Francis Marion University Theatre
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.
Fall Production
Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing
D. Keith Best, director
FMU University Theatre
Fine Arts Theatre, Hyman Fine Arts Center
7:30 pm Wednesday-Saturday, October 16-19, 2019
The Francis Marion University Theatre will open its 2019-2020 season with William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing.
THE STORY:
Young lovers Hero and Claudio are to be married in one week. To pass the time, they conspire with Don Pedro to set a “lover’s trap” for Benedick, an arrogant confirmed bachelor, and Beatrice, his favorite sparring partner. Meanwhile, the evil Don Jon conspires to break up the wedding by accusing Hero of infidelity. In the end, though, it all turns out to be “much ado about nothing”.
CAST:
Winter Production
Peter Sinn Nachtrieb’s Boom
directed by Dr. L. Dawn Larsen
Performing Arts Center/Downtown Florence
February 19-22, 2020
7:30 pm Wednesday-Friday; 2:00 pm Saturday
The Francis Marion University Theatre’s winter production will be Peter Sinn Nachtrieb’s Boom.
THE STORY:
Jules, a grad student in marine biology, and Jo, a journalism student, meet one Saturday night in Jules’s small underground laboratory on a university campus, after Jo answers Jules’s online personal ad offering an encounter that promises “sex to change the course of the world.” During his research on a deserted tropical island, Jules discovered patterns among the behavior of fish that seemed to portend a premature end to most forms of earthly life. So he has turned his tiny lab/apartment into a place to wait out the disaster and begin remaking humanity. A third character, Barbara, is the audience’s guide in her portrayal of the end of civilization thousands of years earlier.
AUDITIONS: For specific info: llarsen@fmarion.edu
CAST:
RESERVATIONS: Reservations may only be made by calling the FMU Performing Arts Center Box Office at 843-661-4444 between 12:00 and 5:00 pm. $5 admission supports the Fine Arts Performing Arts Scholarships.
Spring Production
Jason Robert Brown’s Songs for a New World
(Cancelled due to Covid-19 Pandemic)
Directed by A. Glen Gourley
Performing Arts Center/Downtown Florence
April 15-18, 2020
7:30 pm Wednesday-Friday; 2:00 pm & 7:30 pm Saturday
The Francis Marion University Theatre will close its 2019-2020 season with Jason Robert Brown’s abstract musical, Songs for a New World.
THE STORY:
It’s about one moment. It’s about hitting the wall and having to make a choice… or take a stand… or turn around and go back. These are the stories and characters of today, the Songs for a New World. The first musical from Tony Award winner, Jason Robert Brown (Parade, Bridges of Madison County), this moving collection of powerful songs examines life, love and the choices that we make. —mtishows.com
AUDITIONS: For specific info: agourley@fmarion.edu
CAST:
RESERVATIONS: Reservations may only be made by calling the FMU Performing Arts Center Box Office at 843-661-4444 between 12:00 and 5:00 pm. $5 admission supports the Fine Arts Performing Arts Scholarships.
Past Productions
Click here to view The University Theatre’s past productions.