Mainstage Theatre

Rhode Island College Mainstage Theatre proudly announces its 2007-2008 season:

September 26 - 30
You Can’t Take It With You

By Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman
Directed by Bob Colonna

One of the most popular and successful plays of modern times. In 1936, when Kaufman and Hart’s You Can’t Take It With You won the Pulitzer Prize, critics called it "superior fooling," "thoroughly amusing," "winningly tender," "all absurdity," "full of hilarious incongruities and extravagances, without any serious contribution to social or political philosophy." One critic wrote, pointedly, that New York theatre always had room for "pleasant comedies" without any "cross or disagreeable" characters.

You Can't Take It with You relates the humorous encounter between a conservative family and the crazy household of Grandpa Martin Vanderhof. Grandpa's family of idiosyncratic individualists amuses with their energetic physical antics and inspire with their wholehearted pursuit of happiness. Kaufman and Hart fill the stage with chaotic activity from beginning to end. Although You Can't Take It with You is undeniably escapist theater which prompts immediate enjoyment rather than complex analysis, it has clearly influenced American comedy. The formula originated by Kaufman and Hart—a loveable family getting into scrapes and overcoming obstacles—has been adopted as a format by most of today's television situation comedies.

November 14 – 18
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

By Dale Wasserman, adapted from the novel by Ken Kesey
Directed by Jamie Taylor

“Cuckoo is captivating.” N.Y. Post.

“Scarifying and powerful.” N.Y. Times.

“Funny, touching, and exciting.” N.Y. Daily News.

“Transforms the audience into one wild cheering section.” WNYC Radio.

Winner of both the 2001 Tony Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Revival of a Play, this poignant play tells the story of boisterous, brawling, fun-loving rebel R.P. McMurphy, who swaggers into a mental hospital and takes over. A lusty, life-affirming fighter, McMurphy rallies the other patients and challenges the dictatorship of the Big Nurse. This defiance soon develops into an all-out war between the two relentless opponents. Funny, shocking and profoundly moving, this drama is one of the classics of American theatre.

February 20 - 24
Antigone

By Jean Anouilh, adapted from Sophocles’ Antigone
Directed by Nehassaiu DeGannes

Jean Anouilh's modernized version of the classic Greek tragedy Antigone sets the story in the sleek palace of a fascist state ruled by Creon. His niece Antigone is horrified by Creon's order that the body of her brother--who led a rebellion against the state--be left on the battlefield to rot. The great strength of Antigone is that there is no easy solution to the conflict, which leads to disaster for everyone involved. With fierce originality, this powerful adaptation of the Sophocles tragedy presents a world of honor, treachery and fateful consequences.

Jean Anouilh, one of the foremost French playwrights of the twentieth century, replaced the realist works of the previous era with his dramas, which exploit fantasy, tragic passion, scenic poetry and cosmic leaps in time and space. He used Greek myth to explore the disturbing moral dilemmas of our times. This version of Antigone was performed in 1944 in Nazi-controlled Paris.

April 24 – 27
No, No, Nanette

Book by Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel
Music by Vincent Youmans
Lyrics by Irving Caesar and Otto Harbach
Adapted by Burt Shevelove
Directed by Bill Wilson

4 Tony Awards for Choreography, Costume Design, Actress and Featured Actress

3 Drama Desk Awards for Book, Choreography and Costume Design

The Outer Critics Circle Award for Production

No, No, Nanette is a lighthearted framework for the music of Vincent Youman. In this revamped version billed as “The New 1925 Musical,” No, No, Nanette started the nostalgia craze on Broadway. It is a show that takes the audience by the hand and leads it back to the Never-Never-Land of the Twenties for some good, clean fun. Things were dearer, sweeter and sillier then, and so is No, No, Nanette now. This is the story of Jimmy Smith, and all the trouble he gets into and out of on a summer weekend. Included in the score are two of the most famous tunes ever written: Tea for Two and I want to Be Happy. Standard numbers like Too Many Rings Around Rosie and You Can Dance with Any Girl at All accompany many other delightful songs. The whole experience is refreshing and uplifting!