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Department of Theatre

Department of Theatre

Past Productions

Vanderbilt University Theatre has a long and established tradition of producing classical and contemporary works that fulfill Aristotle's greatest charge: "To teach and to entertain." Listed below are the mainstage productions that Vanderbilt University Theatre has presented over the course of its storied history. Pictures of VUT's most recent productions can be found by following the links. Enjoy!

2019-2020 Season

2018-2019 Season

2017-2018 Season

2016-2017 Season

2015-2016 Season

2014-2015 Season

2013-2014 Season

2012-2013 Season

2011-2012 Season

2010-2011 Season

2009-2010 Season

2008-2009 Season

2007-2008 Season

2006-2007 Season

2005-2006 Season

2004-2005 Season

2003-2004 Season

2002-2003 Season

2001-2002 Season

2000-2001 Season

1999-2000 Season

  • Arcadia by Tom Stoppard
  • Desdemona by Paula Vogel
  • Godspell by Stephen Schwartz
  • The School for Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan

1998-1999 Season

1997-1998 Season

1996-1997 Season

1995-1996 Season

  • Reckless by Craig Lucas
  • The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
  • All’s Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare
  • What the Butler Saw by Joe Orton

1994-1995 Season

1993-1994 Season

1992-1993 Season

1991-1992 Season

  • The Admirable Crichton by J.M. Barrie
  • The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare
  • Bloody Poetry by Howard Brenton
  • Antigone by Sophocles

1990-1991 Season

  • Scapin by Moliere
  • Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee
  • Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen
  • Man and Superman by George Bernard Shaw

1989-1990 Season

  • All My Sons by Arthur Miller
  • Quilters by Molly Newman and Barbara Damashek
  • Camille by Pam Gems
  • Sand Mountain by Romulus Linney

1988-1989 Season

  • Ring around the Moon by Jean Anouihl
  • On the Verge by Eric Overmeyer
  • A Lie of the Mind by Sam Shepard
  • Macbeth by William Shakespeare

1987-1988 Season

  • Crime and Punishment by Alan Brown (from Feodor Dostoevsky)
  • When You Coming Back, Red Rider? By Mark Medoff
  • The Imaginary Invalid by Moliere
  • Betrayal by Harold Pinter

1986-1987 Season

  • Ah, Wilderness! By Eugene O’Neill
  • Getting Out by Marsha Norman
  • Much Ado about Nothing by William Shakespeare
  • Translations by Brian Friel

1985-1986 Season

  • The Robber Bridegroom by Alfred Uhry, Robert Waldman, and Eudora Welty
  • Fool for Love by Sam Shepard
  • She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith
  • The Seagull by Anton Chekhov

1984-1985 Season

  • A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum by Stephen Sondheim
  • A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen
  • Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward
  • Coriolanus by William Shakespeare

1983-1984 Season

  • The Birds by Aristophanes
  • The Dining Room by A.R. Gurney
  • Lady Windemere’s Fan by Oscar Wilde
  • Fiddler’s Rock by Frank Wittow

1982-1983 Season

  • The Learned Ladies by Moliere
  • Something Unspoken and The Lady of Larkspur Lotion by Tennessee Williams
  • Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare
  • The Leader and The Lesson by Eugene Ionesco
  • The Secret Affairs of Myldred Wild by Paul Zindel
  • Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw

1981-1982 Season

  • The Death of Bessie Smith by Edward Albee
  • Endgame and Krapp’s Last Tape by Samuel Beckett
  • Hot L Baltimore by Lanford Wilson
  • Uncommon Women and Others by Wendy Wasserstein

1980-1981 Season

  • Hay Fever by Noel Coward
  • A Separate Peace and The Rook by Tom Stoppard
  • The Good Woman of Setzuan by Bertolt Brecht
  • A Month in the Country by Ivan Turgenev
  • The Rivals by Richard Brinsley Sheridan

1979-1980 Season

  • The Real Inspector Hound by Tom Stoppard
  • A Marriage Proposal and Black Comedy by Peter Shaffer
  • Hamlet by William Shakespeare
  • The Freedom of the City by Brian Friel
  • Oh, What a Lovely War! by Joan Littlewood

1978-1979 Season

  • Little Mary Sunshine by Rick Besoyan
  • I Am a Camera by John van Druten (from Christopher Isherwood)
  • As You Like It by William Shakespeare

1977-1978 Season

  • The Good Doctor by Neil Simon
  • A Cry of Players by William Gibson
  • Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare
  • Misalliance by George Bernard Shaw

1976-1977 Season

  • A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
  • Macbett by Eugene Ionesco
  • The Beaux Strategem by George Farquhar
  • A Flea in Her Ear by Georges Feydeau

1975-1976 Season

  • Picnic on the Battlefield and Guernica by Fernando Arrabal
  • The Show-Off by George Kelly
  • Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

