Past Productions

Eurydice

by Sarah Ruhl

Directed by Bruce Avery

October 19-29

Torn between her dead father and her living husband, Eurydice is forced to choose between the memories of the past and an unwritten future. With this evocative work, Ruhl asks us to contemplate the power of loss, and the purpose of grief.

Production photos by Richard Mayer

SFSU Production of RENT

Book, music, and lyrics by Jonathan Larson

Directed by Tracy Ward

Music Direction by Dee Spencer

May 4-May 13

The smash Musical hit inspired by  Giacomo Puccini's opera La Bohème and the lives of New York's struggling artist communities. Winner of the 1996 Pulitzer Prize in Drama.

Production photos by Richard Mayer

Doubt: A Parable

By John Patrick Shanley
Directed by Rhonnie Washington

December 1-December 9

Set in 1964, Doubt: A Parable encapsulates the tension and uncertainty of that explosive era roiling through the microcosm of a Catholic boy's school. Winner of a Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2005.

Production photos by Richard Mayer

A Midsummer Night's Dream

By William Shakespeare
Directed by Bill Peters

April 28 - May 6

Four Athenians run away to the forest only to have the Puck make both of the boys fall in love with the same girl. The four run through the forest pursuing each other while Puck helps their master play a trick on Titania the fairy queen.

Production photos by Claire Rice

Marisol

By José Rivera
Directed by Bruce Avery

Nov 12 - 19

Marisol by José Rivera is a dip into the chaos and hope of the 21st Century. In an interview about Marisol, José Rivera shared his impetus for writing the play.

“This is the first play I’ve written with an eye on the next generation. We need to find new heroes and new myths for our society – the old ones just aren’t working.”

Written in 1992, this play prophetically imagined our world today. As we crawl out from our COVID dens and meet the masked world of today the last line of Marisol echoes: ”Oh God, what light. What possibilities. What hope.” San Francisco State University, School of Theatre & Dance presents Marisol in tribute to its students who faced the challenges of the COVID nightmare and dared to hope.

Production photos by Claire Rice

Water by the Spoonful

By Quiara Alegría Hudes
Directed by Rhonnie Washington

November 5 - 14

Somewhere in Philadelphia, Elliot has returned from Iraq and is struggling to find his place in the world. Somewhere in a chat room, recovering addicts keep each other alive, hour by hour, day by day. The boundaries of family and community are stretched across continents and cyberspace as birth families splinter and online families collide. Pulitzer Prize Winner, Water by the Spoonful, is a heartfelt meditation on lives on the brink of redemption.

Water by the Spoonful will be the School of Theatre & Dance's first production presented live via Zoom.

University Dance Theatre 2020

Directed by Jo Tomalin

March 12 - March 15

University Dance Theatre 2020 features a 16-student dance ensemble in an exciting new choreography showcase. This year’s production features work from guest choreographer dana e. fitchett, as well as new work from faculty choreographers Wendy Diamond, ArVejon Jones, and Ray Tadio. 

Spring Awakening

Books & Lyrics by Steven Sater

Music by Duncan Sheik

Directed by Tracy Ward

April 30 - May 9

Based on Frank Wedekind’s 19th-century play of the same name, Spring Awakening tells the story of a group of teens discovering themselves in new ways their repressive upbringing never allowed. Tony Award winners Duncan Sheik (music) and Steven Sater (book and lyrics) penned the musical adaptation of this once-banned work. 

[title of show]

Music and Lyrics by Jeff Bowen

Book by Hunter Bell

Directed by Laura Wayth

April 18 - April 27

Can you write a killer musical in only three weeks? Hunter and Jeff, two New York musical theatre nerds, think yes! ... maybe … With a team of their musical theatre buddies, they set out to write a Tony Award-winning musical. The hitch? They don't know what their musical will be about. So they begin to write a musical -- about writing a musical. And they don't know what to call it.

[title of show] takes you through the highs, lows, uncertainties and celebrations of being a creative artist with humor, heart and a really good take-out pickle.

Mojada

By Luis Alfaro

Directed by Terry Amara Boero

December 8 - December 14

Mojada: A Medea In Los Angeles pushes the Greek Medea myth into 21st-century California. As the title implies the issues of immigration, racial, political and economic disparity weigh on our protagonist as she struggles to live in her new homeland: Los Angeles. Only love anchors her to this new world, and she will do anything for her husband's dreams and her son's well being.

Medea

By Euripides

Directed by Rhonnie Washington

Musical direction by Dee Spencer

December 7 - December 13

Based on the C.A.E. Luschnig adaptation of Euripides' Medea, this production explores the raging tsunami of Medea's rage and the sea of love that supports it.