The Nebraska Repertory Theatre’s 47th season features five shows, including two one-night only Destinations performances, running through Aug. 10 in UNL’s Temple Building.
The three main shows are the Christopher Durang comedy “Vanya and Sonia and Mash and Spike,” Annie Baker’s “Circle Mirror Transformation” and Paul Slade Smith’s “Unnecessary Farce. The one-night only performances are Jon Robin Baitz’s staged reading of “Other Desert Cities” on July 29 and the premiere performance of SloDance, Lincoln’s newest modern dance company, in “P(l)aying Due(t)s on Aug. 5.
“Circle Mirror Transformation,” which opens July 17, is part of a trilogy that explores characters in the fictional town of Shirley, Vt. In the production, Marty, the head of the local art center, is launching her first creative drama class for adults. As she guides the class, the four participants uncover surprising barriers and the ability to overcome them.
The show won an Obie for Best Play in 2010.
“Circle Mirror Transformation” shows in the Temple Building’s Studio Theatre. All other Rep performances are in the Temple’s Howell Theatre.
The 7:30 p.m. July 17 performance of “Circle Mirror Transformation” includes a post-show reception. Other show times are 7:30 p.m. July 18, 25, 30, 31, and Aug. 9; and 2 p.m. Aug. 3.
Season passes, which allow for unlimited attendance to all three of the main shows and free admission to the Destinations performances, are available for $60 general admission; $55 faculty, staff, senior citizens and active military; and $35 students and Osher Lifelong Learning Institute members. Individual tickets to the three main shows are available at $25, $22 and $12, while tickets to the Destinations series are $7 each.
The season passes and individual tickets are available at the Lied Center for Performing Arts box office weekdays and in the Temple Building lobby one-hour prior to a performance. Tickets can also be purchased online at http://unl.edu/rep or by calling (402) 472-4747.
The Nebraska Repertory Theatre is the professional theatre within UNL’s Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film. The Rep employs actors, directors and designers from across the country.
The other performance dates and times for the Rep’s 47th season are listed below.
“Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” — 7:30 p.m. July 19, Aug. 1 and 8; 2 p.m. July 27; Temple Building, Howell Theatre
“Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” was the most produced play in the United States in 2013 and was named the year’s best play by the Tony Awards, Drama Desk and New York Drama Critics Circle.
The play opens with aging siblings Vanya and Sonia bemoaning how their lives have slipped away as they sit drinking morning coffee in a rural Pennsylvanian manse paid for by Masha, their sister and famous actress. However, the situation it turned upside down as the self-absorbed Masha and her beefcake boy toy Spike show up unannounced.
“Unnecessary Farce” — 7:30 p.m. July 23, 24, 26, Aug. 2, 6 and 7; 2 p.m. Aug. 10; Temple Building, Howell Theatre
“Unnecessary Farce,” winner of nine regional theatre awards, is set in two identical rooms of a cheap hotel — a sting room rigged with a camera (obscured by a ficus plant) feeding video to a second room for the police. The comedy mixes two recent police academy graduates, a mayor with a lot of explaining to do, an attractive accountant convinced the mayor is “cooking” the city’s books, and several Mafia types who will stop at nothing to avoid detection.
Destinations Series
“Other Desert Cities” — 7:30 p.m. July 29; Temple Building, Howell Theatre
This staged reading of Jon Robin Baitz’s “Other Desert Cities” features the Rep’s artistic director Virginia Smith and Actor’s Equity Association actors Kristie Berger, Lawrence MacGowan and Carolyn Popp. Joshua Waterstone, the Rep’s director of audience development, directs the performance. The story explores a sister’s desire to disclose in a memoir. A 2011 Broadway hit, “Other Desert Cities” earned a 2012 Pulitzer Prize nomination for Baitz.
“P(l)aying Due(t)s” — SloDance; 7:30 p.m. Aug. 5; Temple Building, Howell Theatre
Premiere performance of Susan Levine Ourada’s new modern dance company. Show features choreography by Ourada, Alexander Beller, Paul Besaw, Clare Byrne and Jenna Riegel. Dancers include Ourada, Besaw, Nowelle Bohaty, Ekida Lourie and Joie Meador.
