
Past Productions
David Ives'
All in the Timing
ACT is back- with five thoughtful and hilarious modern comedies by the new yorker playwright David Ives. Join us again for a fun-filled Evening of Scenes featuring philosophical monkeys, laughable languages, ridiculous revolutionaries, cheese steak sandwiches, and some serious romance.
Philadelphia
Al and Mark are stuck in a “Philadelphia”--a world where in order to get what you want, you have to ask for the opposite. Their orders are taken, and sometimes filled, by a weary waitress.
Sure Thing
Bill and Betty are star crossed lovers whose chance encounter covers everything from dating don’ts to saying “I do.”
The Universal Language
Dawn has a terrible stutter. Don has a money-making scheme involving a universal language that is guaranteed to cure a stutter. Will Dawn fall for the scam or for Don?
Variations on the Death of Trotsky
Trotsky meets his earthly demise in eight different ways, each with a revolutionary flair that only Trotsky himself could pull off.
Words, Words, Words
Three little monkeys are given typewriters to use while scientists watch, waiting for one of the monkeys to start typing Hamlet.
"Theater that aerobicizes the brain and tickles the heart ... Ives is a mordant comic who has put the play back in playwright."
-- Time
Oscar Wilde's Classic
The Importance of Being Earnest
Life couldn't possibly be more boring or decadent for Algernon Montcrieff and his best friend Jack Worthing. Both gentlemen are rich, educated, handsome... and avoid responsibility whenever possible.
Algernon flees to the country and Jack escapes to the city whenever either catches wind of a possible impending duty. Cecily, Jack’s precocious ward in the country, believes that Jack is looking after his younger, reckless, (and imaginary!) brother Ernest—the name he uses while in London. Jack wishes to marry the city girl of his dreams, Gwendolen, but is heartbroken when he learns that she could only love a man named Ernest. To make matters worse, Gwendolen’s battleaxe of a mother, Lady Bracknell, refuses to give her consent to the marriage because Jack is an orphan.
Meanwhile, Algernon is quite intrigued by Cecily and travels to the countryside pretending to be Ernest, Jack’s irresponsible brother. Much to Algernon’s delight, Cecily instantly falls head over heels for the man she has heard so much about for years. When Jack returns to the country estate, mourning the sudden tragic death of his brother Ernest, chaos ensues. The gentlemen’s lies pile up as fast as the laughs as Cecily and Gwendolen discover they are both engaged to “Ernest.” This classic comedy by Oscar Wilde promises to have you laughing from start to finish!
An Evening of Scenes
After last year's incredibly successful performance of Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap, ACT is thrilled to be adding an extra production to the 2008/2009 season--the first ever AN EVENING OF SCENES.
This eclectic mix of comedy, drama, and romance promises to have something for everyone. From falling in and out of love, surviving graduation and marriage, hooking up and checking out, to ass cancer and acrophobia, AN EVENING OF SCENES will certainly tickle your funny bone and pull at your heartstrings.
AN EVENING OF SCENES features works by Jon Jory, Cathy Celesia, Jason Katims, Mary Miller, Lynn Nottage, and Matt Pelfrey.
Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap
Giles and Mollie Ralston have just opened Monkswell Manor Guesthouse. The rugs have been swept, the provisions bought, the firewood stacked, and the rooms prepared. No amount of planning, however, could prepare the Ralstons for their unusual guests and the blizzard which promises to strand all of the travellers at the manor. Nearby a woman is murdered and the murderer is believed to be on the way to Monkswell Manor, bent on revenge. Tensions build and accusations fly as a sergeant arrives at the manor on skis. Now everyone‘s safety is in the hands of the lone sergeant who must determine the identity of the murderer, before it is too late.
Tom Stoppard 's The Real Inspector Hound
The Real Inspector Hound is a short, one-act play by Tom Stoppard. The plot follows two theatre critics named Moon and Birdboot who are watching a ludicrous setup of a country house murder mystery, in the style of a whodunit. By chance, they become involved in the action causing a series of events that parallel the play they are watching.
The play was written between 1961 and 1962, initially named The Stand-ins and later, The Critics. It is a parody of the stereotypical parlor mystery in the style of Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap, as well as of the critics watching the play, with their personal desires and obsessions interwoven into their bombastic and pompous reviews. Stoppard's play references The Mousetrap in its title and its "surprise ending"; the producers of Agatha Christie's play could not publicly object to Stoppard's parody without drawing attention to what they very much wanted to conceal about the conclusion of The Mousetrap.[citation needed]
The Real Inspector Hound, much like Stoppard's earlier play Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, examines the ideas of fate and free will, as well as exploring the themes of the 'play within a play'. (Source )
George Isherwood's Shakespeare's Greatest Hits
INTRO (Vorstellung und Tanz)
MACBETH – 1.AKT (Macbeth hört die Prophezeiungen der Hexen)
RICHARD III – 1.Akt (Ann betrauert den verstorbenen Schwiegervater Heinrich)
ANTONIUS & CLEOPATRA – 1.Akt ("Oh süßes Ägypten")
HAMLET – 1.AKT (Hamlet und Totenkopf sehen den Geist Hamlet's Vaters)
MACBETH – 2.Akt (König Duncan wird vom Ehepaar Macbeth beseitigt)
HAMLET – 2.Akt (Hamlet hat ein Schauspiel organisiert)
RICHARD III – 2.Akt (Die Mörder und der Tod des Clarence)
ANTONIUS & CLEOPATRA – 2.Akt (Cleopatra langweilt sich)
RICHARD III – 3.Akt (Die kleinen Prinzen im Tower, ein Drama)
ANTONIUS & CLEOPATRA – 3.Akt (Die Seeschlacht von Actium)
HAMLET – 3.Akt (Das Ende der Ophelia)
MACBETH – Letzter Akt (Birnams wald rückt an auf Dunsinan)
RICHARD III – Letzter Akt (Ein Königreich für ein Pferd)
HAMLET – Letzter Akt (Massaker)
ANTONIUS & CLEOPATRA – Letzter Akt (siehe Hamlet, letzter Akt)
SCHLUSS
Charlys Angels
Press Reviews
Participants
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ISTF Festival 2010
SZ article on the International Student Theatre Festival (April 2010) -
All in the Timing Review
SZ reviewing opening night -
All in the Timing
SZ article announcing upcoming performances -
The Importance of Being Earnest
SZ article talking about the production -
An Evening of Scenes
SZ article talking about the additional production in the winter term -
The Mousetrap
SZ announcing ACT's production of Agatha Christie's great classic
