• Book by Bridget Carpenter
• Music by Tom Kitt
• Lyrics by Brian Yorkey
• Directed by Dawne Swearingen-Meeks
• Musical direction by Dr. Chris Hollingsworth

The new musical, Freaky Friday, based on the beloved 1972 novel by Mary Rodgers and the hit Disney films (and developed by Disney Theatrical Productions expressly for licensing to theatres), features a book by Bridget Carpenter – the co-executive producer and writer on the beloved TV hits, “Friday Night Lights” and “Parenthood” – and music and lyrics by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey – the Pulitzer Prize-winning composers of Next to Normal and If/Then.

When an overworked mother and her teenage daughter magically swap bodies, they have just one day to put things right again. Freaky Friday, a new musical based on the celebrated novel by Mary Rodgers and the hit Disney films, is a heartfelt, comedic, and unexpectedly emotional update on an American classic. By spending a day in each other’s shoes, Katherine and Ellie come to appreciate one another’s struggles, learn self-acceptance, and realize the immeasurable love and mutual respect that bond a mother and daughter.

Playbill

Study Guide

• Written by Will Eno
• Directed by Joey Banks

In The Realistic Joneses, we meet Bob and Jennifer and their new neighbors, John and Pony, two suburban couples who have even more in common than their identical homes and their shared last names. As their relationships begin to irrevocably intertwine, the Joneses must decide between their idyllic fantasies and their imperfect realities.

Playbill

STUDY GUIDE

• Directed by Josey Picket

One Night Only is back by popular demand! Guest director/choreographer, Josey Pickett creates a toe tapping night of top hats and tails in this musical movie inspired Dance Concert, back for one night only!
Don’t miss out on this charming night of dance.

Playbill

• Musical direction by Dr. Chris Hollingsworth

ACU Theatre is thrilled to present On Broadway Cabaret, our annual Lights Up! fundraiser. Proceeds from ticket sales and any donations received will benefit ACU Theatre and the Abilene Performing Arts Company.

Seating is at tables of four and includes a charcuterie board during the event and dessert during intermission. We also have several sponsorship opportunities:

• Diamond level
  $2,500 – includes four tables, four swag bags, four season ticket packages and program recognition
• Platinum level
  $1,000 – includes three tables, three swag bags, three season ticket packages and program recognition
• Gold level
  $750 – includes two tables, two swag bags, two season ticket packages and program recognition
• Silver level
  $500 – includes one table, one swag bag, one season ticket package and program recognition

Learn more on our Lights Up! page.

Lights Up!

Tickets & Sponsorship

• Student director Collin Mitten
• Musical direction by Kendall West
• Music and Lyrics by Adam Gwon

A heartfelt and funny story about how we search for and make connections in an increasingly chaotic world.

On a regular, ordinary day, uptight graduate student Deb loses her most precious possession–the notes to her graduate thesis–somewhere on the streets of New York City. Surprisingly, she strikes an unexpected friendship with Warren, the optimistic but struggling artist who finds and returns her notes. Meanwhile, Jason and Claire, a couple struggling to understand each other, learn how to share an apartment and move forward with their lives together. With hope and soaring songs, Ordinary Days shows how the smallest acts can sometimes have the most profound effects on your life.

• Written by Henrik Ibsen
• Adapted by Frank McGuinness
• Directed by Dawne Swearingen-Meeks

Nora Helmer is a vibrant young housewife who nonetheless suffers from a crippling dependency on her husband of eight years. He, Torvald, has always done the thinking for the both of them. In order to save Torvald from a debt, and to spare his masculine pride, Nora arranges a loan without his knowledge, and does so by forging a signature. The inevitable revelation of the crime results in an unexpected reaction from Torvald: Rather than being grateful to Nora, he is incapable of accepting the pride and self-sufficiency she demonstrated in taking care of him, and he accuses her of damaging his good name. The illusions behind their marriage are exposed, and Nora wakes to feelings of self awareness for the first time in her life. Torvald is not the man she thought she knew. They are husband and wife, yes, but they are strangers as well. And in one of the most famous, and scandalous, climaxes in all of nineteenth-century drama, Nora leaves her husband and children, determined to forge a new identity from the one she has always known.

Study Guide

• Directed by Joey Banks
• Musical direction by Dr. Chris Hollingsworth
• Book by Joe Tracz
• Music and Lyrics by Rob Rokicki
• Adapted from the book The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordian

This dynamic musical adaptation of Rick Riordan’s bestselling book opened on Broadway in 2019. When teenager Percy Jackson discovers he’s a demigod, he and his friends embark on an epic journey to find Zeus’ missing lightning bolt and prevent a war among the gods.