Forty-Fourth Annual Midwest Philosophy Colloquium, 2019-2020

Programs for the forty-fourth Midwest Philosophy Colloquium at the University of Minnesota Morris in 2018-2020.https://digitalcommons.morris.umn.edu/philosophy_colloquium/1045/thumbnail.jp

Medea, February 12-15, 1975

University of Minnesota, Morris production of Medea by Euripides, adapted by Rex Warner and directed by Raymond J. Lammers. Synopsis: In a continuation of the stories of Jason and the Argonauts, foreign princess and sorceress Medea has murdered her own father to help Jason win the Golden Fleece and the kingdom of Thessaly. They have married and have two sons. Now in ancient Corinth, Medea is told that Jason will be marrying the Corinthian princess. The King of Corinth, anticipating her wrath, sends her into exile. She plans revenge against Jason and negotiates safe haven with the naïve King of Athens. Through her magic, she kills the Corinthian king and princess, Jason’s intended, and, in a final act of vengeance, kills her two sons by Jason. She escapes justice, taken to the sky on the back of a chariot, with the bodies of her children. One of ancient Greek drama’s most famous plays, The Medea resonates with audiences through emotionally charged characters placed in impossible circumstances, constrained by their social, political, gender, and familial roles.https://digitalcommons.morris.umn.edu/theatre_programs/1029/thumbnail.jp

No Placed Called Home, February 24, 2012

University of Minnesota, Morris production of No Place Called Home by Kim Schultz and directed by Sarah Cameron Sunde. Synopsis: No Place Called Home is an unexpected story—a story about an American woman and an Iraqi man, a story about one refugee out of millions, a story that isn’t supposed to be a love story.https://digitalcommons.morris.umn.edu/theatre_programs/1033/thumbnail.jp

Forty-Third Midwest Philosophy Colloquium, 2018-2019

Posters for the forty-third Midwest Philosophy Colloquium at the University of Minnesota Morris in 2018-2019.https://digitalcommons.morris.umn.edu/philosophy_colloquium/1036/thumbnail.jp

Prelude to a Kiss, February 15-17, 2001

University of Minnesota, Morris production of Prelude to a Kiss by Craig Lucas and directed by Gretchen Weinrich. Synopsis: Peter and Rita are two young, happy lovers who are getting married. On their wedding day, after their nuptial kiss, an old man comes up to kiss the bride. During this kiss, their souls exchange, and the young, beautiful woman Peter just married now houses the soul of a dying, old man. On their honeymoon, Peter starts to notice that something\u27s not quite right. When he discovers the truth, he confronts the old man, who now holds Rita\u27s soul. Peter struggles with the notion that this is his young bride, and he works feverishly to put the souls back in their original bodies. At the same time, he realizes that he loves who Rita is, no matter how she is packaged. Craig Lucas\u27 play, first performed in 1990, was considered a metaphor for the AIDS epidemic, in which a man could find himself in a relationship with someone who was suddenly old and sick before his time.https://digitalcommons.morris.umn.edu/theatre_programs/1039/thumbnail.jp

The House of Blue Leaves, November 20-23, 1974

University of Minnesota, Morris production of The House of Blue Leaves by John Guare and directed by Donald Webster. Synopsis: rtie Shaugnessy is a songwriter with visions of glory. Toiling by day as a zookeeper, he suffers in seedy lounges by night, plying his wares at piano bars in Queens, New York, where he lives with his wife, Bananas, much to the chagrin of Artie’s downstairs mistress, Bunny Flingus, who’ll sleep with him anytime but refuses to cook until they are married. On the day the Pope is making his first visit to the city, Artie’s son Ronny goes AWOL from Fort Dix, stowing a homemade bomb intended to blow up the Pope in Yankee Stadium. Also arriving are Artie’s old school chum, now a successful Hollywood producer, Billy Einhorn, with starlet girlfriend in tow, who holds the key to Artie’s dreams of getting out of Queens and away from the life he so despises. But like many dreams, this promise of glory evaporates amid the chaos of ordinary lives.https://digitalcommons.morris.umn.edu/theatre_programs/1058/thumbnail.jp

The Rivers and Ravines, November 16-18, 1995

University of Minnesota, Morris production of The Rivers and Ravines by Heather McDonald and directed by Anne M. Ellis. Synopsis: This is an engrossing political drama about the contemporary farm crisis in America and its effect on rural communities.https://digitalcommons.morris.umn.edu/theatre_programs/1091/thumbnail.jp

Blithe Spirit, October 28-30, 2004

University of Minnesota, Morris production of Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward and directed by Siobhan Bremer. Synopsis: Cantankerous novelist Charles Condomine, re-married but haunted (literally) by the ghost of his late first wife, the clever and insistent Elvira who is called up by a visiting “happy medium,” one Madame Arcati. As the (worldly and un-) personalities clash, Charles’ current wife, Ruth, is accidentally killed, “passes over,” joins Elvira, and the two “blithe spirits” haunt the hapless Charles into perpetuity.https://digitalcommons.morris.umn.edu/theatre_programs/1013/thumbnail.jp

Marvin\u27s Room, Nov. 19-21, 1998

University of Minnesota, Morris production of Marvin’s Room by Scott McPherson and directed by Julie Rae Patterson-Pratt. Synopsis: First produced in 1990, Marvin’s Room tells the story of two sisters, Bessie and Lee. They have not seen each other for many years but when Bessie is diagnosed with leukemia, Lee travels to Florida to be tested as a bone marrow donor for her sister. Bessie has cared single-handedly for their father, Marvin, who suffered a severe stroke and is now bed-bound. She also looks after their eccentric Aunt Ruth, who has electrodes (her “cure”) wired up to her brain to help ease the pain of three collapsed vertebrae. Bessie cares for her father and aunt without question, despite the leukemia becoming increasingly aggressive. Lee has been estranged from the family for years and does not understand Bessie’s selfless service to the family. However, when Lee arrives with her two troubled sons, Hank (who is in a mental institution after burning down their house) and Charlie (who permanently has his head in a book, yet is struggling badly at school), the trio find themselves gradually transformed for the better by the guileless Bessie. Lee is, at last, able to show some affection and care for her dying sister when she offers to style Bessie’s wig. Despite its potentially sombre plot, Marvin’s Room is both funny and touching in equal measure.https://digitalcommons.morris.umn.edu/theatre_programs/1027/thumbnail.jp

And Baby Makes Seven, April 13-15, 2000

University of Minnesota, Morris production of And Baby Makes Seven by Paula Vogel and directed by Janelle Alvstad. Synopsis: Anna, Ruth and Peter await the arrival of their newborn child, but first they must rid the crowded apartment of their three imaginary children.https://digitalcommons.morris.umn.edu/theatre_programs/1005/thumbnail.jp