UAB Department of Theatre Announces 2008-09 Season of Plays

The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Theatre will present for the 2008-09 season a free short play festival and five full-length plays, including “The House of Blue Leaves,” “Scenes from an Execution,” “The Rivals,” “The Beauty Queen of Leenane” and “Rhinoceros.” Season passes are $50; for season passes or more information, contact UAB Theatre at 205-934-3236. Visit UAB Theatre online at http://theatre.hum.uab.edu/.

July 8, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala - The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Theatre will present for the 2008-09 season a free short play festival and five full-length plays, including "The House of Blue Leaves," "Scenes from an Execution," "The Rivals," "The Beauty Queen of Leenane" and "Rhinoceros." Season passes are $50; for season passes or more information, contact UAB Theatre at 205-934-3236. Visit UAB Theatre online at http://theatre.hum.uab.edu/.

Sept. 24-28     UAB Theatre's Annual Festival of 10-Minute Plays, 7:30 pm Sept. 24-25 and Sept. 27, and 2 p.m. Sept. 28, in the Alys Stephens Center's Odess Theatre, 1200 10th Ave. S. Featuring short plays written by UAB students and faculty. Admission is free; reservations will not be taken. Produced by Lee Shackleford. Call 205-934-3236. Visit UAB Theatre online at http://theatre.hum.uab.edu/.

Oct. 15-19       UAB Theatre presents "The House of Blue Leaves" written by John Guare, directed by Dennis McLernon. 7:30 p.m. Oct. 15-18 and 2 p.m. Oct. 19, in the Alys Stephens Center's Sirote Theatre, 1200 10th Ave. S. General admission tickets are $12 and $15; UAB and BACHE students $6; UAB employees/senior citizens $10. Call 205-975-2787. Visit UAB Theatre online at http://theatre.hum.uab.edu/. Hailed as "enchantingly zany" by the New York Times, "The House of Blue Leaves" follows Artie Shaughnessy, a middle-aged zoo attendant, as he tries to fulfill his dream of being a successful songwriter. Plans soon go awry as a host of eccentric characters and outrageous situations burst forth with hilarity. Winner of the 1971 Critics Award and the Obie Award as Best American Play, "The House of Blue Leaves" was recently revived on Broadway.

Nov. 14-23      UAB Theatre presents "Scenes From An Execution" written by Howard Barker, directed by Karla Koskinen. 7:30 p.m. Nov. 14-15 and Nov. 19-22 and 2 p.m. Nov. 23, in the Alys Stephens Center's Odess Theatre, 1200 10th Ave. S. General admission tickets are $12; UAB and BACHE students $6; UAB employees/senior citizens $10. Call 205-975-2787. Visit UAB Theatre online at http://theatre.hum.uab.edu/. When Galactia, a 16th-century Venetian painter is commissioned by the Doge to do a mural commemorating the naval victory at Lepanto, she shocks the government by presenting war in all its horror, cruelty and suffering. Despite orders, she chooses imprisonment over changing the mural. "Scenes from an Execution" is a contemporary parable on the power of artistic creation.

Feb. 25-March 1        UAB Theatre presents "The Rivals" written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. 7:30 p.m. Feb. 25-28 and 2 p.m. March 1, in the Alys Stephens Center's Sirote Theatre, 1200 10th Ave. S. General admission tickets are $12 and $15; UAB and BACHE students $6; UAB employees/senior citizens $10. Call 205-975-2787. Visit UAB Theatre online at http://theatre.hum.uab.edu/. Sheridan's delicious Comedy of Manners is a biting satire on sentimentalism and sophisticated pretensions. The fashionable 18th century town of Bath crackles with wit as Captain Jack Absolute, intent on winning the favor of love-silly Lydia Languish, pretends to be a poor soldier of the type she obsesses over in popular novels. Mrs. Malaprop, desiring a financially beneficial marriage for Lydia, interferes with a delightful "derangement of epitaphs."

March 21-29   UAB Theatre presents "The Beauty Queen of Leenane" written by Martin McDonagh, directed by Jack Cannon. 7:30 p.m. March 21 and March 24-28 and 2 p.m. March 29, in the Alys Stephens Center's Odess Theatre, 1200 10th Ave. S. General admission tickets are $12; UAB and BACHE students $6; UAB employees/senior citizens $10. Call 205-975-2787. Visit UAB Theatre online at http://theatre.hum.uab.edu/. In a small house on a big hill in County Galway, Ireland, the Folan women live out an uneasy truce. Middle-aged Maureen and her elderly but iron-willed mother Mag, spend their days in endless rounds of petty insults and physical threats as each maneuvers for control of their isolated existence. But when an old family friend reappears and offers Maureen a chance at love and a new life, this once-benign terrain grows treacherous and the two women, bound by blood but driven by desperation, will do anything to survive.

April 22-26      UAB Theatre presents "Rhinoceros" Written by Eugene Ionesco, translated by Derek Prouse, directed by Will York. 7:30 p.m. April 22-25 and 2 p.m. April 26, in the Alys Stephens Center's Sirote Theatre, 1200 10th Ave. S. General admission tickets are $12 and $15; UAB and BACHE students $6; UAB employees/senior citizens $10. Call 205-975-2787. Visit UAB Theatre online at http://theatre.hum.uab.edu/. The sublime is confused with the ridiculous in this savage commentary on the human condition. A small town is besieged by one roaring rhinoceros - does it have one or two horns and is it the Asiatic or the African variety? Shortly more citizens are transformed into rhinoceroses. The trampling becomes louder until one man remains, unable to change his form and identity.