Theatre Performances

October 11–October 15

State Fair

A seldom-produced gem from Rodgers and Hammerstein, this sparkling musical stands out as their sole work initially crafted for film and subsequently adapted for the stage in 1992. The storyline traces the Frake family's journey from their family farm to the 1946 Iowa State Fair. Reminiscent of Thornton Wilder's masterpiece Our Town, the Tony Award-winning State Fair follows siblings Margy and Wayne coming of age on the midway, finding love, heartbreak and deeper life lessons that they will carry with them long after the fair closes.

November 1–November 5

The Moors

On the desolate English moors, two sisters and a dog pass their days dreaming of love and power. However, when a hapless governess and a moor-hen appear, the trio's lives take a strange and dangerous turn. A new contemporary classic sweeping stages across the country, The Moors is a wild, romantic, vicious and frighteningly funny black comedy that pitches camp in the dark romantic world of 1840s England, then increasingly blows that world apart in a genre-busting mix of Gothic revenge, existential philosophy and quantum physics.

December 6–December 10

Macbeth

The UWM Theatre Department's second stop on their journey across the mysterious moors of Britain takes us to Scotland with Shakespeare's dark masterpiece and gothic love story gone awry, Macbeth. Combining elements of a ghost story, a horror movie, and a revenge tragedy, this Western Art landmark invokes the supernatural and the deeply psychological as it navigates the collapse of a power couple's souls into darkness, ravaged by the malignant rot of the ultimate sin of murder. Highly theatrical, hard-hitting, and fast-paced, this production showcases some of Shakespeare's most stunning poetry and a love story for the ages – the dark ages.

March 6, 2024–March 10, 2024

You on the Moors Now

The UWM Theatre Department's exploration of the moors culminates with an imagined reunion of 19th-century heroines from Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, and Little Women. Only this time around, these heroines resolutely decline the advances of their famous suitors and grapple with the challenge of reconciling historical romantic ideals with their contemporary perspectives on courtship. This clever play offers an empowering perspective on a group of women who not only reject their passionate suitors but also defy the conventions and societal norms expected of them.

April 3, 2024–April 7, 2024

Pipeline

Compassionate and lyrical, Pipeline brings an urgent, powerful conversation to the intimacy of the Kenilworth Five-0-Eight stage. Written by Dominique Morisseau, one of America’s most thoughtful and widely produced contemporary playwrights, Pipeline raises challenging questions about race, class, parental responsibility and the state of American education in a profoundly moving story of a mother's struggle to secure a brighter future for her son while remaining loyal to the community that molded him.

April 17, 2024–April 21, 2024

New Dramaworks Short Play Festival

Bold, funny, moving, provocative, original and fresh! View the world we’re living in today through the eyes of some of the newest emerging voices in the American Theatre. The premiere of what will be an ongoing feature of the Theatre Department season, this New Dramaworks series celebrates a collection of original, short dramatic work by UWM students and others that stimulates the imagination and prompts deep conversations.

April 24, 2024–April 28, 2024

Once Upon a Mattress

Once Upon a Mattress, a comic masterpiece based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale The Princess and the Pea, propelled Carol Burnett to stardom as Winnifred the Woebegone, a simple swamp princess hoping to win the hand of the prince despite all odds. This hilariously wacky romp is filled with witty, charming, and wonderfully romantic songs and dance numbers composed by Mary Rodgers. It serves as a delightful bookend to a season that began with a neglected gem by her father, Richard Rodgers.