Production Archives

Director/Choreographer – Jeremy Varner
Assistant Choreographer – Lily Balogh
Vocal Director – Jeannette Lipford
Assistant Vocal Director – Kristin Ward
Lighting Design – Jim Elliott
Costume/Makeup Design – Mariel Ardila
Production Coordinator – Gary Varner
Stage Manager – Courtney Rhodes

Based on Old Possum’s Book Of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot

Broadway’s long-running musical sensation CATS makes its debut as the 2017 ACU Homecoming Musical. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s clever, magical, and glamorous felines will perform Oct. 20-22 in the Abilene Civic Center. Based on T.S. Eliot’s whimsical collection of poems and featuring such celebrated songs as “Memory,” “Old Deuteronomy,” and “Mr. Mistoffelees,” CATS is an international phenomenon running for 21 years in London and 18 years on Broadway, with a recent return to the Great White Way. Don’t miss ACU Theatre’s spectacular Homecoming production!

By Margaret Edson
Directed by Kari Hatfield

“I was dismayed to discover that the play would contain elements of… humor.” So says Dr. Vivian Bearing as she introduces her story to us. Wit is a brilliantly crafted and unflinching look at the last chapter of Ms. Bearing’s life. Armed with a sharp intellect, this professor of 17th century poetry wrestles with the ultimate question of what it means to be alive.

Study Guide

by‭ ‬Kate Hamill
Adapted from the Novel by‭ ‬Jane Austen
Directed by‭ ‬Adam Hester

A Gossip-Driven Comedy of Reason and Romance

“Perhaps the greatest stage adaptation of this novel in history‭.‬”‭ ‬—‭ ‬Huffington Post

This isn’t your grandma’s Jane Austen‭! ‬This rollicking‭, ‬ingeniously-theatrical new adaptation follows the Dashwood sisters‭ ‬–‭ ‬sensible Elinor and passionate Marianne‭. ‬When they lose their fortune‭, ‬marriage is their only hope‭. ‬But can love‭, ‬and marriage‭ ‬go together for women without money‭? ‬Surrounding them is a company of shape-shifting actors who transform into characters‭, ‬animals‭, ‬and even scenery to bring Austen’s story to life in this goofy‭, ‬joyous and deeply moving play‭.‬

Audience Study Guide (PDF)

By Donald Margulies

In this OBIE award-winning play, Jonathan Waxman is the art scene’s new visionary, with a waiting list to buy paintings he has yet to paint. In London for his first European show, Waxman is under the gun. He could be spurned, causing the American art world to re-evaluate his work, or he could be further lionized, causing more demand and greater expectations. Either way, something is missing. On impulse, he escapes to the country to search for the woman who was his first love and early inspiration and reconnect with those feelings that first made him an artist.

Study Guide (PDF)

Directed by Dawne Meeks
Words and music by Benj Pasek & Justin Paul
Book by Timothy Allen McDonald
Based on the book James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

When James is sent by his conniving aunts to chop down their old fruit tree, he discovers a magic potion which results in a tremendous peach. Suddenly, James finds himself in the center of the gigantic peach on a journey with human-sized insects with equally oversized personalities. Thanks to James’ quick wits and creative thinking, the residents learn to live and work together to be alive.

Study Guide (PDF)