Current Season

Our plans for the 2020 - 2021 season

Dear Friends of UIW Theatre,

As you can imagine, the ongoing COVID-19 health crisis has dramatically changed the ways that we can create theatre productions and then perform them for you. Many university and regional theatres have cancelled their 2020-2021 seasons; others are moving to online formats for rehearsals and performances. Even Broadway has suspended performances for the rest of the year. Certainly, this poses an unprecedented set-back and a monumental challenge for all of us in theatre, but we will prevail. We are theatre artists, after all, and somehow the “show must go on.” We also know that theatre, by its very nature, occurs when performers and audiences come together to share a story—and it all happens live and in-person. How then do we go on given mandated social distancing?

Safety protocols have been established by our university, and we will follow them. We at UIW Theatre have spent months searching for meaningful opportunities that are as safe as possible for our students to learn and to produce theatre. There is no obvious, fail-safe solution. Our faculty and staff will be present physically on campus this fall as will many of our theatre students; other students will join us only online. Some students will pursue production work; others will not. All of our students will have the choice of whether or not to participate in any in-person event.

This fall, UIW Theatre will produce theatre, but the process and product will be unlike anything that we’ve done in the past. We are planning on two major projects that are faculty-led but student-driven: Short Attention Span Theatre and Devised Theatre. Our students will produce their own material and then share it in some form as health conditions and University protocols permit. We know that we cannot perform live and in-person for a general public this fall. We also know that everything we’ve planned is tentative at best and could change overnight.

In the spring, we hope to resume work on our production of Tartuffe, directed by Dr. David McTier, which was postponed at spring break, when the entire University moved online. If conditions permit, we will open in late February. To end our school year, we anticipate the premiere of Prof. Margaret Mitchell’s new adaptation of The Reluctant Dragon, which will be directed by Prof. Mark Stringham.

We will miss you this fall, but we are excited about our reunion this spring! The main thing right now is for all of us to stay as safe and healthy as possible. Here’s to the better times that lay ahead!

Dr. David McTier, Chair and Professor of Theatre