2011-2012

GEMINI

Written by: Albert Innaurato
Directed by: Winston Sutton

Performance Dates

September 22 – 24, 2011

 

Gemini is set in 1973 in the backyard of adjoining houses in an immigrant neighbourhood in Philadelphia. Francis Geminiani, a scholarship student at Harvard, is home for the holidays, sequestered in his room, listening to opera. He’s the son of an Italian labourer, and about to celebrate his 21st birthday. When wealthy and attractive college friends arrive for an unexpected visit, there is quite the commotion, especially when boisterous and eccentric neighbours join in the comings and goings. All eventually connect around a great meal. This funny and perceptive play touches upon the awkwardness of youth, the tenderness of infatuation, the loveliness of vulnerability, and the strength of friendship, family and food.


THE LOVE OF THE NIGHTINGALE

Written by: Timberlake Wertenbaker
Directed by: W. Steven Lecky

Performance Dates

Thursday, September 29 – October 1, 2011

Desire and war. Rape and revenge. Unrestrained passion. Heart-breaking song. These are the subjects of Timberlake Wertenbaker’s powerful and theatrical drama, The Love of the Nightingale. A contemporary reworking of an ancient Greek legend, the story tells of the rape of Philomela by her brother-in-law Tereus, and the subsequent horrors that occur when the cycle of violence finds no end. This is a play about speech and silence, questions met with silence, the silencing of questions. Why do people make war? Why did Medea kill her children? Why is rape still used as a means to dominate? These questions may be unanswerable, but this is a drama that sheds light on essential truths of humankind, truths we dare not forget. Written with terrible beauty and aching compassion, this inspirational masterpiece is a profound reflection on violence, love, and healing.


THE MERCHANT OF VENICE

Written by: William Shakespeare
Directed by: Jude Beny

Performance Dates

November 14 – 26, 2011

The bard’s provocative look at love, debt and justice amongst the merchants, lawyers and moneylenders in the Venice of the Renaissance. Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice revolves around the money-lender Shylock, and the “pound of flesh” he attempts to exact from Antonio (the “merchant” referred to in the title,) a creditor who is behind in his payments. Shylock’s Jewishness, and the extreme prejudice with which he is treated by others, sheds light on the timeless theme of intolerance for those who are culturally or racially different. Juxtaposed against this complex world of money, lending, the judicial system, and disturbing anti-Semitism is a lovely romantic comedy in which couples flirt, court, take risks, fear rejection, quibble, negotiate, part, learn hard lessons, make amends and reunite again. In the end, human foibles are forgiven, and mercy abides as the reigning value. Jude Beny directs the Dawson Professional Theatre Program’s First Major Production of the Season with sensitivity, panache, and humour.


THREE SISTERS

Written by: Anton Chekhov
Translated by: Paul Schmidt

Directed by: Barbara Kelly

Performance Dates

January 23 – February 4, 2012

 

In Anton Chekhov’s most famous play, broken dreams and lost ideals haunt a family of siblings from the privileged classes in pre-revolutionary Russia. Three elegant sisters live stranded in a northern backwater of a town, where winters are cold and summers swarm with mosquitoes. Moscow is the place where excitement abounds, where culture blossoms and love is sure to be found, and Moscow is where the passionate young women long to return. But Moscow is twelve hundred miles away and the sisters’ little brother is gambling away the last of their inheritance or squandering it on his spoiled, gauche wife. Barbara Kelly directs Chekhov’s classic drama of tragic duels, melancholic nostalgia and the poignant humour of the everyday in the Dawson Professional Theatre Department’s first Major Production of the New Year.


ALMOST, MAINE

Written by: John Cariani
Directed by: Jude Beny

Performance Dates

March 1 – 3, 2012

On a cold, clear, moonless Friday night in the middle of winter, all is not quite what it seems in the remote, mythical town of Almost, Maine. As the northern lights hover in the star-filled sky above, residents of Almost find themselves falling in and out of love in unexpected and often hilarious ways. Knees are bruised; hearts are broken. Love is lost, found, and confounded. But the bruises heal and the hearts mend—almost—in this delightful midwinter’s night dream.


Written by: Morris Panych
Directed by: Gary Plaxton

Performance Dates

March 8 – 9, 2012

A man contemplating suicide on a seventh-storey building ledge confronts the stories of the people who live inside the building. In this fast-paced, sophisticated and hilarious play, these seven stories lead to a charming and surprising ending. Morris Panych, a major figure in contemporary Canadian theatre, has written a light-hearted, playfully philosophical drama that poses profound questions of about life and death.


HAY FEVER

Written by: Noel Coward
Directed by: Winston Sutton

Performance Dates

April 16 – 28, 2012

Loose and ludicrous is the order of the day in Noel Coward’s sparkling comedy of manners, Hay Fever. Four members of the eccentric and frivolous Bliss family each invite a guest to visit their country home for the weekend. The son and daughter are as good-looking as they are ill-mannered, the retired stage actress mother is the epitome of a drama queen, and the novelist father delights in chaos as a source of inspiration for his latest book. There are no rules in this household, ethics are relative, flirtation abounds, and romantic relationships with the guests become hopelessly entangled. The wealthy, artistic and ultra-Bohemian hosts carry on abominably. Their outlandish behaviour causes the bewildered guests to swirl with the sheer anarchy of it all. This witty and farcical romp from the 1920’s is directed by Winston Sutton as Dawson’s final Major Theatre Production of the season.



Last Modified: June 4, 2015