University of the Ozarks Theatre will present its first production of the 2013-2014 academic year, the Pulitzer Prize finalist "In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play," Oct. 10-12.
The play, written by Sarah Ruhl, will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 10, and Friday, Oct. 11, and at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 12, in the Seay Theatre, which is located in the Walton Fine Arts Center. The box office opens an hour before the play begins and the house opens 30 minutes before the curtain rises. Tickets for the event are $8 for general admission.
Due to adult content, the play is intended for mature audiences only. Children ages 12 and under will not be admitted without an accompanying parent or adult guardian and children under 5 will not be admitted.
Nominated for three 2010 Tony Awards, including Best Play, "In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play" was a Pulitzer Prize finalist and winner of the 2010 Will Glickman Award for Best New Play. It is a comedy about marriage, intimacy, and electricity. Set in the 1880s at the dawn of the age of electricity and based on the bizarre historical fact that doctors used vibrators to treat "hysterical" women (and some men), the play centers on a doctor and his wife and how his new therapy affects their entire household.
The New York Times stated that "In the Next Room" was "insightful, fresh and funny, the play is as rich in thought as it is in feeling…one of the most gifted and adventurous American playwrights to emerge in recent years. In the Next Room is a true novelty: a sex comedy designed not for sniggering teenage boys ? or grown men who wish they were still sniggering teenage boys ? but for adults with open hearts and minds." - The New York Times
The New York Post said, "A play that’s smart, delicate and very, very funny!"
Walton Professor of Theatre Bruce B. Brown is the production’s director and scenic designer. Katelyn Nichols is stage manager, Tori Rhein is the lightning designer, Jenava Harris is the costume designer, John Davis is the sound designer and Hannah Shellito as the graphic designer. The cast includes Annie Williams as Catherine Givings, Utah Robertson as Dr. Givings, Sandra Davis as Annie, Lauren Charters as Sabrina Daldry, David Pluebell as Mr. Daldry, Joey Chambers as Elizabeth and Daniel Barnes as Leo Irving.
The crew includes Lucas Hoiland as technical director, Heather Tankersley as properties manager, Brittany Oviedo as assistant stage manager and Kincaid Martin as curtain operator. Other crew members include Jonathan Warren, Gabriella Pena, Meghan Mansur, Houston Hall, Alex Pride, Friedl Nugent, Tyler Lyngle, Darrick Conroy, Kady Holmes, Phoebe Randle and Isabella Clark.
"In the Next Room" is the University Theatre’s entry into the Arkansas Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, which will be held on the U of O campus Oct. 24-26.
Topics: Theatre