The Masque, La Salle University's student-run theater organization, was founded in 1934. With the support of faculty advisor Joseph Sprissler the Masque presented its first performance on December 27, 1934 with the play Sun Up. Though there have been some gaps (particularly during WWII when the group briefly disbanded), the Masque has continued to put on plays and musicals almost continuously since its inception.
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A Streetcar Named Desire
La Salle University
Setting the Scene
The Show
Written in 1947 by American playwright Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire debuted on Broadway on December 3, 1947 and ran until closing on December 17, 1949. Elia Kazan directed the Broadway production and Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, Jessica Tandy, and Karl Malden starred as the original cast. In 1948, Williams received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Set in New Orleans, the show kicks off when aging and mentally unstable Blanche DuBois arrives at her sister Stella's apartment and is thrust into the dysfunctions of Stella's marriage to her husband Stanley Kowalski. Tension picks up through the plot as the characters spiral toward a tragic conclusion. The play was adapted into a film in 1951 and starred several members of the original Broadway cast, including Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, and Karl Malden, and Gone With the Wind star Vivien Leigh portrayed Blanche. The film won several Academy and Oscar Awards. -
Macbeth
La Salle University
Setting the Scene
The History Behind Macbeth
To anyone familiar with Shakespeare's play, the name evokes a sense of insatiably power-hungry madness. It is a show of depth and complexity that far exceeds both the limits of time and the limits of imagination, from when it was first performed circa 1605 to the modern day. Also, like all of Shakespeare's plays, the nature of Macbeth allows it to be set and staged in a variety of fashions, from the Highlands of Scotland to a diner in the Outback of Australia.
The original production revolved around the succession of the House of Stuart to the English throne following the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603. The Stuarts, who were distant cousins to the previous Tudor monarchs, are direct descendants of both the historical Banquo and Duncan, and the play was intended to show how they were divinely destined to rule both in Scotland and in England (Act IV.i). The two kingdoms were ruled jointly by Personal Union under the monarch until the passage of the Acts of Union in 1707 and again in 1800, which ultimately established the United Kingdom.
Though it is often classed with other Shakespearian tragedies, like King Lear and Othello, Macbeth also serves as a dramatized history of a united Scotland when England was but a collection of minor king- and earldoms. The eponymous anti-hero, as well as several other leading characters, is in fact based on historic persons who lived during the early 11th century AD. Indeed, despite the villification received through the play, the historical Macbeth is believed to have been among the best of Medieval Scotland's kings, and he ruled justly for 17 years before being ousted by an English invasion.
Act I: Morning After Battle
Afghanistan in the Modern AgeAct II: After the Killing of King Duncan
Afghanistan in the Modern Age -
The Drowsy Chaperone
La Salle University
Setting the Scene
The Show
Co-written by Don McKellar and Bob Martin, The Drowsy Chaperone debuted in Toronto in 1998 and opened on Broadway in 2006. The two friends had no idea that the joking spoof of 1920s musical comedy that they devised at Martin's 1997 bachelor party would morph into a hit musical of the decade. The show centers on The Man in Chair, a meek, mousy Broadway fanatic, who decides to listen to the soundtrack of his favorite fictional 1920s musical hit, The Drowsy Chaperone. As the music plays, the show comes alive in his apartment and he watches and narrates the stage cues as flappers, gangsters disguised as pastry chefs, and even a female aviatrix sing and dance across his living room. A show within a show, The Drowsy Chaperone fuses big band jazz musical numbers, flamboyant dance routines, and dynamic characters with 1920s Jazz Age culture. The Drowsy Chaperone was nominated for several Tony and Drama Desk Awards and won the Tony awards for Best Original Score, Best Book of a Musical, Best Scenic Design, and Best Costume Design. -
Noises Off!
La Salle University
Setting the Scene
Noises Off! was written by Michael Frayn and first performed in the Lyric Theatre in London in 1982. The show came to America in December 1983, debuting at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre in New York City. Noises Off! is a story about a theatre company attempting to put on a performance of "Nothing On" while juggling sardines, dealing with falling pants, multiple prop mishaps and even more sardines. The play follows the actors trying to keep things together not only on-stage, but also in their personal lives. It is performed as a play within a play and shows characters on-stage and well as behind the scenes. There is always something happening and there is never a dull moment as the characters try to make it through their performances all while not trying to destroy each other.
