Campuses ending spring with plays

    TCC students and educational theatre fans should prepare for an exciting deluge of the performance arts this month.

    SE and NE campuses share curtain times April 17-21 with the psychological drama, Equus, and the classic musical, Annie, Get Your Gun.

    Equus will be presented by the SE Campus drama department

Dr. Leonard McCormick, director, warns that the production is intended for mature audiences only.

    This shocking and provocative story about a boy who loves horses, but blinds six, features violence, nudity and mild language.

    Winner of several Tony awards during its run in professional theatre, the show is mostly known for the fascinating relationship between a psychologist and his patient.

    Brilliantly written and emotionally confronting, Equus challenges the audience as well as the actors.

    Annie Oakley, Buffalo Bill, Dolly Tate and Frank Burton team up to present Annie, Get Your Gun, which will be Stacy Schronk’s final production in the NE Playhouse on NE Campus. Schronk will retire this spring after having taught on NE Campus more than 30 years.

    Famous for such numbers as There’s No Business Like Show Business, Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better and You Can’t Get a Man With A Gun, the story features the off-beat romance between Burton and Oakley.

    Their affair starts with a shooting match and continues with wise cracks and power struggles.

    The musical itself is filled with large song and dance numbers.

    Several former students reunite in the signature roles as a celebration of Schronk’s retirement this year.

    During that same week, Carillon Theatre at South Campus will present Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead April 18-21.

    Directed by Douglas Davidson, drama instructor, the show continues the theatre’s seasonal theme of Hamlet-related productions.

    The play was written by Tom Stoppard, a playwright considered by Davidson as one of the more prominent English comedic playwrights in history.

    The plot begins with the history of the script itself in which the playwright was trying to determine who the king of England was during the time of Hamlet.

    Several other questions and debates lead to the playwright’s creating a story in which Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Hamlet’s friends and two of Shakespeare’s more minor characters, wait to perform their roles in the full-length tragedy.

    Director Davidson believes the play challenges students’ acting abilities with its high creativity level and the challenging language of Shakespeare.

    Davidson also said the script itself is a great piece of literature as well as an hilarious and unpredictable farce.

    Later this month, NW Campus will welcome TCU director T.J. Walsh in directing The Dining Room by A.P. Gurney.

    Walsh has directed several past NW productions such as Getting Out and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Six actors will portray six to seven characters each in this production opening Wednesday, April 26.