Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
Wright State University’s 2022-2023 season offers a variety of classic and contemporary dramas as well as lighthearted musicals and exciting dance.
The Festival Playhouse lineup includes Agatha Christie’s legendary murder mystery “The Mousetrap,” Alan Menken, Glenn Slater, Cheri Steinkellner and Bill Steinkellner’s musical “Sister Act,” Tom Stoppard’s sophisticatedly witty “Arcadia,” and Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden and Adolph Green’s landmark musical “On the Town.” The downstairs Herbst Theatre will house intimate productions of Steve Martin and Edie Brickell’s bluegrass musical “Bright Star” and Moises Kaufman and the Tectonic Theatre Project’s relevant, timely drama “The Laramie Project.”
Organizers view the season as properly balancing important educational opportunities for the students and entertaining options for the audience.
“We want to serve our students in ways that will help them grow as early career professionals,” said Joe Deer, artistic director. “Over the span of four years, we want our students to experience a range of different experiences and styles. We want them to grow and learn with different kinds of material. When our students graduate, we want them to be ready to meet the profession where it is today and not where it was 10, 20 or 30 years ago. We also want to provide our audiences with opportunities to see young, emerging talent in the highest quality productions we can put together from the performances to the design.”
The season also marks the first for Wright State Theatre as part of the university’s newly formed School of Fine and Performing Arts. Deer anticipates more collaboration within the various programs on shared projects. For example, “On the Town” will feature a full onstage orchestra, music directed by F. Wade Russo, due to the inclusion of students from the music program.
