The University Playhouse season is kicking off with two main stage plays this semester.
Rehearsals are underway for the first play of the season, “In the West,” directed by theatre professor, Dr. Carrie Klypchak.
The play is based on the acclaimed photographs of Richard Avedon.
Avedon’s six-year project titled “In the American West,” started in 1979, producing 125 portraits of people in the west that stood out to him at the time, according to his Wikipedia.com entry.
Subsequently, his work inspired 21 Texas writers to compose the play, described as a mixture of serious and comedic attitudes that shed light on what life was like in the west.
“The play characters are based on the “people who make us laugh, the people who make us cry … and the people who just plain perplex us,” Klypchak said before auditions last month.
Showtimes are from Oct. 4 to Oct. 11.
The second play of the semester, “Digging up the Boys,” eerily parallels to the tragedy of the six miners in Utah’s Crandall Canyon Mine in August.
“Digging up The Boys”, is about a coal mine disaster – three men trapped through mine owners’ negligence. Above the ground the women who love them fight a continuing battle against the indifferent mine owners.
“‘Digging up the Boys,” is poetic, suspenseful, emotional, and achingly poignant. It shows the struggle of the poor against the rich, good against bad, hope against despair. It is also a testament to the enduring human spirit in the face of overwhelming odds,” Dr. John Hanners, director, said.
The play was written by Texas A&M University-Commerce’s own Laura Lundgren Smith, who is a professional playwright and poet living in Fort Worth.
Showtimes are from Nov. 1 to 4 and Nov. 8 to 11.
For advance tickets on both shows, call the University Playhouse at 903-886-5900.