SU Drama opens season with Broadway hit ‘Urinetown’

SU Drama opens season with Broadway hit ‘Urinetown’October 09, 2006Kyle Basskebass@syr.edu

The Syracuse University Drama Department opens its 2006-07 season Friday, Oct. 13, with Greg Kotis and Mark Hollmann’s “Urinetown,” a hilarious send-up of musical drama nominated for 10 Tony Awards in 2002. Parodying the revolutionary spirit of classic musicals like “Les Miserables,” “Urinetown” will run through Oct. 22 in the Storch Theatre, located at the SU Drama/Syracuse Stage complex, 820 East Genesee St.

Directed by SU Drama faculty member Marie Kemp, “Urinetown” is a tale of greed, corruption, love and revolution. The show takes place during a water shortage, when urination is no longer free and people must pay to use public “amenities.” Going without paying results in a non-stop, one-way ticket to Urinetown, a place Officer Lockstock describes as “kind of a mythical place, a bad place, filled with symbolism and things like that.” SU senior Eric Bilitch will play Officer Lockstock, the show’s liaison to the audience.

Public Amenity #9, one of the poorest, filthiest urinals in the city, is run with an iron fist by Penelope Pennywise and her assistant Bobby Strong, a dreamer who can’t seem to get his head out of the clouds. But when Bobby meets Hope, the daughter of Urine Good Company C.E.O. Caldwell B. Cladwell, he decides to lead an uprising so that it will no longer be “A Privilege to Pee.” Penelope Pennywise will be played by sophomore Nadine Malouf. Bobby Strong will be played by senior Dan Scott. His love interest, Hope Cladwell, will be portrayed by senior Colleen Fee.

Other cast members include sophomores Eric Grapatin, Brody Hessin, Michael Howell, Benjamin Michael, Amy Shapiro and David T. Snyder; juniors Crystal Bailey, Kara DeYoe, Aaron J. Libby, Danny Longoria, Christina Malon and Gordon Maniskas; and seniors Alexis DeDonato and Amy Walsh.

The artistic staff includes theater professionals and SU Drama students. The set was designed by SU Drama professor Maria Marrero, who has designed scenery and costumes for several Drama Department productions as well as regional and commercial theatres. The show’s costume designer is junior Megan Moriarty, and lighting designer is senior Meghan Molenda. Sound designer Jonathan R. Herter is resident sound designer for Syracuse Stage.

Subscription ticket prices for the SU Drama Department’s 2006-07 season are $70 for adults and $60 for students and senior citizens. Single-show tickets are $18 for adults and $16 for students and senior citizens. SU students enrolled in the Pulse program may purchase tickets through the Schine Student Center Box Office. One Wednesday performance of each play offers a “Pay What You Can Night” for SU students with valid SU I.D. For subscriptions, call the Drama Department Box Office at 443-3275. For more information, visit http://vpa.syr.edu/drama.