Our 2008–2009 Main Season:
This is the place for GREAT THEATRE!
We've chosen a four productions that will showcase the marvelous talent that the Rapids area has, and we KNOW you are going to love these plays! (And we think you would enjoy being a part of them...think about auditioning. WRCT is ALWAYS looking for new people to join us onstage AND behind the scenes!)
This season, we've got magic and hard times and boats and laughter....and FIREWORKS!
Intrigued? Read on....
Our Fall 2008 production:
Bell, Book and Candle
By John Van Druten
Directed by Charles Buchs-Hammonds
Performance Dates:
November 7–9; 12–15, 2008
7:30 PM (Sunday afternoon Matinee: 2:00 PM)
Remember the 60's TV show, "Bewitched?" Remember Samantha, Darin, and that set of eclectic characters? THIS is the play that show was based upon!
THE STORY: Gillian Holroyd cast a spell over an unattached publisher, partly to keep him away from a rival and partly because she is attracted to him. He falls head over heels in love with her at once, and wants to marry her. But witches, unfortunately, cannot fall in love, and this minute imperfection leads into a number of difficulties." Ultimately the lady breaks off with her companions in witchery, preferring the normal and human love offered her by the attractive publisher, Shepherd Henderson, but before the happy conclusion of the romance, Gillian comes very near losing him—but doesn't.
Read more!
Our Winter 2009 production:
Off the Map
By Joan Ackermann
Directed by Jody Steinke
Performance Dates:
February 20 –22; 25 –28, 2009
7:30 PM (Sunday afternoon Matinee: 2:00 PM)
We welcome 2009 with a production that will warm your heart, and touch upon a subject that WRCT has never before attempted.
THE STORY: Bo Groden looks back on the summer when she was eleven years old and everything changed. Serving as narrator, she sifts through the memories of an unusual childhood spent in the wilds of northern New Mexico where her enterprising parents forged a rich life off the land and the local dump. Desperate to escape as a child, longing for modern amenities and normalcy, now she yearns to go back. This is the summer when Charley, her father, spiraled into depression. Usually able to build and fix anything, he is unable to fix himself, but the family carries on, thanks in large part to the earthy strength of Arlene, Bo's resourceful mother. George, Charley's lifelong friend, offers watercolors and silence. Lonely for her father's companionship, Bo amuses herself by writing letters for free samples and praying for a miracle to deliver her from a mother who gardens in the nude and a father who cannot stop weeping. The miracle arrives in the form of William Gibbs, a displaced IRS agent who arrives in a fever and never leaves. As the artist within William emerges, each member of the family is touched and affected. By the time a boat arrives at the end of the play, the family's sails have been filled. This offbeat evocative comedy has a compelling and lyrical quality. Through unswerving love and compassion, the characters stumble into glimpses of self-discovery and unexpected moments of grace. Read more!
Our Spring 2009 production:
You Can't Take it With You
By Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman
Directed by Mike Edgren
Performance Dates:
May 1 –3; 6–9, 2009
7:30 PM (Sunday afternoon Matinee: 2:00 PM)
For our spring show
we give you one of the most popular and successful plays of modern times.
THE STORY: At first the Sycamores seem mad, but it is not long before we realize that if they are mad, the rest of the world is madder. In contrast to these delightful people are the unhappy Kirbys. The plot shows how Tony, attractive young son of the Kirbys, falls in love with Alice Sycamore and brings his parents to dine at the Sycamore home on the wrong evening. The shock sustained by the Kirbys, who are invited to eat cheap food, shows Alice that marriage with Tony is out of the question. The Sycamores, however, though sympathetic to Alice, find it hard to realize her point of view. Meantime, Tony, who knows the Sycamores are right and his own people wrong, will not give her up, and in the end Mr. Kirby is converted to the happy madness of the Sycamores, particularly since he happens in during a visit by an ex-Grand Duchess, earning her living as a waitress. No mention has as yet been made of the strange activities of certain members of the household engaged in the manufacture of fireworks; nor of the printing press set up in the parlor; nor of Rheba the maid and her friend Donald; nor of Grandpa's interview with the tax collector when he tells him he doesn't believe in the income tax. Read more!
Our Youth production:
After the Rain King
By Steph DeFerie
Directed by Stephanie Hoerth
THE STORY: Glory may be just a little kid but she's in big trouble - when she accidentally opens an old, locked book she finds in an old trunk, a mysterious stranger jumps out! “I am the Rain King, The Lord Of Tears, The Master Of Sorrows, The Commander of the Darkness in your soul! I suck the happiness from your thought and leave only fear and desolation. Destruction is my bread and butter, loss is my meat and drink!” And Glory is the one responsible for releasing him from his prison and setting him free in the world again! Before she can stop him, he kidnaps Pete and disappears back into the book. To rescue Pete, Glory and her friends must follow and soon find themselves jumping from story to story - battling pirates in “Treasure Island”, helping young Arthur pull the sword from the stone in “Le Morte D'arthur” facing down bank robbers in “Prairie Rustlers” and even becoming bugs! Can they save Pete, not to mention the rest of the world, from this dangerous monster or will he cast his evil spell over us all. A funny chilling and imaginative play with an exciting climax. Read more!
Look for more information on these productions soon!
Gilbert and Jaylee Mead Auditorium
Centralia Center
Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin
