2008 – 2009

Theatre Season

The Bluest Eye
By Lydia Diamond
Adapted from the Toni Morrison novel

OCTOBER 1 – 4, 8 – 11, 2008 ~ 7:30PM

OCTOBER 4 & 11, 2008 ~ 2:30PM, ETS

Tickets: $7.50 - $12.50

Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye is a story about the tragic life of a young black girl in 1940's Ohio. Eleven year-old Pecola Breedlove wants nothing more than to be loved by her family and schoolmates. Instead, she faces constant ridicule and abuse. Blaming her dark skin, she prays for blue eyes, sure that love will follow.

Hamlet
By William Shakespeare 

NOVEMBER 13  -15, 20 – 22, 2008 ~ 7:30PM, Ira Aldridge Theater

Tickets: $7.50 - $12.50

 Prince Hamlet is depressed. Having been summoned home to Denmark from school in Germany to attend his father’s funeral, he is shocked to find his mother Gertrude already remarried. The Queen has wed Hamlet’s Uncle Claudius, the dead king’s brother. To Hamlet, the marriage is “foul incest.” Worse still, Claudius has had himself crowned King despite the fact that Hamlet was his father’s heir to the throne. Hamlet suspects foul play and seeks to prove that his uncle murdered his father.

U.G.L.Y., a new musical
Book, music and lyrics by Darius Smith
A co-production with the Howard Players

JANUARY 30 – 31, FEBRUARY 1, 2009, ETS

Tickets: $7.50 – $12.50

Geena is a young, 11-year old girl struggling to find herself in Beulah, Alabama.  Dealing with a drug-addicted mother, a successful, yet absent auntie, a spiteful school bully, Kiki, and an egocentric best friend, Delonte, Geena searches for balance living in a world rooted deeply in physicality.  Act I is her adventure to become Beulah's first female 6th grade wrestler.  Act II is her journey of "re"-discovery as high school graduation quickly approaches.

Company
By George Furth
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

MARCH 5 – 7, 11 – 14, 2009 ~ 7:30PM

MARCH 7 & 14, 2009 ~ 2:30PM, Ira Aldridge Theater

Tickets: $8.00 - $15.00

On the night of his 35th birthday, confirmed bachelor Robert contemplates his unmarried state. In vignette after hilarious vignette, we are introduced to "those good and crazy people," his married friends, as Robert weighs the pros and cons of married life. In the end, he realizes being alone is "alone, not alive."

2009 Spring Dance Concert

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF DANCE:  Dr. Sherrill Berryman-Johnson

APRIL 2009; Ira Aldridge Theater

DANCE...

a timeless tradition, speaks the voices of our people…

It parallels the circle of our culture:

the continuum of our roots as People of African Descent. 

It mirrors from generation to generation our power and strength in politics: 

where we stand, what we believe, and our strong will to do. 

It signifies the foundation and wisdom of family and life.

Dance is our language, speaking the voices of our people, our culture.

Each choreographer communicates a distinctive voice and style shaped and molded
through the body, mind, soul of Howard University Dance Majors.   These students
are learning and working through a range of studio technical languages in addition
to discovering their own capabilities to hear, see, and speak as individuals, yet
being guided to synthesize as one; the visionary message being delivered.