1974-1975 Season

  • Little Murders by Jules Feiffer
  • Godspell by Stephen Schwartz
  • The Wild Duck by Henrik Ibsen
  • Richard II by William Shakespeare
  • Philemon by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt

1973-1974 Season

  • Thurber Carnival by James Thurber
  • The Resistible Rise Arturo Ui by Bertolt Brecht
  • U.S.A. by Paul Shyre and John Das Passos
  • Hostage by Brendan Behan

1972-1973 Season

  • Fireman’s Flame by Richard Lewine, Ted Fetter, and John Van Antwerp
  • Look Homeward, Angel by Ketti Frings (from Thomas Wolfe)
  • The School for Wives by Moliere
  • A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare

1971-1972 Season

  • The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee
  • Black Comedy by Peter Shaffer
  • The Roar of the Greasepaint, The Smell of the Crowd by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse
  • The Rivals by Richard Brinsley Sheridan

1970-1971 Season

  • Picnic on the Battlefield by Fernando Arrabal
  • A Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare
  • Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard
  • The Fantasticks by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt

1969-1970 Season

  • Exit the King by Eugene Ionesco
  • Trumpets and Drums by Bertolt Brecht
  • Blood Wedding by Federico Garcia Lorca
  • Henry IV, Part One by William Shakespeare

1968-1969 Season

  • The Alchemist by Ben Jonson
  • Cavern by Jean Anouilh
  • Eh? By Henry Livings
  • Marat/Sade by PeterWeiss
  • Candida by George Bernard Shaw

1967-1968 Season

  • The Crucible by Arthur Miller
  • Gallows Humor by Jack Richardson
  • Electra by Sophocles
  • The Merry Widow by Franz Lehar

1966-1967 Season

  • The Late George Apley by John P. Marquand and George S. Kaufman
  • The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill
  • Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
  • Juno and the Paycock by Sean O'Casey

1965-1966 Season

  • Rashomon by Fay and Michael Kanin
  • Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello
  • Judith by Jean Giraudoux
  • She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith

1964-1965 Season

  • The Ghost Sonata by August Strindberg
  • The Lady’s Not for Burning by Christopher Fry
  • The Tempest by William Shakespeare
  • Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw
  • The Imaginary Invalid by Moliere

1963-1964 Season

  • Waltz of the Toreadors by Jean Anouilh
  • The Government Inspector by Nikolai Gogol
  • The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
  • Next Time I’ll Sing to You by James Saunders
  • Lysistrata by Aristophanes

1961-1962 Season

  • The Male Animal by James Thurber
  • Founders Capers by Babbitt
  • Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
  • The Diary of Anne Frank by Frances Goodrich and Frank Hackett

1960-1961 Season

  • I Choose to Die by Cheney
  • The Heiress by Augustus Goetz
  • Hamlet by William Shakespeare
  • Ring around the Moon by Jean Anouilh

1959-1960 Season

  • Androcles and the Lion by George Bernard Shaw
  • Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen
  • The Teahouse of the August Moon by John Patrick
  • Bury the Dead by George Bernard Shaw

1958-1959 Season

  • Juno and the Paycock by Sean O'Casey
  • The Silver Cord by Sidney Howard
  • R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) by Karel Capek
  • The Love of Four Colonies by Ustinov

1957-1958 Season

  • Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring
  • The House of Bernarda Alba by Federico Garcia Lorca
  • The Playboy of the Western World by J.M. Synge
  • The Miser by Moliere

Records of productions prior to the 1957-1958 season are unclear. Vanderbilt University Theatre at this time often produced plays in conjunction with other organizations and lent its theatre out to local troupes. It is difficult to discern at this point which of the plays listed below were produced as Vanderbilt University Theatre mainstages, as co-productions between Vanderbilt University Theatre and another organization, and as performances by outside groups presented in Neely Auditorium. Some shows may also appear on a Vanderbilt director's resume but without any direct reference to Vanderbilt University Theatre. We will be going through old programs, yearbooks, and office documents in the future to clarify these records. Thank you for your patience.

1956-1957 Season

  • Plain and Fancy by Joseph Stein, Will Glickman, Arnold B. Horwitt, and Albert Hague -- July, 1956
  • Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett -- August, 1956
  • A View From the Bridge and A Memory of Two Mondays by Arthur Miller -- September, 1956
  • Bus Stop by William Inge -- October, 1956
  • Damn Yankees by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop -- November, 1956
  • A Hatful of Rain by Michael Vincente Gazzo -- December, 1956
  • Arabella by Richard Strauss -- January, 1957
  • Madam. Will You Walk by Sidney Howard -- February, 1957
  • The Lark by Jean Anouilh -- March, 1957
  • Time Limit! by Henry Denker & Ralph Berkey -- April, 1957
  • The Reluctant Debutante by William Douglas Home -- May, 1957
  • Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams -- June, 1957

