From hilarious to poignant and anywhere in between, the theater productions of this season touch upon topics with which almost anyone can relate.
Performers from Broadway and abroad, along with IUP students and faculty members, combine to offer theate-goers a season with humor, honesty, and heart.
View the Events Calendar for Lively Arts.
The Gentleman Dancing Master
April 19-21 and 25-28, 2012, at 8:00 p.m. and April 22 at 2:00 p.m.; Waller Hall Mainstage, IUP Performing Arts Center
A delightfully silly restoration comedy filled with sly wit, colorful language, and unforgettable characters
Bernadette Peters
Helwig Distinguished Artist
Friday, May 4, 2012, 8:00 p.m., Fisher Auditorium, IUP Performing Arts Center
A Broadway icon, film actress, humanitarian, and multi-award winner, Bernadette Peters performs as the Helwig Distinguished Artist and with a full twenty-eight-piece big band orchestra (originally scheduled for September 15, 2011).
Lindsey's Oyster
October 6-8 and 12-15, 2011, at 8:00 p.m. and October 9 at 2:00 p.m.; Waller Hall Mainstage, IUP Performing Arts Center
Confronting societal delusion and personal trauma, a teenage girl awakens to the beauty and fragility of her inmost nature.
Crimson Pops
Wednesday, October 19, 7:00 p.m., Fisher Auditorium, IUP Performing Arts Center
Join us as we celebrate some of the most popular music and engaging theatrics we can muster, including performances by IUP Music Theater, Theater-by-the-Grove, Wind Ensemble, Percussion Ensemble, Dance Theater, the HoodleBug Brass, and the legendary IUP Marching Band.
In the Heights
Friday, October 21, 2011, 8:00 p.m., Fisher Auditorium, IUP Performing Arts Center
Winner of four Tony Awards in 2008, including Best Musical and Best Original Score, and one Grammy; a timeless story of life, love, struggles, and dreams, set in the New York City neighborhood of Washington Heights and filled with high-energy rhythms and dance.
Three Sisters
November 9-12 and 15-17, 2011, at 8:00 p.m. and November 13 at 2:00 p.m.; Waller Hall Mainstage, IUP Performing Arts Center
Chekov's popular tragi-comic masterpiece about longing for the past and fantasies of the future
The Old Maid and the Thief/The Telephone
December 1-3, 2011, at 8:00 p.m. and December 4 at 2:00 p.m.; Waller Hall Mainstage
By Gian-Carlo Menotti and directed by Sarah Mantel
Two one-act comic operas, sung in English, filled with expressive melody, comic fanfare, and compelling drama
Chess
February 23-25 and February 29-March 3, 2012, 8:00 p.m. and February 26 at 2:00 p.m.; Waller Hall Mainstage, IUP Performing Arts Center
Music by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, lyrics by Tim Rice, book by Richard Nelson, and directed by Jeannie Marie Brown with musical direction by Sarah Mantel.
A Theater-by-the-Grove and Music Theater co-production, a rock-scored metaphor for rivalry, gamesmanship, and political maneuvering
Wind Dances
April 1, 2012; 2:00 p.m.; Fisher Auditorium, IUP Performing Arts Center
Modern dance to the chamber wind music of Gordon Jacob and Igor Stravinsky and performed by IUP Dance Theater and Chamber Winds Ensemble
Young Frankenstein
Monday, April 16, 2012, 8:00 p.m., Fisher Auditorium, IUP Performing Arts Center
A wickedly inspired hit Broadway musical from the zaniness of Mel Brooks and his incarnation of equally slapstick and slightly bawdy movie of the same name. It's alive at the Lively Arts!