University Theatre releases 2012-13 season lineup

KALAMAZOO--University Theatre at Western Michigan University has announced its upcoming 106th season lineup. Highlights include a late-night cabaret featuring a special Broadway guest star, Shakespeare's "Macbeth," the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Ruined" and the Tony Award-winning "Kiss Me Kate."

Subscription packages for the 2012-13 theatre season are on sale now. They can be purchased by phone at (269) 387-6222 or in person at the Gilmore Theatre Box Office between noon and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Visit University Theatre online at wmutheatre.com.

University Theatre's fall 2012 lineup

• "Fuddy Meers" by David Lindsay-Abaire--Living an idyllic life, Claire wakes up every morning to a beautiful house in the suburbs, a very loving husband and a healthy teenage son. However, when waking up every morning with no memory of the past, this idealistic life ceases to exist to Claire. A story about aphasia, and other oddities, this comedy will put you in a cycle of laughter and tears through a comedic journey that follows Claire as she learns that not everything is better when she recollects the past.
• "The Three Musketeers" adapted by Ken Ludwig--En guarde! "The Three Musketeers" are taking over the Gilmore Theatre Complex for a knockout performance celebrating the importance of holding one's honor, the meaning of friendship and having a lust for life. The story focuses on D'Artagnan, a young country boy yearning to be a hero, and his encounters in Paris with the King's most audacious musketeers, Athos, Porthos and Aramis, as they experience an adventure of a lifetime.
• "Spring Awakening" book by Steven Sater and music by Duncan Shiek--A rock musical adaptation of the controversial 1892 German play by Frank Wedekind, in which a group of poignant, passionate and rebellious 18th-century German students take the journey from adolescence to adulthood in a powerful celebration of self-discovery in an oppressive environment.
• "Ruined" by Lynn Nottage--A Pulitzer Prize-winning play that the Chicago Tribune calls, "a remarkable theatrical accomplishment." Set in a present-day mining town in the Congo, it is a heartbreaking and captivating story about women whose bodies have become battlegrounds in the midst of a civil war.
• "Late Night Broadway" featuring a Broadway guest star--Join the graduating seniors of WMU's Music Theatre Performance program for a cabaret evening of New York show tunes with a special Broadway guest star to be announced at a later date.

University Theatre's spring 2013 lineup

• "Caroline or Change" book and lyrics by Tony Kushner and music by Jeanine Tesori--In the midst of 1963 America, during the JFK assassination and the civil rights movement, "Caroline or Change" follows the journey of a divorced African-American woman who is struggling to keep afloat both emotionally and economically, while the young son of her employer tries to make sense of the world following the death of his mother. Mixing fact and fantasy, symbolism and reality, "Caroline or Change" tells a tale of ordinary people facing extraordinary change.
• "Macbeth" by William Shakespeare--Telling the story of an epic battle for the King's throne surrounded by revenge and beheadings, this dark and compact Shakespeare tragedy explores the boundaries of how far one's temptation and desire will truly take them.
• "Kiss Me Kate" music by Cole Porter--The Tony Award-winning "Kiss Me Kate" has become one of the most beloved musical comedies of the century. A play within a play, with the interior being Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew," love interests Fred Graham and Lilli Vanessi go on a raucous adventure, finding themselves in backstage chaos before acknowledging true love.
• "Communicating Doors" by Alan Ayckbourn--When a London sex specialist from the future falls center stage into a murder plot, she and two other murder victims from the past travel through time to unravel the mystery of their violent deaths. With the help of time-traveling hotel doors, these victims race through the years of 1998 and 1978 in an attempt to rewrite their ill-fated histories.

For more information, visit University Theatre online or contact Emily Duguay at @email or (269) 387-3227.