Every autumn brings on a new adventure in acting at The Little Theatre at Central Methodist University. The grease paint goes on, the costumes are created and fitted, and the energy level reaches sky-high.
The stalwart members of the theatre department already are preparing to polish and perform five different productions during the 2017-18 year, according to Professor Dr. Mark Kelty, head of the CMU theatre department.
Kelty already is casting students for his first play, Blithe Spirit, by Noel Coward. The comedy centers on a man’s first wife who comes back from the dead to make life difficult for the man and his new wife. Performance dates will be Thursday, Oct. 5 at 4:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, Oct. 6-7 at 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, Oct. 8 at 1:30 p.m.
The annual play for mid-Missouri school children will run Nov. 8-12 with students bussed in from numerous districts around Fayette. The play will be Awesome Allie by Scott Elmegreen and Drew Fornarola.
In this science-based adventure, normal-kid Allie ends up on a mission across the solar system in an effort to save Earth. Two performances are open to the general public, on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 11-12, both at 1:30 p.m.
On Thursday and Friday, Dec. 7 and 8, The Little Theatre will present its annual one-act plays, directed by Little Theatre students from the Directing Techniques class. Play titles will be available later.
Second semester presents, as usual, a serious play in the middle of the school year. The autobiographical play, A Piece of My Heart by Shirley Lauro is a powerful drama about six women, five nurses and a country-western singer, who spent time with the troops in Vietnam.
The play portrays each before, during, and after her time at war. The play will be presented at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 1; 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, March 2-3; and 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 4.
The final play of the year is the Neil Simon’s great Brighton Beach Memoirs, one of his autobiographical trilogy that tells the story of a young Jewish teen growing up in a crowded, lower-class family in Brooklyn during the 1930s. It will be performed on Thursday, April 26 at 4:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, April 27-28 at 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, April 29 at 1:30 p.m.
The cost of attending the main theatre events is $8 for adults; $5 for CMU faculty and staff; and free for CMU students with ID. Reservations can be made anytime at 660-248-6281.
