University Theatre season to highlight collaborations

Forging new connections — and taking existing relationships in new directions — will characterize the 1999-2000 University Theatre season.

The season opener, “Steel Magnolias,” held over from the summer, will provide continuity and a smooth transition into the new season. It also will mean a swift one. The reprise, opening Thursday, Sept. 16, gets UT actors on stage a full month earlier than would have been the case with a new production, according to Patricia Boyette, UT director.

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Boyette says the student cast and crew benefits as much as the additional audiences who will get to see the play.

“There is much to learn in live performance, and this longer run will provide more opportunity for students to experience it,” she says.

University Theatre will establish a link with professional playwright and director Larry Lane this fall during a residency here to direct Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons,” on the Mitchell Theatre stage, Vilas Hall, Oct. 15-30.

Lane founded and was artistic director of the New Repertory Theatre in metropolitan Boston for 12 years. He recently won acclaim at the Edinburgh Festival and in London for his “Bartleby: A Story of Wall Street,” an adaptation of the Herman Melville novella.

A first-of-its kind partnership between the University Theatre and Madison Repertory Theatre will produce “The Three Musketeers,” Nov. 27-Dec. 19 in Mitchell Theatre.

Boyette says the two theaters have shared actors, stages and other resources before, but this will be the first joint production. She predicts the project will combine the strengths of both the UT and the Rep.

“It will be a real win-win situation for us. Working together will allow us to do just about everything on a much grander scale than either theater could do alone,” she says. “It also gives our students professional experience, and introduces the Rep to an eager pool of talent in all areas of performance and production.”

By including works ranging from the swashbuckling to the contemporary to children’s to the classical, the UT tries to provide an eclectic mix of presentations for audiences and students to delight in and learn from, Boyette says.

Also scheduled this season:

• “This Is Not a Pipe Dream,” a production of the UW–Madison Theatre for Children and Young People Nov. 6 and 7.
• Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” Feb. 18-27.
• “Mad Forest” by Caryl Chuchill, March 3-25.
• “A Little Night Music,” book and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. This joint production with the University Opera will run April 7-15.
• “Nora,” film director Ingmar Bergman’s interpretation of Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House,” produced April 28-May 7 in collaboration with the UW–Madison Department of Scandinavian Studies.

For season or individual tickets, or more information on the productions, contact the University Theatre box office, (608) 262-1500.