Richland College Theatre Department announces 2007-2008 season

by Shawn Parikh

Lineup of four free shows for the fall and spring semesters.

The Richland College Theatre Department presents four productions a year, along with special nights of improv and musical review. All of the shows are free and take place either in the Arena Theater or Performance Hall on campus at 7:30 p.m. Here is the theater lineup for their fall and spring semesters:

• Rhinoceros, by Eugene Ionesco. October 10-13, 2007 in the Performance Hall. Over the course of three acts, the inhabitants of a small, provincial French town turn into rhinoceroses; the central character, Bérenger, a flustered everyman figure who is often criticized throughout the play for his drinking and tardiness, is ultimately the only human who does not succumb to this mass metamorphosis. The play is often read as a response to the sudden upsurge of Fascism and Nazism during the events preceding World War II, and explores the themes of conformity, culture, philosophy, and morality.
• A Midsummer Night's Dream, by William Shakespeare. November 7-10, 2007 in the Performance Hall. It portrays the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of amateur actors, their interactions with the Duke and Duchess of Athens, Theseus and Hippolyta, and with fairies who inhabit a moonlit forest.
• Musical Review on Monday, November 19 at 7:30 p.m. in the Arena Theater.
• Mischief and Mayhem: A Night of Improv on December 10, 2007 at 7:30 p.m. in the Arena Theater.
• Guys and Dolls, music and lyrics written by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. February 27-March 1, 2008 in the Performance Hall. In New York, a gambler is challenged to take a cold female missionary to Havana, but they fall for each other, and the bet has a hidden motive to finance a crap game.
• Radio Show, from April 23-26, 2008 in the Arena Theater.
• Mischief and Mayhem: A Night of Improv on Monday, April 28, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. in the Arena Theater.