News and Events
Theatre
Theatre Enthusiasts List
Receive by e-mail updates on theatre activities throughout the academic year including the mainstage plays and laboratory theatres. Email Christina Ries at cries@nd.edu
Work In Theatre
There are ample opportunities to explore the world of theatre! Students are needed to work on sets, costumes, lighting, and publicity. Also students are needed to act in plays or work as stage managers. Contact Christina Ries at 631-7054 or cries@nd.edu
Learn more about auditioning >
Upcoming Mainstage Performances
2008-09 Theatre Season
The University of Notre Dame’s Department of Film, Television, and Theatre is pleased to announce its 2008 – 2009 theatre season.
Don’t miss your chance to get tickets to some of the best theatre in the area, including Spurt of Blood (Jet de Sang), The Dispute, Guernica, and Our Town. The Actors From the London Stage will return with performances of The Winter’s Tale and Much Ado About Nothing. Both Theatre Season subscriptions and individual tickets are available.
Why subscribe?
A Theatre Season subscription consists of one ticket for each of the three mainstage productions: The Dispute, Guernica, and Our Town for the same price as a single admission to two of the plays. This subscription entitles you to a 50% discount for our Special Presentation of Spurt of Blood. The Actors From The London Stage subscription entitles you to a 25% discount for each of their two productions, The Winter’s Tale and Much Ado About Nothing.
Theatre Season Subscription prices:
$30.00 General Public; $24.00 Seniors/ND Faculty/Staff; $21.00 Students
Special Presentation (Spurt of Blood ) -$6.00 General Public; $5.00 Seniors/ND Faculty/Staff; $2.50 Students
Regular ticket prices: $15 General Public; $12 Senior, ND Faculty/Staff; $10 Students
For more ticket info contact the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center ticket office (574)-631-2800. Or go to performingarts.nd.edu
Spurt of Blood (Jet de Sang)
by Antonin Artaud
directed by Mark Pilkinton in a new translation by Krysta Dennis.
Theatrical concept by Jacqueline Dineen and Mark Pilkinton
Philbin Studio Theatre
Tuesday, September 23 at 7:30 pm
Wednesday, September 24 at 7:30 pm
Thursday, September 25 at 7:30 pm
Friday, September 26 at 7:30 pm
Sunday, September 28, at 2:30 pm
Produced for the first time 40 years after it was written in the mid 1920s, many regard Spurt of Blood as surrealistic proto-Absurdist theatre that is completely unstageable.
This fantastical drama provides a glimpse into the mind of a theatrical genius and certified madman who was a major force in theatre theory in the second half of the twentieth century.
In a new translation by ND alumna Krysta Dennis and under the tutelage of a faculty director, this experimental studio production at Notre Dame brings together for the first time a company of Film, Television, and Theatre majors, all of whom have studied Artaud on the page, who want to attempt to make sense of the man and his work on the stage.
The Dispute
by Pierre Marivaux
directed by Siiri Scott
Decio Mainstage Theatre
Tuesday, November 11 at 7:30 pm
Wednesday, November 12 at 7:30 pm
Thursday, November 13 at 7:30 pm
Friday, November 14 at 7:30 pm
Saturday, November 15 at 7:30 pm
Sunday, November 16 at 2:30 pm
Are men or women more inherently unfaithful? That is the question at the heart of Pierre Marivaux’s Enlightenment-era comedy of human nature.
Upon heated debate at a society party, its royal host reveals an experiment to identify the more inconstant sex. Two young men and two young women, each raised in complete isolation, are released into a forest to commingle for the first time. What follows in this tiny of Garden of Eden is a complex meditation on the geneses of love and betrayal. Who will fall first?
Arguably the most important French playwright of the 18th Century, Marivaux wrote for both the Comédie-Française and the Comédie-Italienne.
Guernica
by Yannis Limtsioulis
directed by Anton Juan
Philbin Studio Theatre
Tuesday, February 24 at 7:30 pm
Wednesday, February 25 at 7:30 pm
Thursday, February 26 at 7:30 pm
Friday, February 27 at 7:30 pm
Saturday, February 28 at 7:30 pm
Sunday, March 1 at 2:30 pm
Inspired by the true story of a tragedy that took place in 1997 when an Albanian ship carrying refugees suspiciously sunk off the Italian coast, Yannis Limtsioulis’ Guernica explores the frustrated ambitions of three unquiet souls desperately floating amidst a watery medium of detritus.
In the dark world lying somewhere between life and death, these psychic survivors contemplate the residues of their lost existence and mourn dreams that will go unrealized. Lyrical, yet direct, Guernica paints a surrealist portrait of the lamentable unrest faced by those who die wrongly at the hands of others.
Our Town 
by Thornton Wilder
directed by Jay Paul Skelton
Decio Mainstage Theatre
Tuesday, March 31 at 7:30 pm
Wednesday, April 1 at 7:30 pm
Thursday, April 2 at 7:30 pm
Friday, April 3 at 7:30 pm
Saturday, April 4 at 7:30 pm
Sunday, April 5 at 2:30 pm
First published and produced in 1938, Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning
masterpiece about life in Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, transforms the simple events of everyday existence into universal truths. As it charts the lives, loves, and heartbreaks of its large cast of recognizable characters, Our Town celebrates the humanity in us all.
Special Presentations
Actors From The London Stage (AFTLS) is one of the oldest established touring Shakespeare companies in the world. Workshopped in England and produced on campuses throughout the nation by Shakespeare at Notre Dame, this self-directed ensemble of five professional British actors uniquely brings to life the works of William Shakespeare.
This season, AFTLS presents Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, the story of a king driven mad by the supposed infidelity of his queen (complete with clowns and the famous stage direction “exit pursued by a bear!”), and Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare’s comic masterpiece that pits Beatrice and Benedick in the theatre’s ultimate battle of wits.
The Winter's Tale 
by William Shakespeare
Washington Hall
Tuesday, September 9 at 7:30 pm
Wednesday, September 10 at 7:30 pm
Thursday, September 11 at 7:30 pm
Subscription prices: $15.00 General Public; $13.50 Seniors/ND Faculty/Staff; $9.00 Students
Regular prices: $20 General Public; $18 Seniors/ND Faculty/Staff; $12 Students
Much Ado About Nothing
by William Shakespeare
Washington Hall
Wednesday, January 28 at 7:30 pm
Thursday, January 29 at 7:30 pm
Friday, January 30 at 7:30 pm
Subscription prices: $15.00 General Public; $13.50 Seniors/ND Faculty/Staff; $9.00 Students
Regular prices: $20 General Public; $18 Seniors/ND Faculty/Staff; $12 Students
More Notre Dame Theatre Troupes and Events
ND Presents: Contact Tom Barkes
Actors From The London Stage
ND Opera, Department of Music
Not-So-Royal Shakespeare Company
Pasquerilla East Musical Company
St. Edward's Hall Players
Summer Shakespeare
N.D. Student Players: Contact Sarah Loveland
See the Marie P. DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, the home of the Department of Film, Television, and Theatre.
Past Performances
Information for the Theatre Chronology was compiled by Washington Hall Manager Tom Barkes, his staff and student assistants. The project was begun by Martin Sprunk in 1994 as a classroom project. The chronology is managed by Notre Dame University Archives. The site index will help you find a person who may have been involved in theatre or a particular play.
History of Theatre Performances