Performances

Dates:

• Friday, October 23, at 7:30 p.m.
• Saturday, October 24, at 7:30 p.m.
• Sunday, October 25, at 2 p.m.

Location: Venable Theatre

MCLA Theatre, MOSAIC, and Cape Cod-based theatre company P3/East come together for a special co-production of Flight by Robyn Hunt, conceived by Steve Pearson.

Inspired by the life and imagination of aviation pioneer Harriet Quimby, Flight explores the exhilaration, danger, and possibility of taking to the air at the dawn of aviation. This production brings the story to life through a highly physical approach to theatrical storytelling, drawing on P3/East’s rigorous physical training and movement-based performance practice.

Featuring performers from P3/East alongside MCLA Theatre alumni, Flight brings professional artists and MCLA graduates back to the Venable Theatre for a collaborative performance that celebrates movement, ensemble storytelling, and the possibilities of the human body in flight.

Dates:

• Friday, December 4, at 7:30 p.m.
• Saturday, December 5, at 7:30 p.m.
• Sunday, December 6, at 2:00 p.m.

Location: Venable Theatre

MCLA Theatre invites you to Everybody by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, codirected by Professor of Theatre Laura Standley and senior MCLA Theatre major, Rory DiVenuto ’27.

 

This bold and funny reimagining of the medieval morality play Everyman, follows its title character on an unexpected journey toward life’s one unavoidable destination. Along the way, Everybody turns to Friendship, Kinship, Stuff, Love, and others for help answering a question that belongs to all of us: what really matters when our time runs out?

Presented as part of MCLA Theatre’s Theatre Lab, our workshop venue for student experimentation and artistic exploration, this production extends its collaborative spirit beyond performance. The company will work together to develop the production’s design elements, creating it’s theatrical world through a shared process of experimentation, discovery, and invention.

Playful, theatrical, and surprisingly moving, Everybody transforms a centuriesold story into a contemporary exploration of what it means to be alive—and invites MCLA student artists to discover together how that story can best be told.

Date: Friday, December 11, at 7:00 p.m.
Location: Venable Theatre

MCLA Theatre invites you into the studio for an evening celebrating the work of MCLA student actors.

This fall’s Moments from the Studio features work developed in Acting, Culture, and the Creative Self and Rehearsal Ready Acting. Audiences will experience realistic scenes alongside original solo performances created by students over the course of the semester.

Part performance and part glimpse inside the actor’s creative process, Moments from the Studio brings classroom exploration to the stage and offers audiences the chance to see MCLA’s developing theatre artists at work.

Dates:

• Friday, April 16, at 7:30 p.m.
• Saturday, April. 17, at 7:30 p.m.
• Sunday, April 18, at 2 p.m.

Location: Venable Theatre

MCLA Theatre invites you to The 39 Steps, adapted by Patrick Barlow and directed by Professor of Theatre Laura Standley.

When an ordinary man is unexpectedly drawn into a world of spies, murder, secret organizations, and international intrigue, he finds himself racing across Britain to clear his name and uncover the mysterious secret of “The 39 Steps.”

Inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s classic thriller and John Buchan’s novel, Patrick Barlow’s adaptation transforms the story into a fast-paced theatrical comedy in which a small ensemble plays dozens of characters. Part spy thriller, part romantic adventure, and part loving send-up of old-fashioned stagecraft, The 39 Steps is a whirlwind of inventive storytelling, quick changes, narrow escapes, and theatrical mayhem.

 

Dates:

• Friday, April 30, at 7:30 p.m.
• Saturday, May 1, at 7:30 p.m.
• Sunday, May 2, at 2 p.m.

Location: Venable Theatre

MCLA Theatre invites you to a weekend celebrating plays, playwrights, and the power of stories brought to life on the stage.

The Staged Reading Festival offers audiences the opportunity to experience a selection of plays in an intimate, actor-centered format that puts the words and ideas of the playwright at the heart of the event. With scripts in hand and minimal production elements, MCLA student artists will bring each work from the page into the shared space of live performance.

Each reading offers a different theatrical world and a chance to encounter plays through one of theatre’s simplest and most immediate forms: actors, an audience, and a story unfolding between them.

Date: Friday, May 7, at 7:00 p.m.
Location: Venable Theatre

MCLA Theatre invites you back into the studio for a spring evening of performance, movement, and theatrical exploration.

This spring’s Moments from the Studio features work developed in Movement Improvisation and Composition and Acting Shakespeare. Audiences will experience original devised movement pieces alongside monologues and scenes from Shakespeare, showcasing two very different approaches to creating dynamic, embodied performance.

Moments from the Studio brings the discoveries of the classroom into performance, offering audiences a chance to see MCLA student artists
experiment with movement, language, character, and storytelling.

Dates: 

• Thursday, April 16, at 7:30 p.m.
• Friday, April 17, at 7:30 p.m.
• Saturday, April 18, at 7:30 p.m.
• Sunday, April 19, at 2 p.m.

Location: Venable Theatre

MCLA Theatre invites you to experience EURYDICE by Sarah Ruhl, directed by Professor of Theatre, Laura Standley, Fine and Performing Arts Department faculty member and Core Creative Arts Domain Leader.

A poetic retelling of the Orpheus myth through the eyes of Eurydice, this play is a tender meditation on love, memory, and the boundaries between life and death. Sarah Ruhl’s luminous writing brings the underworld to life with wit, imagination, and heart. Featuring evocative design and movement, Eurydice invites audiences into a world where myth meets memory and the power of love transcends loss.

Dates:

• Friday, May 1, at 7:30 p.m.
• Saturday, May 2, at 7:30 p.m.
• Sunday, May 3, at 2:00 p.m.

Location: Venable Theatre

MCLA Theatre invites you to LEVIATHAN adapted by students in the New Works Development class, facilitated and directed by Professor of Theatre, Jeremy Winchester, Fine and Performing Arts Department faculty member and Director of Mosaic.

Leviathan is an ensemble-devised work inspired by Moby-Dick and other great works of philosophy and imagination. Created collaboratively by students in the New Works Development course, this piece invites audiences into the uncharted waters of artistic invention. Come see what questions surface from the minds of Leviathan’s student creators.

Dates:  

• Thursday, Nov. 6, at 7:30 p.m.
• Friday, Nov. 7, at 7:30 p.m.
• Saturday, Nov. 8, at 7:30 p.m.
• Sunday, Nov. 9, at 2 p.m.

Location: Venable Theatre

MCLA Theatre invites you to experience WE'RE GONNA DIE by Young Jean Lee, directed by Professor of Theatre, Laura Standley, Fine and Performing Arts Department faculty member and Core Creative Arts Domain Leader.

A darkly funny, life-affirming show that blends storytelling, live music, and honesty about what it means to be alive. We’re Gonna Die reminds us that no one is alone in their struggles, and that laughter and song can be powerful acts of survival. MCLA’s ensemble version reimagines Young Jean Lee’s acclaimed work for a collective cast of performers, creating a communal experience of music, humor, and connection.