Wright State Theatre Announces 2022-23 Season Featuring SISTER ACT, BRIGHT STAR & More

Wright State University's Theatre program has announced its 2022-23 season, featuring an exciting array of classic and contemporary dramas, musicals and dance. In this first season as part of the newly formed School of Fine and Performing Arts, Wright State Theatre explores our shared search for human connection, meaning and self-discovery. As always, these productions give Dayton audiences a chance to see the work of exceptional performing arts students preparing to follow past Raider alumni to Broadway, Hollywood, national and international stages and screens.

They will open their Festival Playhouse season with Agatha Christie's murder mystery, THE MOUSETRAP. The longest-running play in the history of modern theatre comes to Wright State's stage in a thrilling new production. The scene is set when a group of apparent strangers gathered in an old English country house cut off by a blizzard discover, to their horror, that there is a murderer in their midst. The question is, "Who done it!?" One by one the suspicious characters reveal their sordid pasts until at the last, nerve-shredding moment the identity and the motive are finally revealed. THE MOUSETRAP is led by guest director Jason Podplesky, with scenic design by guest Dick Block (Assoc. Head of Drama, Carnegie Mellon University). Sept. 23-Oct. 2, 2022

Next, we present SISTER ACT: A Divine Musical Comedy by Alan Menken, Glenn Slater, Cheri Steinkellner and Bill Steinkellner. Sister Act is the feel-good musical comedy smash based on the hit film that will have audiences jumping to their feet! When a disco diva on the run takes refuge in a convent, tuneful hilarity ensues. If you loved Mamma Mia!, Sister Act is for you. This pop/gospel musical by the writers of The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Tangled and School of Rock is sure to be an audience pleaser. Directed and choreographed by Greg Hellems (Head of Musical Theatre at Wright State). Nov. 4-20, 2022

February will bring ARCADIA by Tom Stoppard. This brilliant drama by one of our greatest living playwrights leaps artfully between the past (1809) and the present, where order and chaos, certainty and confusion, genius and unexpressed passion intertwine and collide in what one critic called "Tom Stoppard's richest, most ravishing comedy to date. A play of wit, intellect, language, brio and ... emotion." Arcadia explores the possibilities life offers as we make seemingly minor, but irreversible choices. Directed by Marya Spring Cordes (Associate Chair, School of Fine and Performing Arts at Wright State). Feb. 3-12, 2023

ON THE TOWN - "New York, New York, it's a helluva town!" In Spring 2023, Wright State Theatre offers Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden and Adoph Green's landmark musical comedy, with a full onstage orchestra. Three Sailors on 24-hour shore leave wring every bit of life, romance, musical comedy and exuberant dance out of their visit to mythic WWII-era New York City. Presented in collaboration with our partners in the School of Fine and Performing Arts Music programs. Directed by Artistic Director, Joe Deer. Musical Direction, F. Wade Russo. March 17-April 2, 2023

In our Herbst Theatre, we present two exciting intimate productions.

First, in Fall, BRIGHT STAR by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell. Equal parts Appalachian folk tale and true-life events combine in this joyous and heartfelt bluegrass musical story of love and redemption critics have called "smart, funny and charming". An uplifting theatrical journey that will hold you in its grasp - as refreshingly genuine as it is daringly hopeful. Directed and choreographed by guest artist, Leslie Goddard Baum. Nov. 18-Dec. 4, 2022

In Spring, we present Moises Kaufman and the Tectonic Theatre Project's THE LARAMIE PROJECT. On the 25th anniversary of the hate-driven murder of Matthew Shepard, we look back at people from the town where he lived and their reaction to a crime that galvanized America and forced a critical reckoning with our attitudes towards gender and sexuality. Told through the actual words of people who experienced these events first-hand in Laramie, Wyoming, it has been called "Nothing short of stunning...you will be held in rapt attention." "Astonishing." This production is directed by Associate Professor Josh Aaron McCabe and is produced in collaboration with Wright State's Office of LGBTQA Affairs. Watch for further details about concurrent campus programming related to this production. February 17-26, 2023

Finally, WRIGHT STATE DANCE IN CONCERT brings together the talents of faculty and outstanding guest choreographers to present a bouquet of ballet, jazz and modern dance that has been called, "the best evening of Dance in the Miami Valley." The concert includes guest performances by our partner companies, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company (DCDC2), and Dayton Ballet II. April 20-23, 2023

Season Tickets will go on Sale July 5th at www.wright.edu/theatre or by calling Box Office Manager, David Emery, at (937) 775-2500. We welcome group sales at these same contacts.

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