The Diary of Anne Frank
The Diary of Anne Frank is one of the most famous and haunting stories to emerge from the 20th Century. The memoirs of this young Jewish girl, forced to hide for nearly two years to escape Nazi persecution, are an essential part of how we remember one of the darkest periods of our human history. Wendy Kesselman’s adaptation of the original, Pulitzer Prize award-winning script by Goodrich and Hackett draws from previously unpublished parts of Anne Frank’s real-life diary, allowing the audience to experience Anne in a way that breathes life into this passionate, complex young woman, allowing us to share her relatable experience of adolescence as a familiarly modern teenager.
Marriage of Figaro
Le Nozze di Figaro is a fantastic farce, continuing the story of the characters from Il barbiere di Seviglia. The once young and romantic couple, Rosina and Count Almaviva, are now established in their estate near Seville, but their marriage is in a rocky state. Count Almaviva has now become an aggressive, manipulative womanizer, and Rosina, now the Countess, has become despondent and upset about the state of their relationship. Figaro is now employed as Count Almaviva’s personal butler, but the Count is actively pursuing Figaro’s fiancee, Susanna. The Count keeps putting off the wedding, finding ways to delay their union, even on the day of their planned wedding. Figaro, Susanna, and the Countess create a plan to expose the Count and his womanizing ways, hoping to shame him into change. The Count, however, continues to try to break up the marriage by trying to get Figaro to marry an older woman at court, who turns out to be his mother. Figaro, Susanna, and the Countess succeed in their plot, and the Count asks forgiveness of his wife and Figaro and Susanna plan to finally be wed.
The Glass Menagerie
The Glass Menagerie is a memory play by Tennessee Williams that premiered in 1944 and catapulted Williams from obscurity to fame. The play has strong autobiographical elements, featuring characters based on its author, his histrionic mother, and his mentally fragile sister Laura. In writing the play, Williams drew on an earlier short story, as well as a screenplay he had written under the title of The Gentleman Caller.
Sound of Music
The final collaboration between Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II, The Sound of Music, has become a play beloved around the world. Based on the true story of the Von Trapp Family Singers, this play captures a personal tale of growth and hope amidst the horrors of World War II. The Sound of Music tells the tale of young postulant Maria Rainer, whose free spirit has trouble fitting into the rules and regulations of Nonnberg Abbey. Commissioned by the Mother Abbess to serve as the governess for seven motherless children, Maria transforms the Von Trapp family home from a place of dour rules and regulations to one filled with joy, with laughter, and with music. In the process, Maria wins the hearts of all seven children–and their widower father, Captain Von Trapp.
Arsenic and Old Lace
Mortimer Brewster is living a happy life: he has a steady job at a prominent New York newspaper, he’s just become engaged, and he gets to visit his sweet spinster aunts to announce the engagement. Mortimer always knew that his family had a bit of a mad gene — his brother believes himself to be Teddy Roosevelt and his great-grandfather used to scalp Indians for pleasure — but his world is turned upside down when he realizes that his dear aunts have been poisoning lonely old men for years! When Mortimer’s maniacal brother, Jonathan. (who strangely now resembles Boris Karloff) returns on the night that the aunts were planning to bury the newest victim, Mortimer must rally to help his aunts and protect his fiancé — all while trying to keep his own sanity. as well.
Baby
Baby is a musical with a book by Sybille Pearson, based on a story developed with Susan Yankowitz, music by David Shire, and lyrics by Richard Maltby Jr. It concerns the reactions of three couples each expecting a child.
Skin of Our Teeth
Meet George and Maggie Antrobus of Excelsior, New Jersey, a suburban, commuter-town couple (married for 5,000 years), who bear more than a casual resemblance to that first husband and wife, Adam and Eve: the two Antrobus children, Gladys (perfect in every way, of course) and Henry (who likes to throw rocks and was formerly known as Cain); and their garrulous maid, Sabina (the eternal seductress), who takes it upon herself to break out of character and interrupt the course of the drama at every opportunity (“I don’t understand a word of this play!”). Whether he is inventing the alphabet or merely saving the world from apocalypse, George and his redoubtable family somehow manage to survive – by the skin of their teeth.
Completed by the author less than a month after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, The Skin of Our Teeth (1942) broke from established theatrical conventions and walked off with the 1943 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Combining farce, burlesque, satire, and elements of the comic strip, Thornton Wilder depicts an Everyman Family as it narrowly escapes one end-of-the-world disaster after another, from the Ice Age to flood to war.
Painting Churches
“Painting Churches… was the second show of the 88-89 season. As I began compiling clips and photos for tonight, I had a surprising and sobering realization. Churches was the first show I did with OxACT, and I played the daughter of a poet and his wife, played by Ray Carleton and Mollie Weller. The play was directed by Biz Campbell, and Nora Ellen was the assistant director. The sobering realization was that, of the five of us, only Nora Ellen and I are left. Mollie passed several years ago, followed by Biz in 2004, and Ray just a couple of years ago. I started to think about all of the people who have been involved with OxACT who have gone to the Ultimate After Party, and wanted us to take just a moment to remember them. Ray, Mollie, Biz, Bob White, Jim Malott, Marcia Olcott, and Bill Bruhn, along with Michael Benson, Betty Stousland, Mollie’s husband Harry, and I’m sure many others I don’t know about. I have no doubt that everyone here tonight has fond memories of someone, or several someones, who aren’t here to share this evening with us. Well, truth be told, I’m sure they are sharing it….”
– Becky Howard, at the OxACT 30th Anniversary Gala
Morning’s at Seven
Morning’s at Seven is a play by Paul Osborn. Its plot focuses on four aging sisters living in a small Midwestern town in 1928, and it deals with ramifications within the family when two of them begin to question their lives and decide to make some changes before it’s too late.
All My Sons
How far would a man go to protect his family, his interests, and his legacy? Joe Keller, the patriarch in All My Sons, desperately wants to secure and maintain the financial security and legacy he spent so many years building, ready to hand it down to his surviving son Chris. At the same time, Joe’s wife Kate is still waiting for their eldest son Larry to return from war, determined that he is alive and will marry the former girl-next-door, Ann –the daughter of Joe’s former business partner who is sitting in prison, punished for Joe’s crimes. To complicate this family drama, Chris and Ann are in love and want to get married. In All My Sons, Arthur Miller creates a post-war American family in a tragic downfall of lies, greed, love, and loss, and demands its audience examine their own social responsibilities to all the sons of American wars.
Every Brilliant Thing
by Duncan MacMillan with Jonny Donahoe When Mum’s in the hospital and Dad says she’s ‘done something stupid’, there’s not much a seven year old can do.1. Ice cream2. Water fights3. Staying up... READ MORE
Announcing our 2024-25 Season!
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