The 2017-2018 University of Wisconsin Oshkosh theatre season, Life’s a Beach, opens Oct. 5 with Edward Albee’s, Seascape, directed by Jane Purse-Wiedenhoeft. The production has performances at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 5, Friday, Oct. 6, and Saturday, Oct. 7; and 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 8, at Fredric March Theatre.
Seascape begins with married couple, Nancy and Charlie, sharing a picnic lunch on the beach as they contemplate decisions about their next stage of life. Little do they know that they are about to get the surprise of their lives. Unexpected and intriguing guests interrupt their tranquil setting and their world is turned upside down. Through a series of absurd events, Nancy and Charlie learn to value their years of marriage and to appreciate a future that promises new possibilities for moving forward.
“This play is fun, absurd and heartwarming at the same time!” Purse-Wiedenhoeft said. “Audiences will be drawn to our mid-life couple that is struggling with what is next in their relationship and lives. They are taken on a journey of surprise and regeneration that we can all appreciate, whatever our age.”
The four UW Oshkosh actors are Parker Sweeney, Garret Johnson, Kelli Wambold and Mary Margaret Clementi.
Purse-Wiedenhoeft said the four are junior and senior students, making the production a great showcase for their growth as actors in the theatre performance program.
“As students mature in their acting skills, it makes the rehearsal process much more intensive and yet easy because of the training that they are able to bring to the rehearsals and to the performances,” she said. “I am so thrilled to be collaborating with this positive and hard-working group of theatre majors.”
The playwright, Albee, won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1975 for Seascape.
Ticket prices are $14 for general, $11 for senior citizen or alumni and $5 for UWO students with ID; tickets may be purchased online and at the box office, which will be open noon to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday the week of the production, and from 6 to 7:30 p.m. evenings of performances. On Sundays, the box office will open one hour before show time.
Other UW Oshkosh theatre productions and events this season:
The Fantasticks, Nov. 16-19, books and lyrics by Tom Jones; music by Harvey Schmidt; based on Les Romanesques by Edmond Rostad, directed by Merlaine Angwall; Rabbit Hole, Feb. 15-18, 2018, by David Lindsay-Abaire, directed by Richard Kalinoski; The Tempest, April 26-29, 2018, by William Shakespeare, directed by Merlaine Angwall.
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