By Arden Berry | Arts & Life Editor
Baylor Theatre is back this fall with three mainstage shows: a classic book adaptation, a thriller and a dark comedy.
“Sense & Sensibility”
Lisa Denman will direct an adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Sense & Sensibility” written by Kate Hamill.
“It’s a great classic story,” Denman said. “It’s been around for a while for a reason, because it has some really nice things to say about goodness in the world, and about not getting so entrenched in your own way of thinking but allowing yourself to be changed by the people around you. And that just feels like a pretty important thing for us to be talking about.”
She said this adaptation is relevant not only because of the movie coming out in October, but because Hamill introduces “gossips” into the story.
“It is this idea of everything you do is being watched, everything is being seen,” Denman said. “So I mean, in an age of social media, this idea that everybody can see what you’re doing and comment on it.”
Woodway senior Savannah Ortiz plays Elinor Dashwood and Dripping Springs senior Lainey Killian plays her sister, Marianne.
“It’s a show about sisterhood, which is something that resonates with me really well, both with my female friendships and with my sister in real life, who’s my favorite person,” Killian said.
Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 29 to Oct. 3 and at 2 p.m. Oct. 4 in Mabee Theatre at the Hooper-Schaefer Fine Arts Center.
“Earth and Sky”
Steven Pounders will direct “Earth and Sky,” a poetic thriller by Douglas Post.
Pounders said in an email to The Lariat that the play combines two genres.
“The play is a fast-paced love story and murder mystery combined, with an interesting use of time and a film-noir style of story-telling,” Pounders said in the email. “We hope to envelope the audience in the story, making them feel close to the action and a part of the atmosphere.”
To achieve this atmosphere, Pounders said the play will be in Theatre 11, a smaller space than typically used for mainstage plays. He said there will be less than a hundred audience members at each performance.
“Earth and Sky is an intimate, realistic dramatic play with mostly two and three person scenes, and simple scenic requirements,” Pounders said in the email. “The play is an exciting challenge for actors and provides a good opportunity to use the black box configuration of Theatre 11.”
Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 20-24 and 2 p.m. Oct. 25.
“Big Love”
Waco Master of Fine Arts candidate Natalie Guess will direct “Big Love” by Charles Mee.
According to the Baylor Theatre website, the play is an adaptation of Aeschylus’ “The Suppliants.”
“The original myth that it’s based on, it’s these 50 women leaving their country, leaving forced marriages and seeking protection,” Guess said.
Guess said the play “folds together realism and non-realism.”
“It feels kind of grounded, and then suddenly somebody is singing and shattering plates, and then we’re grounded again, and then now we’re all throwing ourselves to the ground, and there’s loud music playing,” Guess said.
Guess also said the show is more abstract than traditional theater.
“All the abstraction is based in reality,” Guess said. “It’s externalization of internal things, which is really cool. It does deal with a lot of pretty intense content, some pretty sensitive content, because love is messy and love is turbulent.”
Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 10-14 and 2 p.m. Nov. 15 in Mabee Theatre.
Tickets will be available for all three shows beginning Sept. 1 on the Baylor ticket website.
