Tucked away on the corner of River Street sits the Dorothy Dickson Darte Centre for the Performing Arts. The centre houses convocation, your 8 a.m. yoga class and the university’s performing arts program, including dance, theatre, and music.
This year, the theatre will put on four mainstage productions, including two straight plays and two musicals. Those include: “John Proctor is the Villain,” “And the World Goes Round,” “Between the Lines,” and “As You Like It.”
“John Proctor is the Villain” takes place in Georgia in 2018, where a group of high school students are studying the “Crucible”. This play, by Kimberly Belflower, tackles subjects such as misogyny and sexual assault, while mentioning these topics in context of the Arthur Miller classic.
“It tells a story that is so unfortunately realistic and shines a new light on a book that so many of us read at an age where we could be told what we were supposed to think about it,” said junior Madeline Meier.
The production will be directed by Alison Morooney and intimacy and fight captained by Meier. Meier is a musical theatre major with a minor in sports psychology.
“This show is the perfect mix of laughter and discomfort with a powerful message that the Wilkes community needs to hear,” Meier continued.
She also will be playing Shelby Holcomb, an outspoken student who just recently came back to the school after leaving.
Isabella Ruiz will play Raelynn Nix, a cheerleader and aspiring goth who wants to break from what she’s used to while dealing with the return of her ex-best friend, played by Meier, and turmoil within the school.
“It is an important show,” Ruiz said. “It allows for conversations about healing, reconciliation and accountability.”
Ruiz is a senior musical theater major and is very excited for this production.
Those productions run from Oct. 3 through 6.
John Kander and Fred Ebb are known throughout musical theatre history for their songwriting contributions. The duo is famous for musicals
like “Chicago” and “Cabaret”. Their musical revue, “And the World Goes Round” includes songs from these hit shows, as well as many of their other works.
“And the World Goes Round” features Jon Liebetrau as the director, Dr. Joshua Harper as the music director, and Lynn Esgro as the choreographer. Along with musical numbers, the show features exciting choreography.
Bob Fosse is often associated with the Kander and Ebb style, as he choreographed and helped write several of their shows. Fosse was an influential choreographer and is well known for his distinct style of choreography, which will come through in several numbers. This
revue runs from Nov. 14 through 17 at the Dorothy Dickson Darte Centre.
Based on the book by Jodi Picoult and Samantha van Leer, “Between the Lines” tells the story of high school junior and
book worm, Delilah. Delilah falls in love with the main character of the book she’s reading and finds out that the characters in the book are alive and can talk to her.
Delilah jumps between the fairytale world with her prince and the real world, where she struggles with bullies and family troubles.
Featuring a score by Elyssa Samsel and Kate Anderson and book by Timothy Allen McDonald, “Between the Lines” is for everyone who ever wished they could leave their lives behind and jump into a book. The musical will be on the Darte stage from Feb. 20 through 23.
The season ends with the Shakespearean comedy, “As You Like It.” This play tells of Rosalind and her cousin Celia as they run away to the woods as Rosalind is exiled by her uncle, the Duke. Rosalind dresses up like a man and comedy ensues as the cousins meet hilarious characters while they run through the woods, followed by Rosalind’s admirer, Orlando.
“For this season, I am personally very excited to be directing two very fresh new shows, both of which were written by
female identifying playwrights,” Morooney said.
Morooney is currently in rehearsals for “John Proctor is the Villain” and will be directing the second musical of the year, “Between the Lines.”
Each semester includes two very different shows. “John Proctor is the Villain” is a very new play while “And the World Goes Round” includes songs from Kander and Ebb that were written in 1965.
“Between the Lines” was first performed in 2023 and “As You Like it” was written by Shakespeare in the 16th century.
“There is always a place for the great classics of course,” Morooney said, “and I am glad we are covering both ends of that spectrum in one production season here at Wilkes.”