1955-1956 Season

  • King of Hearts by Jean Kerr & Eleanor Brooke -- July, 1955
  • All Summer Long by Robert Anderson -- August, 1955
  • The Pajama Game by George Abbott and Richard Bissell -- September, 1955
  • Porgy by Dubose and Dorothy Heyward -- October, 1955
  • The Perfect Gentleman by W. Somerset Maugham -- November, 1955
  • Bad Seed by Maxwell Anderson -- December, 1955
  • Cosi' Fan Tutte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart -- January, 1956
  • The Tender Trap by Max Shulman and Robert Paul Smith -- February, 1956
  • The Rainmaker by N. Richard Nash -- March, 1956
  • The Solid Gold Cadillac by Howard Teichmann and George S. Kaufman -- April, 1956
  • Anasstasia by Marcelle Maurette -- May, 1956
  • The Reclining Figure by Harry Kuurnitz -- June, 1956

1954-1955 Season

  • Camino Real by Tennessee Williams -- August, 1954
  • Tea and Sympathy by Robert Anderson -- September, 1954
  • The Little Hut by Andre Roussin and Nancy Mitforct -- October, 1954
  • Sabrina Fair by Samuel Taylor -- November, 1954
  • Ondine by Jean Giraudoux and Maurice Valency -- December, 1954
  • Anniversary Waltz by Jerome Chodorov and Joseph Fields -- February, 1955
  • Dial "M" for Murder by Frederick Knott -- March,1955
  • The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker by Liam O’Brien -- April, 1955
  • The Rose Tattoo by Tennessee Williams -- May, 1955
  • The Teahouse of the August Moon by John Patrick -- June, 1955

1953-1954 Season

  • The Deep Blue Sea by Terence Rattigan -- July, 1953
  • See the Jaguar by N. Richard Nash -- August, 1953
  • Misalliance by G. Bernard Shaw -- September, 1953
  • The Crucible by Arthur Miller -- October, 1953
  • The Time of the Cuckoo by Arthur Laurents -- November, 1953
  • La Boheme by Giacomo -- December, 1953
  • Bernardine by Mary Chase -- March, 1954
  • Picnic by William Inge -- April, 1954
  • The Climate of Eden by Moss Hart -- May, 1954
  • The Seven Year Itch by George Axelrod -- June, 1954

1952-1953 Season

  • The Moon Is Blue by F. Hugh Herbert -- June, 1952
  • Gigi by Anita Loose and Colette -- July, 1952
  • Brigadoon by Alan Jay Lerner -- August, 1952
  • The Grass Harp by Truman Capote -- September, 1952
  • Barefoot In Athens by Maxwell Anderson -- October, 1952
  • Stalag 17 by Donald Bevon and Edmund Trzcinski -- February, 1953
  • Point of No Return by Paul Osbosrn -- March, 1953
  • Darkness at Noon by Sidney Kingsley -- April, 1953
  • The Children's Hour by Lillian Hellman -- May, 1953
  • My Darlin' Aida by Charles Friedman -- June, 1953

1951-1952 Season

  • The Autumn Garden by Lillian Hellman -- September, 1951
  • Billy Budd by The Princeton University Press -- February, 1952
  • The House of Bernarda Alba by Frederico Garcia Lorca -- March, 1952
  • Don Juan in Hell by George Bernard Shaw -- April, 1952
  • The Country Girl by Clifford Octets -- May, 1952
  • Bell, Book and Candle by John van Druten -- June, 1952

1950-1951 Season

  • Deirdre of the Sorrows by J. M. Synge -- August, 1950
  • The Leading Lady by Ruth Gordon -- February, 1950
  • Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep by Elaine Ryan -- July, 1950
  • Caesar and Cleopatra by Bernard Shaw -- September, 1950
  • The Enchanted by Jean Girauctoux -- October, 1950
  • Come Back, Little Sheba by William Inge -- November, 1950
  • Lost In The Stars by Maxwell Anderson -- December, 1950
  • The Innocents by William Archibald -- January, 1951

1949-1950 Season

  • Present Laughter by Noel Coward -- August, 1949
  • Edward, My Son by Robert Morley & Noel Langley -- September, 1949
  • Light up the Sky by Moss Hart -- October, 1949
  • The Madwoman of Chaillot by Jean Giraudoux and Maurice Valency -- November, 1949
  • Two Blind Mice by Samuel Spewack -- December, 1949
  • The Biggest Thief in Town by Dalton Trumbo -- January, 1950
  • Yes, M' Lord by William Douglas Home -- April, 1950
  • The Closing Door by Alexander Knox -- May, 1950
  • That Lady by Kate O'Brien -- June, 1950

1948-1949 Season

  • The Play's The Thing by Ferenc Molnar and P. G. Wodehouse -- March, 1949
  • An Inspector Calls by J. B. Priestley -- April, 1949
  • The Young and Fair by N. Richard Nash -- May, 1949
  • Anne of the Thousand Days by Maxwell Anderson -- June, 1949