadelphia's blazing heat wave to establish the USA. Musical sequences and dialogue are drawn directly from contemporary accounts, minutes of the Congressional sessions, and the correspondence of John Adams and his wife, Abigail. A charming score, bold dramatic scenes, and memorable characters make 1776 one of the classics of the musical stage.

This page is part of an ongoing project to document the history of the theatre productions performed at Wabash College.  If you have information not included on this page, please contact the Theater Department or Professor Dwight Watson (watsond@wabash.edu).

Poster

The Vaudevilles of Chekov

February 23–26, 2005

Dramaturgical Notes

Scenic Designer's Notes

Photo Album

Poster

This is Our Youth

April 20–23, 2005

Set on Manhattan's Upper West Side, This Is Our Youth follows 48 hours in the lives of three very lost young souls. Kenneth Lonergan’s award-winning play is a lacerating, meticulous, and hilarious snapshot of the simmering moment between adolescence and adulthood. The play takes place in Dennis Ziegler's apartment in March 1982. Dennis's friend Warren Straub, a dejected 19-year-old, has just been kicked out of his house and stolen $15,000 from his abusive lingerie-tycoon father. Dennis spends some of the money on cocaine, hoping to sell it to a friend of his for much more. Jessica Goldman, an "anxiously insightful" fashion student, comes over and Warren hopes that he can use the money to entice her into bed.  The play explores timeless issues of adolescence and maturity, as well as the Reagan Era in which it takes place: the characters feel adrift in a country that now rejects the 1960s-style liberalism that they were brought up to believe in.

The New York Times says, "In a season in which some of the wise men of the theater have been trying to force-feed insipid fare…to young audiences, it’s sheer relief to celebrate the return of a rambunctious and witty play about wayward teenagers and post-adolescents that doesn't turn youthful travails into plastic rap—This Is Our Youth—by turns caustic, cruel, and compassionate—is the real real world."

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This page is part of an ongoing project to document the history of the theatre productions performed at Wabash College.  If you have information not included on this page, please contact the Theater Department or Professor Dwight Watson (watsond@wabash.edu).

Photo Album