The Purple Masque Season 2012-2013
In the Blood -- September 20, 21 and 22 at 7:30 P.M.
By Suzan-Lori Parks
A modern day spin on The Scarlet Letter, In the Blood, tells the story of Hester La Negrita, a homeless mother of five. Hester lives with her kids on the tough streets of the inner city and struggles to make her children’s lives successful. While Hester's kids fill her life with joy—lovingly comical moments amid the harsh world of poverty—the adults with whom she comes into contact only hold her back. For one lonely mother, it’s a tragic tale. For us, as her witnesses, it’s a chance to journey a stage deeper into our conversations about charity and loss — and about the uncertain course of blood-flow through major cities, which manages to keep only certain hearts beating.
Dedication or The Stuff of Dreams -- November 1, 2, and 3 at 7:30 P.M.
By Terrence McNally
Four-time Tony Award–winning author Terrence McNally returns with a dynamic play about how far one will go for their love of the theater. Lou Nuncle, a dedicated director of children’s theatre, and Jessie, his long-time professional but apathetic partner, bring joy to their community through running an amateur theater company. They become obsessed with buying a derelict movie theater and turning it into Captain Lou and Miss Jessie’s Magic Theater for Children of All Ages. The only obstacle in reaching their dream is Annabelle Willard — a terminally ill and manipulative widow who owns half the town. Will these naive dreamers be able to grasp the brass ring, and at what cost? The play, through a mishmash of dramatic styles, pulls the audience to consider the dedication of people in theater, the unorthodox relationships that sustain them and the dreams that propel them.
Jar the Floor-- February 28, March 1 and 2 at 7:30 P.M.
By Cheryl L. West
A quartet of black women spanning four generations, plus the white friend of the youngest,
gather to celebrate the matriarch’s ninetieth birthday in this
heart-warming dramatic comedy. It’s a wild party, one that is a lovable, lunatic glance
at the exhilarating challenge of growing old amidst the exasperating trials of growing
up.
Kimberly Akimbo -- April 18, 19 and 20 at 7:30 P.M.
By David Lindsay-Abaire
This hilarious and heartrending play introduces us to Kimberly Levaco, a sixteen-year old girl whose problems go far beyond what others her age might ever experience – a story of how she copes with a very out-of-the-ordinary physical disorder that causes her to age 4 and a half times as fast as normal. But the humor comes in the antics of Kimberly's zany, dysfunctional suburban New Jersey family: a hypochondriac mother, a rarely sober father, a scam-artist aunt, her own mortality and, most terrifying of all, the possibility of first love. This hilarious play by Pulitzer Prize winner David Lindsay Abaire puts a new spin on family dysfunction and redefines the term "young at heart.”
Tickets: $4 students $7 general public (plus McCain facility fee $1, and taxes)
Purchase at McCain Box Office 11:30 am to 4:30 pm. You may also order by phone at (785) 532-6428 or online. (additional fees will apply).
The Purple Masque Theatre is located in East Stadium, just west of the student union and the new parking garage.