AQ Theatre Presents: AUSTENTATIOUS THE MUSICAL

From AQ Theatre’s Facebook page:

Mark your calendars for AQ’s production of “AUSTENTATIOUS” the musical!

Synopsis: When the Cedar Rapids Amateur Players announce a new adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, stage manager Sam has her hands full with a colorful array of community theatre misfits: a clueless director, an egotistical writer/choreographer/leading lady, a scorned diva, an overlooked veteran, and the town’s local stoner. But when Sam begins to fall for the leading man, things really start to get complicated. This hilarious musical follows the group’s journey as they unwittingly butcher Jane Austen’s beloved classic, from chaotic auditions to climactic pirate battle and tap-off. With a jazzy score and anachronisms galore, Austentatious is terrible theater at its absolute comedic best.

Cast: Ben Avery, Marisa Sue Marie Purcey, Kenny Judge, Rachel Varley, Maris Wimmer, Stephen Douglas Wright, and Taylor Nefcy. [Note from the editor: Taylor is also Actors’ very own marketing and development intern!]

Production Dates:
Thursday, February 20th at 8:00pm
Friday, February 21st at 8:00pm
Saturday, February 22nd at 8:00pm
Sunday, February 23rd at 2:00pm

Tickets: $10 for students, $12 for faculty/staff, and $20 general admission. Tickets are available in the box office of the Performing Arts Center (open Monday-Friday from 12:00-5:00pm).

See more information on the AQ Theatre Facebook event.

“Nickel and Dimed” Opens This Week at AQ Theatre

From the AQ Theatre website:

Synopsis: a play by Joan Holden (based off the New York Times bestseller “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America) by Barbara Ehrenreich) depicts Barbara, a middle-aged, middle-class woman in search of the truth and hardship about surviving on minimum wage through various jobs and making ends meet.

Can a middle-aged, middle-class woman survive, when she suddenly has to make
beds all day in a hotel and live on $7 an hour? Maybe. But one $7-an-hour job won’t pay the rent: she’ll have to do back-to-back shifts, as a chambermaid and a waitress. This isn’t the first surprise for acclaimed author Barbara, who set out to research low-wage life firsthand, confident she was prepared for the worst. Barbara Ehrenreich’s best-seller, Nickel and Dimed, about her odyssey is vivid and witty, yet always deeply sobering. Joan Holden’s stage adaptation is a focused comic epic shadowed with tragedy. Barbara is prepared for hard work but not, at 55, for double shifts and nonstop aches and pains; for having to share tiny rooms, live on fast food because she has no place to cook, beg from food pantries, gulp handfuls of Ibuprofen because she can’t afford a doctor; for failing, after all that, to make ends meet; or for constantly having to swallow humiliation. The worst, she learns, is not what happens to the back or the knees: it’s the damage to the heart. The play shows us the life a third of working Americans now lead, and makes us angry that anyone should have to live it.

Get more information on the production’s Facebook Event.

Production dates:
October 3, 4 and 5 at 8 p.m.; Oct. 6 at 2 p.m.

Ticket prices:
$5 student rate
$6 AQ faculty/staff rate
$12 general rate

Tickets are available at the box office in the PAC
Open Monday – Friday, 12:00-5:00pm
(616) 456 – 6656

 

“Reckless” by Craig Lucas at AQ Theatre

Also opening this weekend: Reckless at AQ Theatre.  From their Facebook page:

Rachel Fitzsimmons loves Christmas- until she discovers her husband has taken a contract out on her life. Her life quickly becomes a blur of kind strangers, therapists, temporary bosses, game show hosts, strange coincidences and comic ironies. This comedy has a brain and a dark undercurrent that will engage you to the very last moment.

Directed by: Randy Wyatt
Stage Manager: Kelsey Peavyhouse
ASM: Hannah Frank

Cast:
Catie Berg
Maddie Blyveis
Jason De Jager
Kiran-Durae Lambert
Kyle McCrumb
Owen McIntee
Taylor Nefcy
Chelsea Pummill
Michael Sali
Rachel Varley

Design Team: Robert Broadfoot (Set), Bill Dunckel (Costumes), Mark Neumann (Lights), Selene Rezmer (Sound), & Tracey Walker (Props)

General Admission Tickets: $10
Faculty Tickets: $6
Student Tickets: $5

Box Office: 616-456-6656

Performance Dates & Times:
Thursday, November 29th at 8:00 p.m.
Friday, November 30th at 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, December 1st at 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, December 2nd at 2:00 p.m.

“Amadeus” Opens at AQ Theatre on Oct. 6th

Amadeus
By: Peter Shaffer
Directed by: Paul Dreher

The friction between genius and mediocrity dominate this intriguing drama about the real life rivalry between Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri. Told in flashback from the asylum where Salieri resides, the story of Mozart is told from the perspective of one who can recognize greatness but never achieve it.

Performance Information:

Aquinas College Performing Arts Center
October 4-6 at 8 p.m.
October 7 at 2 p.m.

To learn more, go to AQ Theatre’s Facebook page.

Tickets:

$10 General Admission
$6 Faculty/Staff
$5 Students

Call the box office at 616-456-6656 to reserve.

“Isle of Marvels” at Aquinas College this Weekend!

From AQ Theatre’s Facebook Event:

In honor of AQ’s 125th anniversary, the AQ Theatre Program proudly presents a world premiere of this steampunk fantasy loosely inspired by a smattering of minor novels by Jules Verne.

A string quartet finds themselves stranded on tour in Southern California when a mysterious stranger invites them to spend the night at an inn close by. The awake the next morning to discover the inn was on an island–a massive man-made island made by technological genius, Dr. Calistus Munbar. Furious at first, the quartet is stunned to discover that the doctor will make them all millionaires if they commit to living and performing on the island for a year, while the island makes its inaugural voyage around the earth. Steampunk technology abounds on the island–but so do secrets, political intrigue, espionage, doomsday weapons, killer robot women, pirates, even supernatural creatures. Will the foursome survive? And who is the mysterious woman who disappears into the clocktower?

If you only see one new play with an enormous steam-powered elephant this year, make it ISLE OF MARVELS.

Isle of Marvels takes stage at the Aquinas Performing Arts Center April 19, 20 & 21 at 8 p.m. and April 22 at 2 p.m.  For reservations, call (616) 456-6656.