BEXLEY THEATRE ARTS

Bexley City Schools Theatre Program

11/12 Season
Color Key:
High School Productions
Middle School Productions (+ 6th Grade)
Elementary School Productions
Up The Down Staircase
by Christopher Sergel, adapted from the book by Bel Kaufman
"Hi, Teach!" are the first words to greet attractive Sylvia Barrett. There's a special happiness in walking into the still-empty classroom and for the first time writing her name on the blackboard. Students pour into the classroom, cautious, testing, challenging. Simultaneously, there's a blizzard of paperwork, warnings, contradictory orders, indecipherable instructions. Frantic, Sylvia begins to fear she doesn't even understand the language. An experienced teacher translates: "Keep on file in numerical order" means throw in wastebasket. "Let it be a challenge" means you're stuck with it. "Interpersonal relationships" means a fight between kids. And "It has come to my attention" means you're in trouble. Soon Sylvia finds herself the most involved person in the school, involved in the start of a romance and in a near war with a discipline-over-everything administrator, but, most of all, involved in the unexpected, sometimes heartbreaking problems of her students.
Auditions:  Sept 7th, 3:30-6:00 Cassingham Theater
Crew Interviews:  Sept 8th, 3:30-4:30, Studio Theater
Production: 
Oct 14th at 7:30PM Oct 15th at 2:00PM Oct 15th at 7:30PM Cassingham Theater
                     Tickets: $4.00 Students, $6.00 Adults 
             
The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940
by John Bishop
The creative team responsible for a recent Broadway flop (in which three chorus girls were murdered by the mysterious "Stage Door Slasher") assemble for a backer's audition of their new show at the Westchester estate of a wealthy "angel." The house is replete with sliding panels, secret passageways and a German maid who is apparently four different people—all of which figure diabolically in the comic mayhem which follows when the infamous "Slasher" makes his reappearance and strikes again—and again. As the composer, lyricist, actors and director prepare their performance, and a blizzard cuts off any possible retreat, bodies start to drop in plain sight, knives spring out of nowhere, masked figures drag their victims behind swiveling bookcases, and accusing fingers point in all directions. However, and with no thanks to the bumbling police inspector who snowshoes in to investigate, the mystery is solved in the nick of time and the "Slasher" unmasked—but not before the audience has been treated to a sidesplitting good time and a generous serving of the author's biting, satiric and refreshingly irreverent wit.                       Auditions:  Sept 13th, 5:30-8:00, Schott Theater
Crew Interviews:  Sept 8th, 3:30-4:30, Studio Theater Performances:   Nov. 16th and 18th at 7:30PM, Schottenstein TheatreTickets: $4.00 Students, $6.00 Adults
          
Arsenic and Old Lace
                                         by Joseph Kesselring
This play is a farcical black comedy revolving around Mortimer Brewster, a drama critic who must deal with his crazy, homicidal family and local police in Brooklyn, NY, as he debates whether to go through with his recent promise to marry the woman he loves. His family includes two spinster aunts who have taken to murdering lonely old men by poisoning them with a glass of home-made elderberry wine laced with arsenic, strychnine, and "just a pinch" of cyanide; a brother who believes he is Teddy Roosevelt and digs locks for the Panama Canal in the cellar of the Brewster home, and a murderous brother who has received plastic surgery performed by accomplice, Dr. Einstein, in order to conceal his identity and now looks like horror-film actor Boris Karloff.
Auditions:  Sept 13th, 5:30-8:00, Schott Theater
Crew Interviews:  Sept 8th, 3:30-4:30, Studio Theater
Performances:  Nov. 17th and 19th at 7:30PM
Schottenstein Theatre
Tickets: $4.00 Students, $6.00 Adults


Once Upon a Mattress
                 Book by Dean Fuller, Jay Thompson and Marshall Barer                                                  Music by Mary Rodgers                                                                            Lyrics by Marshall Barer
If you thought you knew the story of 'The Princess and The Pea,' you may be in for a walloping surprise! Did you know, for instance, that Princess Winnifred actually swam the moat to reach Prince Dauntless the Drab? Or that Lady Larken's love for Sir Harry provided a rather compelling reason that she reach the bridal altar post haste? Or that, in fact, it wasn't the pea at all that caused the princess a sleepless night? Carried on a wave of wonderful songs, by turns hilarious and raucous, romantic and melodic, this rollicking spin on the familiar classic of royal courtship and comeuppance provides for some side-splitting shenanigans. Chances are you'll never look at fairy tales quite the same way again.
Auditions:  Oct. 24th and 25th, 3:30-6:30, Schott Theater
Callbacks:  Oct. 26th, 3:30-6:30, Schott Theater
Crew Interviews:  Jan. 5th, 3:30-4:30, Studio Theater
Performances:  Feb. 9th, 10th and 11th at 7:30PM, 
Feb. 11th at 2:00PM
Schottenstein Theater
Tickets:  $6.00 Students, $8.00 Adults
Circus Olympus
by Lindsay Price
This show is for grade 3-5 performers.
The circus has come to town!  Well...sort of.  There's no elephant on a bicycle but there are the Greek Geeks and they have a story or two to tell.  More specifically a myth or two:  Pandora's Box, Persephone and the Underworld, King Midas, Athena and Arachne, and don't miss the Mythapalooza Slam Jam!
Auditions:  Jan 4th for last names A-L, Jan 5th for last names M-Z.  5:30-7:30 Cassingham Theater       Grades 3-5 only
Crew Interviews:  Jan 6th, 3:30-4:30, Studio Theater
Performances:  March 2nd at 7:00PM,
March 3rd and 4th at 2:00PM
Cassingham Theater
Tickets: $3.00 Students, $5.00 Adults
Aesop's Fables
This show is for grade 1 and 2 performers.
We will be dissecting some of Aesop's most famous fables and creating pantomimes during this three week workshop.
Rehearsals:  April 2-5, April 9-11, April 16-17
Performance:  April 18th at 6:00PM, Studio Theater

Ensemble Plays
Play performed by the serious theatre students in Theatre Ensemble.
Actual titles yet to be determined.
Show 1:  Feb 24th, 7:30PM, Studio Theater
            Show 2:  May 2nd-5th, 7:30PM, Cassingham Theater             Tickets: $3.00 Student, $5.00 Adult



Disney's 
Beauty and the Beast
Music by Alen Menken
Lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice
Book by Linda Woolverton
Step into the enchanted world of Broadway's modern classic! Based on the Academy-Award winning animated feature, the stage version of Disney's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST includes all of the wonderful songs written by Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman along with new songs by Mr. Menken and Tim Rice. Audiences will be transported to the heart of provincial life in a lovely French town. When Maurice becomes lost in the woods on the way to the fair, he seeks shelter in an old castle, but the master of the castle is a horrible beast that takes him captive. Maruice's daughter, Belle, must then give up her freedom to save his life. Belle's taming of the unfortunate Beast and his ultimate transformation back into a handsome prince enthralled Broadway audiences for over 13 years.  
Auditions:  March 12th and 13th, 3:30-7:30, Schott Theater
Callbacks:  March 14th, 3:30-7:30, Schott Theater
Crew Interviews:  April 9th, 3:30-4:30, Studio Theater
Performances:  May 17th, 18th, and 19th at 7:30PM,
May 19th at 2:00PM
Schottenstein Theater
Tickets:  $6.00 Students, $8.00 Adults
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