Francis Marion University Theatre – Current Season
The Fine Arts Department’s co-curricular production company, The University Theatre, offers three major productions each year and as many as 12 student directed experimental theatre productions. Each year more than 150 students from across the campus participate in The University Theatre’s productions. The productions act as the laboratory for the theatre majors and minors while serving the entire campus and community. Student actors and technicians learn to sustain high standards of performance through exposure to a large and demanding audience.
(Click here for University Theatre Complete Production History)
Fall Production
Vinegar Tom by Caryl Churchill
Francis Marion University Theatre
Director: Prof. D. Keith Best
Musical Direction: Dr. Brandon Goff
Blackbox Theatre, Performing Arts Center/Downtown Florence
7:30 pm Wednesday-Saturday, October 29 – November 1, 2025
The University Theatre and Music Industry programs combine to produce Vinegar Tom, a 1976 play by the British playwright Caryl Churchill. The play examines gender and power relationships through the lens of 17th-century witchcraft trials in England.
Tickets are available to FMU students, faculty, and staff at no charge upon showing an FMU ID. Tickets to the general public are $10, as space allows. The FMU PAC Ticket Office at 201 South Dargan Street is open Monday through Friday, 12:00pm – 5:00pm, or by calling 843-661-4444.
Winter Production
The Swan by Elizabeth Egloff
Francis Marion University Theatre
Director: Jessica Willis
Blackbox Theatre, Performing Arts Center/Downtown Florence
7:30 pm Wednesday-Saturday, February 18-21, 2026
“Fierce in its poetic treatment of love, The Swan provides a mysterious gloss on whether or not we descended from the beasts…and what we may feel when we find them lurking in our truest selves.”
Tickets are available to FMU students, faculty, and staff at no charge upon showing an FMU ID. Tickets to the general public are $10, as space allows. The FMU PAC Ticket Office at 201 South Dargan Street is open Monday through Friday, 12:00pm – 5:00pm, or by calling 843-661-4444.
Spring Production
Alice in Wonderland
Musical Adaptation by The Manhattan Project
Francis Marion University Theatre
Director: Prof. A Glen Gourley
Musical Direction: Dr. Brandon Goff
Fine Arts Theatre, Hyman Fine Arts Center, Main Campus
7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday, April 16-18, 2026
Version of Lewis Carroll’s classic created by The Manhattan Project, under the direction of André Gregory. Everyone is familiar with Alice’s antic adventures, and they are all here—but with an arresting difference. From the presumed innocence of the original is drawn a caustic and giddy revelation of the human psyche and the dark, unsettling shadows which can linger there. Freud and Jung, Kafka and Dali, all make their presences felt, in a piece of pure theatre that is full of truth, fun, terror and uncanny pertinence to our own topsy-turvy times.
RESERVATIONS: This performance is free and open to the public. No reservations, general admission.
Past Productions
Click here to view The University Theatre’s production history.