2020-2021 Season

The Monty Hall Problem

Online Theatre Production

Release date: October 29-November 1

Original Script by Ben Connor, Winner of the 2020 Annual Wichita State University Theatre National Playwriting Competition

Theatre 2nd Stage Production, Directed by Jeannine Russell

Description: Where does the smartest woman in the world go for advice? That very question is examined in this fictional reflection of Marilyn vos Savant. In 1993, wrestling with the backlash from a widely read and controversial magazine column she’s written, Marilyn visits her therapist. A logic puzzle that ought to be purely imaginary takes menacing shape when a saccharine game show host interrupts the session. Marilyn, her therapist and Daytime Emmy-Award winner Monty Hall match wits in a reflection on doors, goats, and what it means to be right.

Musical Theatre Senior Capstone Project

Online Musical Theatre Production

Release date: December 3, 2020 @ 7pm

Description: A virtual Musical Theatre performance presented by the Musical Theatre Seniors.

Kansas Dance Festival

Online Dance Production

Release date: Nov. 20-21

Directed by Nick Johnson & Dance Faculty with original choreography by WSU dance faculty & students

Description: The Kansas Dance Festival 2020 is an annual event where Wichita State University/Dance hosts regional university dance programs in a shared, live performance in Wilner Auditorium on the WSU campus. KDF presents the latest choreography from each of the participating universities. This year, due to the Covid Pandemic, submissions are dance films, visual poetry meant to be viewed through the lens of a camera. With careful us of masks, sanitizer and social distancing, VISITORS was created.  Enjoy!

She Moves the Prairie

Online Dance Production

Filmed in person Fall 2020

Presented online Spring 2021

Release date: TBD

Description: A sociocultural dance film project focusing on patterns of work done by women on Kansas farms in the early 1900’s. Dance faculty Cheyla Clawson, in collaboration with SPA students, will create movement phrases and ideas based on the lives of several women who farmed in Kansas in the early 20th century. The movement phrases will capture women’s physical labor practices on several rural farms. Through abstracting the body practices of female farmers, a full dance will be created to present in a final film in collaboration with film faculty Bret Jones and students from Theatre, Music and Shocker Studios.

[title of show]

Musical Theatre Production

An online streaming event broadcast in real-time by the Media Resource Center & WSU TV

Date: March 25-27, 2021 @ 7:30p & March 28, 2021 @ 2p

Directed by Trevor Seyl

Music & Lyrics by Jeff Bowen; Book by Hunter Bell

Description: Jeff and Hunter, two struggling writers, hear about a new musical theatre festival in New York. However, the deadline for submissions is a mere three weeks away. They gather their two actress friends, Susan and Heidi, and their accompanist and music director, Larry. With the full team assembled, Jeff and Hunter decide to write a musical about two guys writing a musical! [title of show]—taken from the space on the festival’s application form which asks for the [title of show]—follows Hunter and Jeff and their friends on their journey through the gauntlet of creative self-expression. In the span of 90 minutes they write and perform their show at the festival and learn lessons about themselves as people, friends and artists. [title of show] is, above all, a love letter to the musical theatre—a uniquely American art form—and to the joy of collaboration. The musical received a Tony Award nomination for Best Book of a Musical in 2009.

Voices in the Void

Online Theatre Production

Performed Live via Zoom Webinar:

March 11-13 @ 7:30pm
March 14 @ 2:00 pm

Directed by Danette Baker

Description: An original work created by students and faculty centering around a group of twenty-somethings and their struggles to find their own, personal voice.

Kansas Lineage

Dance Production

Release date: March 9-13 @ multiple venues TBD in the community & on-campus

Research project with Cheyla Clawson & Twyla Hill (Sociology)

Description: The project, KANSAS LINEAGE, explores identity associated with place based on older Kansas women’s shared stories of matrilineal heritage. Through partnerships with several Wichita assisted living communities, the project will capture and document the important stories of older women Kansans through personal interviews. Cross-disciplinary collaboration will occur between Wichita State undergraduate dance and sociology researchers. Assisted living home participants will be asked to share their most salient memories of their mother’s home and land as well as their grandmother’s home and land. Wichita State sociology and dance students and faculty researchers will work together from September 2020 through March 2021 to conduct interviews and discover themes of identity with place with women across several older adult communities ending in final research presentations/performances.

Spring Dance Concert

Dance Production

Date: April 2-3 @ 6-7pm

Location: Duerksen Outdoor Amphitheatre at WSU. Located on the North side of Duerksen Fine Arts Center. (alternate location due to weather will be Heskett Center) 

***Wichita State University’s top priority remains the health, safety, and well-being of our entire Shocker community. Face-to face events hosted by Wichita State departments and organizations must be conducted in a safe and healthy manner. All event attendees are expected to comply with all of Wichita State's guidelines regarding face masks that cover the mouth & nose, social distancing & handwashing.***

Directed by WSU dance faculty

Description: Wichita Contemporary Dance Theatre will present an evening of works by faculty & guest artist, Hui Cha Poos.

Opera TBD

Opera Production

Date: April 22-25 @ Miller Concert Hall, DFAC (TBD as health & safety allows)

The Rule of Three

Theatre Film Series Production

Streaming: April 23-24

Time: 7:30 pm

Platform: Wichita State U School of Performing Arts YouTube site

Tickets: http://www.wichita.edu/FABOTickets

Written by: Bret Jones
Directed by: Bret Jones, Julian Cornejo, Sang Le & Ryan Riese

Description: Douglas, a talented English major, is haunted by three ghosts when his girlfriend, fellow student, and professor all die on the same day at the same time. Rule of Three is a 4 episode comedy-drama series about Douglas trying to live his life with three spirits now a part of it.

Gumshoes

Theatre Production

Stagestruck Audio Theatre Multi-Episode Series 

Podcast release throughout the 2020-21 academic year on Apple Podcasts & Podomatic

Description: An inept, but conniving detective opens his agency only to have it hijacked by an unexpected partner in the business.