Each year, the UW–Madison Department of Theatre and Drama produces several exciting productions in impressive spaces including the 291-seat Ronald E. Mitchell Theatre and the Gilbert V. Hemsley, Jr. Theatre, a flexible black box space.
Performances times are regularly Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 PM and Sundays at 2:00 PM unless otherwise noted.
Department of Theatre and Drama productions are made possible through the generous support of the Anonymous Block Grant.
Please Note: As of March 12, 2022 UW-Madison no longer requires face coverings in campus buildings. UW-Madison does not have a vaccination requirement for attendance. Safety measures including face coverings, capacity limits, and seating for social distancing are subject to change as directed by UW–Madison guidelines for campus events.
Spring Semester tickets will go on sale January 14, 2024
COMING SOON!
TWELFTH NIGHT
Conceived by Kwame Kwei-Armah and Shaina Taub, Music and Lyrics by Shaina Taub
November 9-19, 2023
Ronald E. Mitchell Theatre
Director: Aimée Hayes
Music Director: Erin McConnell
Choreographer: Aaron Thielen
Twelfth Night is a rousing contemporary musical inspired by Shakespeare’s classic comedy about love, mistaken identity, and self-discovery. Separated from all she knows after a wreck at seas, young Viola washes up on the shores of Illyria, and disguises herself as a man in order to survive. Sent to court a Countess on behalf of her new employer, she instead falls hard for him herself! Hilarious mishaps ensue as she navigates this strange and wonderful new land, finding her true self and true love in the process. Featuring an original jazz-funk score by Shaina Taub, this fresh take on Shakespeare’s classic delivers its meaningful messages of empathy and compassion with music, joy, and lots of laughs.
Content Advisory: This play contains mature content and depictions of physical violence.
This production is made possible through generous support from the Anonymous Block Grant.
WINE IN THE WILDERNESS
By Alice Childress
March 7-17, 2024
Ronald E. Mitchell Theatre
Director: Mark H.
It’s 1964. As race riots blaze on the streets outside his Harlem home, painter Bill Jameson works feverishly to complete a triptych depicting his vision of Black womanhood. While he struggles to find his final muse — the “messed up chick” — his friends discover the perfect model in Tommy, a woman they meet at a bar after she’s been burned out of her home in the riots. However, Tommy is more than she seems, and her presence changes everything. Celebrated writer Alice Childress offers an intimate and raw study of race, gender, and class that explores how the Black community perceives, defines, and affirms itself from within.
Content Advisory: This play contains mature content and racial epithets.
This production is made possible through generous support from the Anonymous Block Grant.
ORLANDO
By Virginia Woolf, adapted by Sarah Ruhl
April 18-28, 2024
Ronald E. Mitchell Theatre
Director: TBA
Based on the classic feminist novel by Virginia Woolf (1928), Sarah Ruhl’s contemporary adaptation of Orlando is a lyrical and highly theatrical tale about the life of poet Orlando as they strive to find true love and authentic artistic expression amidst shifting tides of history, cultural norms, and gender roles and expectations. As Orlando seeks real love and to write the perfect poem, they travel the world, through time, changing from man to woman, in a profound, moving, and funny story described as the most charming love letter in literature.
Content Advisory: This play contains mature content.
This production is made possible by support from the Anonymous Block Grant.
CLOSED
MS. HOLMES & MS. WATSON – APT 2B
by Kate Hamill, Cheerfully desecrating the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
July 27-August 6 and September 14-24, 2023
Ronald E. Mitchell Theatre
Directed by Emily A. Rollie
An irreverent, darkly comic, modern take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous sleuth and sidekick, this fast-paced romp re-examines the world’s most famous detective with a bold new feminist lens. In this highly theatrical, small-cast escapade, oddball female roommates Sherlock (yes, it’s also a girl’s name—wait, is it a girl’s name? Is it even a name?) Holmes & Joan Watson join forces to emerge from pandemic fog as a deeply codependent, quasi-dysfunctional Odd Couple adventure duo—solving mysteries and kicking butts, until they come face to face with a villain who seems to have all of the answers.
Content Advisory: This play contains mature content and language, and depictions of physical and gun violence and drug use. Fog and haze effects are used in the production.
This production is made possible through generous support from the Brittingham Trust and the Anonymous Block Grant.
Check out this preview article from the SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
The Isthmus calls the show “delightful” and “if you love a buddy adventure with fight scenes, camp, and general silliness, this could be the play for you.” Read the full REVIEW
The Daily Cardinal calls the show “endlessly endearing and hilarious.” Read the full REVIEW