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Department of

Theatre Arts and Performance Studies

Productions

The University of San Diego Theatre Arts and Performance Studies Department's 2011/2012 production season:

THE GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR

Adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher from the original by Nikolai Gogol
Directed by Terry Glaser
October 20-23, 2011
Shiley Theatre

In one of the greatest - and funniest - classics of world theatre, the corrupt inhabitants of a provincial Russian village mistake an insignificant civil servant for a government inspector in disguise. In the ensuing panic, humanity is laid bare in all its vanity and greed. With a wild combination of slapstick farce and sharp social satire, this hilarious new adaptation gives fresh life to Gogol's comic masterpiece.

See below for related events prior to the opening of THE GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR.

The Government Inspector graphic

THE SHAPE OF THINGS

by Neil LaBute
Directed by George Yé
November 17-22, 2011
Black Box Theatre (Camino 131)

In this contemporary college love story, awkward and dorky Adam struggles to maintain his identity while falling in love with Evelyn, a charming graduate student in Art. She shows Adam his true potential. But change comes at a cost. Ultimately his friendships are tested and manipulated in this caustic examination of love, art, honesty, morality, and the pursuit of truth. Contains adult subject matter not suitable for all ages.

The Shape of Things graphic

STUDENT LAB

February 16-19, 2012
Black Box Theatre (Camino Hall 131)

This theatre series is student-produced and provides opportunities in writing, directing, design, performance, and technical theatre.

 

GONE MISSING

Created by The Civilians
(Damien Baldet, Steven Cosson, Trey Lyford, Jennifer R. Morris, Brian Sgambati, Alison Weller, Colleen Werthmann)
Music and Lyrics by Michael Friedman
April 26-29, 2012
Studio Theatre, Sacred Heart Hall

GONE MISSING, the inspired creation of the investigative theatre ensemble, The Civilians, through real-life interviews with various New Yorkers ventures into the psychic landscape these urban-dwellers inhabit to explore the fractured and funny world of all things missing. Characters search for everything from lost keys, cell phones, shoes, dogs to loved ones in this quirky, sublimely funny, and ultimately poignant contemporary musical documentary.

Tickets on sale two weeks prior to opening at the Hahn University Center Box Office (619) 260-2727.
Tickets also available one hour before curtain at the theatre box office.
$11, general admission; $8, students and seniors.

Gone Missing graphic

THE GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR Related Events You Won't Want to Miss!

THE MYSTERIOUS DWARF

Written and performed by Terry Glaser

Sunday, October 2, 2011 at 7:30 p.m.
French Parlor, Founders Hall
Free
Patrons may visit www.sandiego.edu/cas/theatrearts for more information.

Spend an evening with Russian author Nikolai Gogol, as he takes you on a bizarre journey through his life and death. Terry Glaser, USD Theatre Arts and Performance Studies Department faculty member and director of the department's production of Gogol's The Government Inspector, brings this enigmatic writer to life in her one-person show, as Gogol tries to solve the riddle of his existence.

SHADES OF GOGOL

A variety of presentations by USD faculty across the curriculum, regarding the writings of Nikolai Gogol and the inspiration he has provided to other artists over the last 150 years.

Sunday, October 9, 2011 at 7:30 p.m.
French Parlor, Founders Hall
Free

GOGOL IN GOGOLTHA

Dennis Rohatyn, Ph.D.
Professor of Philosophy

What is the distinction between banality and evil? Why are they often confused, or mistaken for one another? How does Gogol reduce each notion to absurdity? Why is Gogol’s comic catharsis the best way to prevent banality from becoming evil, and evil from being banal? How does language both elide and erase the distinction? Why does that matter, especially if we care at all about words—and about people?

THE WEIRDNESS OF LITERATURE

Fred Robinson, Ph.D.
Professor of English

Students of literature are often taught to create "meaning" from a text through a process of abstraction, coming up with a rational, formulated thesis that is meant to calm down the experience of reading the text, of encountering and responding to its hectic, dynamic, volatile, disturbing, discomforting, and pleasurable life. Literature's "meaning" needs to be drawn from that life, not abstracted from it. Many of the most respected works of literature are manic, comic, irrational, weird. Gogol's weirdness provides an occasion to bring up instances of weirdness in literature, in both canonical and ignored texts.

Visit the Theatre Arts and Performance Studies Department website in the fall for further information: www.sandiego.edu/cas/theatrearts