All action takes place in England during the 1980sAct One: Last rehearsal before opening night in the Grand Theatre
Act Two: A matinee performance at the Theatre Royal a month after opening night
Act Three: A show near the end of the ten week run at the Municipal Theatre
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The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
La Salle University
Setting the Scene
The History Behind the Spelling Bee
The Spelling Bee is a unique American tradition that has become a global phenomenon. The first official Spelling Bee was a national Spelling Bee in 1925 and was won by eleven year old Frank Neuhauser. The Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee allows fifteen year old children below eighth grade who have not previously won the bee, to compete. Each contestant is required to first win his or her school or local Spelling Bee and then the regional bee, usually sponsored by a local newspaper.
Proper spelling bee form involves hearing the word and repeating for pronunciation. The speller may then ask for the language of origin, a root word, definition or use in a sentence. Some spellers additionally have visualization techniques to help them see the word before spelling. They may write the word to themselves or picture the spelling in their mind because letters cannot be changed once spoken. Superstition is rampant: some spellers wear the same clothing for every bee the way an athlete would. In one national bee, a contestant's father paid poor people in India to chant prayers for his son's victory and pledged to feed one thousand hungry people if his son succeeded. So, no pressure.
Spelling Bee in Popular Culture
The National Spelling Bee in particular captures the American imagination. There was a period in the early 2000's during which several movies and at least one documentary on the Bee was produced, some of which were later parodied in an episode of The Simpsons. For some immigrant parents, it is the epitome of the American dream that with hard work and perseverance, victory is possible. Some parents see it as an approved form of child abuse. However, every child who succeeds in the cruel world that is competitive spelling genuinely wants to be there. They study for hours a day to be able to spell words like "antidisestablishmentarianism" off the top of their heads and to be able to determine the spelling based off an obscure language of origin.
Act I: The Morning of the Bee
A gymnasium in Putnam Valley Middle SchoolAct II: Later the Same Day
A gymnasium in Putnam Valley Middle School -
God's Favorite
La Salle University
Setting the Scene
All action takes place in home of Joe Benjamin on the north shore of Long Island, NY.Act I Scene I: Midnight
Act I Scene II: Two weeks laterAct II Scene I: A few days later
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Pirates of Penzance
La Salle University
Setting the Scene
The History of Pirates of Penzance
Pirates of Penzance is a story filled with songs, puns, lies, more puns, paradoxes, hearing deficits, leap years, duties, Queens, and of course, pirates. As the audience follows Frederic throughout his journey as a former indentured pirate, we learn about the immoral yet oddly dutiful life of a pirate. Our modern audience is familiar with pirates from the modern interpretation of the peg-legged, parrot wearing, skull and crossbones buccaneer who speaks with many "Arrr's" and "Scallywags." Yet, how accurate is this depiction?
The act of piracy pervaded the trading world for hundreds of years. As civilization flourished and sea-fare trading encompassed global economics, pirates scoured the seas looking for gold, jewels and any other loot they were able to, well, loot.
Some pirates were associated with particular countries and agreed to share their stolen goods with the government for whom they worked. Other pirates were unassociated and ransacked solely to accumulate wealth. At one point, an entire piracy nation was actually set up in former Cilicia, a present part of Turkey. Queen Elizabeth reined during the Golden Age of Pirates, a time when pirates were encouraged to plunder in honor of England. The Golden Age began in the early 1500s and ext~nded into the 1790s. However piracy was common into the 1800s around the world, so the original audience of Pirates of Penzance were all too familiar with the infamous "career." Although no longer widespread, pirates are still in existence today, attacking private and commercial boats in certain maritime locations.
Our Pirates
In Pirates of Penzance, we see pirates depicted as men full of duty. While the pirates loot and scheme, they feel a compelling sense of camaraderie among each other and an ultimate duty to a life of piracy. Not even true love can break the duty-bound union of a pirate to his vocation. In contrast to the police in the production who are portrayed as small-minded and dubious, the pirates seem to be truly noble men. The show allows the audience to question how a sense of duty and a life of crime can coexist. Is duty always noble or does it matter what the duty entails?
All action takes place at the time of Queen Victoria's reign
Act I: Morning. A Seashore on the coast of Cornwall in south-western Great Britain
Act II: Evening. A ruined Gothic chapel on the estate of Major General Stanley
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String Fever
La Salle University
Setting the Scene
In String Fever, Lily explores the String Theory as a metaphor for the motivations behind her personal interactions.
The String Theory is often referred to as the "Theory of Everything." It has earned this moniker due to the fact that, through mathematics and physics, it attempts to explain how everything works with just one theory. It has earned some notoriety for the possibility that it could combine several standing physics theories and potentially even explain the existence of gravity.
