The 63rd season of Emporia State University Summer Theatre, a favorite Emporia tradition, continues this June and July. The new season features four shows selected to please audiences of all ages. The line-up includes “The Star-Spangled Girl” by Neil Simon, “Don’t Hug Me” by Paul and Phil Olson, “The Top Job!” by Robin Moyer Chung and Brian Feinstein, and “Miracle on South Division Street” by Tom Dudzick. All performances will be at the Karl C. Bruder Theatre in King Hall on the Emporia State University campus. Tickets are available from the Memorial Union Ticket Office at 620-341-6378 or online at tickets.emporia.edu.
Under the direction of Theresa Mitchell, “The Star-Spangled Girl” is a classic Neil Simon tale of romance and comedy. The show’s main characters include a duo of publishers who use their San Francisco apartment as an office for their “protest magazine”, and an Olympic swimmer and all-American girl, who moves into another apartment on the same floor. A love triangle soon emerges between the three, adding onto their already hectic lives filled with fielding calls from an irate printer and distracting the landlady. “The Star-Spangled Girl” runs June 14-17 at 7:30 pm. The production will be designed by Rick Rasmussen, a Seattle-area set designer who returns to ESU for his 24th season of summer theatre.
The second production of the summer season is the musical comedy “Don’t Hug Me” by Paul and Phil Olson, directed by Jim and Lindy Bartruff; the musical director is Anna Ryan. It’s the coldest day of the year in Bunyan Bay, Minnesota when a slick karaoke salesman arrives at the bar and turns the locals’ lives upside down. Bar owner, Gunner Johnson, wants to sell the
business and move to Florida. Clara, his wife and former Winter Carnival Bunyan Queen, wants to stay. Bernice Lundstrom, the pretty waitress, wants to pursue a singing career. Her fiancé, Kanute Gunderson, wants her to stay home. It’s a battle of wills, and when a fast-talking salesman, Aarvid Gisselsen, promises to bring romance into their lives through the ‘magic’ of karaoke, all heck breaks loose! It’s “Fargo” meets “The Music Man” without the blood and the band. Bundle up for “Don’t Hug Me” as it runs June 28-July 1 at 7:30 pm.
The third show of the season is another musical. “The Top Job!” by Robin Moyer Chung and Brian Feinstein. Based on the popular children’s book by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel, the play opens on career day at school, and everyone’s parents have really cool jobs, except for Jenna’s dad, who changes light bulbs for a living. But when Jenna goes to work with her dad for a day in New York City, she discovers that he might just have the coolest job of all! People of all ages will have something to look forward to when “The Top Job!” runs July 12-15 at 7:30 pm. Two ESU theatre alums return to design the production Cara McGlynn (BFA, 2008) lives and works in Minneapolis, MN. She will design the costumes. Cara Lohkamp (BFA, 2014) will design the sets.
The final show of the summer season is Tom Dudzick’s charming new comedy “Miracle on South Division Street.” The show explores the lives of the Nowak family in Buffalo, New York. Clara, the mother, will not be brought down by the unfortunate circumstances of the poor area surrounding her, and runs a soup kitchen with a smile on her face and her faith in God on her mind. Her daughter, Ruth, hopes to “go public” with the family legend—the Virgin Mary materializing in the barbershop of Clara’s father in 1942—with a one-woman play about the sacred event. However, the whole family’s faith is shaken after a deathbed confession threatens to unravel the Nowak family legend. Experience the hilarious and heartfelt results of a family coming together in spite of adversity along with the Nowaks when “Miracle on South Division Street” runs July 26-29 at 7:30 pm.
Technical direction for the theatre season is provided by Chris Lohkamp; Lohkamp will also be the scenic designer for “Miracle on South Division Street.” Guest designer Rick Rasmussen returns for his 24th season to design the sets and costumes for “The Star-Spangled Girl” and “Don’t Hug Me.” Costume designers for the season include Amanda Dura (“Miracle on South Division Street”) and 2008 Alum Cara McGlynn (“The Top Job!”) 2014 Alum Cara Lohkamp is the scenic designer for “The Top Job!” The 2016 Summer Theatre company members are Samantha Garcia (Emporia), Evan Grantham (Girard), Isabella Harvey (McPherson), Stephen Holbert (Olathe), Torin Horvik (Fargo, ND), Tyler Lang (Wichita), Kun Li (YanTai ShanDong, China), Paige Lundin (Wichita), Matthew Mahr (Overland Park), Rachel Muirhead (Hays), McKenzie Needham (Andover), Fran Opheim (Olathe), Kaitlin Pelegrin (Olathe), Zulema Renteria (Emporia), Justin Scheck (Gardner), Madison Joye Schultz (Topeka), Nathan Dale Short (Paola), Maddie Simmons (Emporia), Semaj Smith (Salina), Elizabeth Tate (Sand Springs, OK), and Logan Wohlford (Valley Center).
For tickets to these performances, visit the Memorial Union Ticket Office or call 620-341-6378.
Tickets are also available online. For media inquiries and more information about the season, contact Jen Newell, at 620-341-5704 or jnewell2@emporia.edu.