UT opens season with Moliere farce
10/8/2009The University of Toledo department of theater and film considers health-care reform — sort of — when it opens its 2009-10 theater season Monday.
The Doctor in Spite of Himself, written in 1666 by the French playwright Moliere, is a satire on the state of medicine at that time, when doctors were not necessarily men of science, patients expected miracles, and ego generally trumped knowledge.
Directed by assistant professor of theatre Cornel Gabara, the play centers on Sganarelle, a woodcutter who is mistaken for a doctor and does little to disabuse his patients of that notion.
For the UT production, Gordon James plays Sganarelle and Margaret Lute is his wife, Martine.
Also in the cast are D.J. Helmkamp, JoEllen Jacob, Chloe Obeid, Brian Purdue, Katie Rediger, Sal Simione, Megan Smith, Nick Torrance, and Jamie Wilson.
Style and Substance is the theme of UT's theater season, and play selections for the year will explore a number of playwriting styles. The Doctor in Spite of Himself is an example of commedia dell arte or farce. Other styles this year include expressionism, absurdism, and biblical allegory.
The University of Toledo Department of Theatre and Film will open Moliere's “The Doctor in Spite of Himself,” Monday in Center Theatre of the Center for Performing Arts. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Monday-Oct. 16, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Oct. 17, and 2 p.m. Oct. 18. Tickets are $13 for adults, $11 for UT employees, alumni, and seniors, and $9 for students. Information: 419-530-2375.
The Toledo Repertoire Theatre opens its season of EdgyRep Readings with An Adult Evening of Shel Silverstein at 8 p.m. Saturday in Owens Community College's Center for Fine and Performing Arts.
The EdgyRep series is designed to provide a showcase for controversial or less-mainstream works in a minimalist format. Performers read from the scripts, using few props and perhaps just a costume piece or two.
Jeffrey Albright will direct Kate Abu-Absi, Maggie Alt, John Duvall, Lane Hakel, and Kory Meinhart in readings of a series of sketches in which Silverstein puts a lens on the quirks of modern adult life. They include One Tennis Shoe, Bus Stop, Going Once, The Best Daddy, The Lifeboat Is Sinking, Buy One Get One Free, and Wash And Dry.
A reception in the lobby of the arts center will precede the reading at 7:30 p.m.
“An Adult Evening of Shel Silverstein” is scheduled at 8 p.m. Saturday in the Mainstage Theater of Owens Community College, 30335 Oregon Rd., Perrysburg. Tickets are $10 from the Rep, 419-243-9277, or at the door.
Contact Nanciann Cherry at: ncherry@theblade.com or 419-724-6130.