News Release
UDM Theatre Company’s 2008-2009 season wants GREAT THEATRE for you!
The Theatre Company of University of Detroit Mercy proudly announces its 38th theatrical season! The 2008 - 2009 season will continue the Theatre Company’s award-winning tradition of theatrical excellence in the Metro Detroit community. The Theatre Company will present its season at the Marygrove Theatre located on the campus of Marygrove College. The 38th season will feature The Sunshine Boys, How I Learned to Drive, Speech and Debate and The Threepenny Opera.
The Theatre Company opens with Neil Simon’s The Sunshine Boys starring two sensational Detroit theatre community veterans, Arthur Beer and David Regal. In The Sunshine Boys, directed by Andrew Huff, two veteran vaudevillian actors, Al Lewis and Willy Clark, are forced to relook at their once famous act. This famous vaudevillian team, known as “Lewis and Clark” over the course of forty-odd years, not only grew
to hate each other but never spoke to each other off-stage throughout the final year of their act. Clark, who was not ready for retirement, resented Lewis for breaking up the act when he opted to leave show business. It is now 1972 and CBS is inviting the team to reunite for a special on the history of comedy, with the pair representing the vaudeville era at its best. Enjoy one of Neil Simon’s funniest comedies and find out if Lewis and Clark can pull it together for one last laugh. The Sunshine Boys opens on September 26 and runs three weekends through October 12, 2008.
The season continues with Paula Vogel’s 1998 Pulitzer Prize for drama winner, How I Learned to Drive. Directed by David Regal, How I Learned to Drive tells a wildly funny, surprising and devastating tale of survival as seen through the lens of a troubling relationship between a young girl and an older man. How I Learned to Drive is the story of a woman who learns the rules of the road from life behind the wheel. How I Learned to Drive opens on November 14 and runs three weekends through November 30, 2008.
Next in line is Stephen Karam’s Speech and Debate. Directed by Yolanda Fleischer, Speech and Debate is a hysterical yet touching tale of three teens’ quest for fame and free speech. Misfits Solomon, Diwata and Howie have never met but come together to expose their teacher’s shocking online secrets while forming their high school’s first speech and debate club. This helps them realize their chance to be heard at last- by the school and the world. This year’s Broadway sensation, Speech and Debate is a quick-witted, bold and timely comedy which shows that three voices are stronger than one. Speech and Debate opens on January 30 and runs for three weekends through February 15, 2008.
The final show of the season, The Threepenny Opera, is a collaboration between UDM’s Theatre Company and Marygrove College’s Departments of Music and Dance. Composer Kurt Will and playwright Bertolt Brecht transformed saccharine, operetta and musical forms with a sharp political perspective and the sound of the 1920s Berlin cabaret into what Newsweek calls “the greatest musical of all time.” Will’s acidic harmonies and Brecht’s piercing texts created a revolutionary new musical that inspired such subsequent hits as Cabaret, Chicago, and Urinetown. Directed by Aaron Moore and musically directed by Shawn McDonald, The Threepenny Opera opens March 20 and runs three weekends through April 5, 2008. Get your tickets early for this massive blockbuster hit that is sure to sell out!
University of Detroit Mercy wants GREAT THINGS for you, and the Theatre Company wants GREAT THEATRE for you! Take advantage of the Theatre Company’s best offer on tickets by getting your season tickets to all four shows for only $46.00. That is a savings of 30% off regular ticket prices. Season tickets are on sale now through October 12, 2008. UDM and Marygrove students can buy season tickets for a rate of $15 with appropriate ID, that's four plays for less than $4 a performance. Student season tickets are also available for high school and other college students for the unbeatable rate of $25.00 for all four shows with student ID.
The Theatre Company’s performances are held Friday and Saturday at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. at the Marygrove Theatre on the campus of Marygrove College, 8425 W. McNichols Rd. The Theatre Company’s box office is located in Reno Hall on the University of Detroit Mercy's McNichols campus. Hours of operation are 11:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m., Tuesday through Friday. For tickets, call the theatre box office at 313-993-3270. For more information visit us online at theatre.udmercy.edu.
Release date: July 11, 2008
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