Theatre Productions
The Department of Art, Design, and Theatre at Cedarville University presents three full productions each academic year. To search for a specific production, please use the search box in the sidebar, making sure to choose the "in this collection" option. Click here to view memorabilia from theatrical productions from the earlier years of the university.
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All My Sons
October 1-11, 2020
At the end of World War II, the Keller family is mourning younger son Larry, who has been missing in action and presumed dead. Older son Chris has returned home from military service and publicly acknowledges his feelings for Ann, Larry’s girlfriend. But mother Kate cannot accept that Larry is dead and believes that somewhere, somehow, her younger son is still alive. Joe Keller, the family patriarch, has been cleared of selling faulty aircraft parts that caused the deaths of 21 military pilots, while Ann’s father goes to jail for his part in covering up the faulty equipment. Despair sets in as the Keller family’s secrets begin to unravel, revealing the irresponsibility, guilt, and betrayal they kept hidden for so long. Tensions steadily grow as the past comes back to haunt the present with devastating results.
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Radium Girls
April 2-4 and 16-19, 2020
Based on real events unfolding in the 1920s, the play tells the stories of young women employed in the watch factories featuring timepieces with the newly popular luminous dials. Marie Curie had become an international celebrity with her discovery of the element radium, which seemed to be a miracle cure of cancerous tumors and held other promising scientific properties. The glow-in-the-dark watch faces are popular and fashionable, and the women hold well-paying positions. All seems to be pointing to hopeful futures for the women, but soon they begin to fall ill with a mysterious illness which has terrifying symptoms. The play is inspired by Grace Fryer, herself a dial painter, whose efforts to fight for her day in court are blocked by her idealistic former employer who cannot bring himself to believe the same element which shrinks tumors can possibly be causing the suffering of his employees. The play calls into focus issues of corporate responsibility and environmental safety, which are just as important today.
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The Heiress
January 30 - February 9, 2020
Shy and plain young girl Catherine Sloper falls desperately in love with the charming and handsome Morris Townsend. Catherine’s father, a successful doctor, forbids their marriage, fearing that the attraction Morris feels for Catherine may be more for her fortune than for her character. Catherine’s love for Morris is genuine but haunted by doubts regarding her appearance and lack of worldly experience. Her fears are realized when her proposed plan of an elopement fails to succeed, and she retreats into a world of loneliness. But when Morris returns and proposes to her once again, she responds in a shockingly unexpected way. His reaction leaves us to wonder whether Morris is sincere in his love for Catherine, or is rather the fulfillment of Catherine’s fears.
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The Comedy of Errors
October 3-13, 2019
This earliest of Shakespeare’s comedies is set in the ancient Greek town of Ephesus, where two sets of brothers had been separated in infancy during a tragic shipwreck long ago. Antipholus of Syracuse and his servant Dromio arrive in town, not knowing that it is the home of Antipholus of Ephesus and his servant, Dromio. Ephesian law forbids anyone from Syracuse to come into the town, and if caught doing so, will be put to death unless able to pay an enormous ransom. Egeon, father of the Antipholus twins, convinces the ruler of Ephesus to give him one day to find his long lost son. He is granted the time, and comic misadventures unfold as themes of mistaken identity, romantic disasters, false accusations and confusion take place. The befuddlement of the characters is even more fun for the audience to watch since we can tell the twins apart, but the characters cannot!
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The Spitfire Grill
April 4-14, 2019
A contemporary musical by the writing team of James Valcq and Fred Alley, this is the story of Percy, a newcomer to the Wisconsin town of Gilead, who arrives with a secret. She has been recently paroled from prison and chose to settle in the town of Gilead for a second chance at life, believing the town must hold promise since its very name seems to offer hope and healing. As she is gradually befriended by the regulars at the town restaurant, she becomes especially close to Hannah, the owner of The Spitfire Grill. Hannah’s efforts to sell the grill have not been successful, but Percy, short for “Perchance,” comes up with an idea that not only saves the restaurant but leads to a redemption of sorts, for her and others, in surprising ways. USA Today described the play as having “an abundance of warmth, spirit, and goodwill … some of the most engaging and instantly infectious melodies heard in a musical in some time.”
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Appointment with Death
January 31 - February 10, 2019
One of Agatha Christie’s most suspenseful plays, the story begins with a group of tourists visiting the ancient town of Petra in Jordan. Set during the 1940s, the world is suffering from the effects of the War, when suddenly danger, fear, and murder intrude upon their lives much more closely than any of them imagined. As they settle into a grand and luxurious hotel, mysterious things begin to occur, and strange characters seem to be lurking everywhere. When someone is murdered, it seems obvious that the culprit must be among the group of travelers. Could the murderer be among the locals who work in the hotel? This play became one of the most enduring and popular stories ever written by Christie, as it pulls the audiences into a world of intrigue, suspense, and danger in an exotic and unfamiliar land.
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Fools
October 4–14, 2018
Fools, by Neil Simon, is the comic tale of Leon, an enthusiastic young schoolteacher who seeks to cure the Ukrainian village of Kulyenchikov from the curse of chronic stupidity from which they have been suffering for 200 years. Taking place “a long time ago,” the story becomes complicated when Leon meets the lovely Sophia, so stupid that she only learned to sit down a week ago. She presents quite the challenge for Leon’s goal of freeing the town from stupidity, but he is motivated by her charm. Her longtime suitor, Count Gregor, whose ancestors placed the curse on the town in the first place, is a rival for Sophia’s attentions. No one has told Leon that if he fails to cure the town of stupidity in 24 hours, the curse will make him stupid as well.
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Baskerville: A Sherlock Homes Mystery
April 5–15, 2018
This “mystery with a twist” was called “comedy gold … the perfect mix of slapstick and thrills” by TheaterMania and “ingeniously funny” by Broadway World. Sherlock Holmes and his trusted assistant Watson must brave the desolate moors before a family curse dooms its newest heir. Watch as the intrepid investigators navigate a dizzying web of clues, silly accents, disguises, and deceit as five actors portray more than 40 characters.