Previously, the Particle Theory was the accepted idea for studying matter. It states that matter is made of tiny particles that cannot be seen. String Theory maintains that this concept is incorrect, and that matter "particles" are actually tiny loops of string that can be used to explain how other particles and forces act. The theory states that the type of matter the strings represent depends on the direction in which they are moving. This is to say that by moving in one direction the loop acts one way, and by moving in another direction it will act in a different way.
There are several critiques of String Theory. Among them, the fact that multiple versions of the theory exist and that none have been determined to be completely right. Critics also warrant that the mathematical laws of the theory yield multiple plausible solutions, and that these laws are only used to predict, not prove, what could or might happen. Because of these problems, some people believe that String Theory should be ruled out as "unscientific."
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Guys and Dolls
La Salle University
Act I
Opening
Scene I: Broadway
Scene II: Interior Save-A-Soul Mission
Scene Ill: Phone Book
Scene IV: The Hot Box - Nightclub
Scene V: A Street Off Broadway
Scene VI: Mission Exterior
Scene VII: A Street Off Broadway
Scene VIII: Havana, Cuba
Scene IX: Havana, Exterior
Scene X: Mission ExteriorAct II
Scene I: The Hot Box - Nightclub
Scene II: The West Forties
Scene Ill: Crap Game in the Sewer
Scene IV: A Street Off Broadway
Scene V: Interior Save-A-Soul Mission
Scene VI: Night, Street Off Broadway
Scene VII: Broadway -
Arsenic and Old Lace
La Salle University
Synopsis of Scenes
The entire action of the play takes place in the living room of the Brewster home in Brooklyn. Time: 1940s.
ACT I
An afternoon in September.ACT II
That same night.15 MINUTE INTERMISSION
ACT III
Scene 1: Later that night.
Scene 2: Early the next morning.Setting the Scene...
Arsenic and Old Lace, written by Joseph Kesselring in 1939, was first performed on stage in January 1941. The play gained popularity as a result of the conditions Americans faced during the Great Depression and World War II.
During this period, Americans sought refuge from the pain and worry of their everyday lives. With a desire to forget about the era's hopelessness, many activities increased in popularity. For example baseball, already considered America's pastime, saw larger attendance than ever before. Americans also began going to the movies in high numbers.
The theater was another means of escape for people facing hard times. Comedies became very well-liked because of their ability to make people laugh in an otherwise solemn situation . In particular, Arsenic and Old Lace gained a level of admiration because it depicted comedic situations of people unaffected by the problems of everyday Americans. The audience saw Arsenic and Old Lace as a way to temporarily forget about their plight and the global problems of the era.
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Into the Woods
La Salle University
Dramaturg Notes
Into the Woods is an eclectic mishmash of everyone's favorite childhood fairy tales. These fairy tales do not stem from their ever-popular Disney versions, but from their original versions from Grimms' Fairy Tales. The Grimms' fairy tales were the first publications of many of the stories involving the characters Sondheim and Lapine incorporated into their musical, such as Cinderella, Snow White, Rapunzel, Little Red Ridinghood, Jack and the Bean Stalk, and many more.
What is unique about all of Grimms' fairy tales is that each one, although very different from the rest, is told in the style of third person omniscient, a style of writing in which the story is told by an all-knowing, objective observer who is not a part of the story. Lapine and Sondheim used this aspect of the Grimms' fairy tales and transposed it into their musical through the use of the character entitled, "Narrator", and added in a twist to make this character all their own.
The general themes outlined in Into the Woods (childhood, trusting others, family, parenting, turmoil, and hope) are the same as those explored in Grimms' Fairy Tales. Grimms' versions of the fairy tales, some slightly different than their Disney interpretations, have been cleverly interwoven with each other to create the intricate plot that carries this show, while still holding on to the timeless morals and values explored by generations of children.
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The Philadelphia Story
La Salle University
The action of the play takes place in the course of twenty-four hours at Seth Lord's house in the country near Philadelphia. The time is late June in the late 1930s, and the scenes are as follows:
Act ONE: The sitting room. Late morning, Friday.
Act Two: SCENE I: The porch. Late evening, Friday.
SCENE 2: The porch. Early morning, Saturday.Act THREE: The sitting room. Late morning, Saturday.
![The Complete Works of William Shakespeare [Abridged] by La Salle University](https://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/themasque/1112/thumbnail.jpg "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare [Abridged] by La Salle University")
