Francis Marion University Theatre – 2022-2023
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
The Rocky Horror Show by Richard O’Brien
Francis Marion University Theatre
Directed by D. Keith Best
Musical Direction by Dr. Brandon Goff
Blackbox Theatre, Performing Arts Center/Downtown Florence
7:30 pm, October 20-22 & 26-29, 2022
As an out-of-work actor in London in the early 1970s, Richard O’Brien wrote The Rocky Horror Show to keep himself busy on winter evenings. Since his youth, he had developed a passion for science fiction and B horror movies; he wanted to combine elements of the unintentional humor of B horror movies, portentous dialogue of schlock-horror, Steve Reeves muscle films, and fifties rock and roll into The Rocky Horror Show. A major theme running throughout the musical is transvestism, which according to O’Brien was not originally meant to be as prominent as it ended up being. He conceived and wrote the play set against the backdrop of the glam era that had manifested itself throughout British popular culture in the early 1970s; he has stated “glam rock allowed me to be myself more,” allowing his concept to come into being.
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
Small Box with a Revolver by Dustin Hageland
Francis Marion University Theatre
Directed by Dr. L. Dawn Larsen
Blackbox Theatre, Performing Arts Center/Downtown Florence
7:30 pm Tuesday-Friday, February 14-17, 2023
2:00 & 7:30 pm Saturday, February 18, 2023
This is a two-person, absurdist play, Waiting for Godot-Style, that is a comedy about how people blindly follow authority, even to the point of self-harm.
Caution: this dark comedy deals with adult themes.
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
The Crying Tree by Peter Gunter CANCELLED
Francis Marion University Theatre
Fine Arts Theatre, Hyman Fine Arts Center
Sorry, due to unforeseen problems, the staging of this production has been cancelled.
A stunning drama with wonderful comic scenes, which received a special mention in the 2019 ScreenCraft Stage Play Competition. The story: in 2018, a black Congressman is caught up in a Trump impeachment battle and the alt right. Two hundred years earlier at the same plantation home, a slave is deciding whether to escape. Two parallel stories show how much has and hasn’t changed about race and politics in America.
General admission, no advance reservations. Thanks to Department of Fine Arts sponsorship, admission is free.
Past Productions
Click here to view The University Theatre’s production history.