Wagner College Performing Arts Department invites you to embark on a theatrical journey through timeless narratives, enchanting musicals, and poignant plays this season. From the age-old tale of star-crossed lovers in 'Romeo and Juliet' to the whimsical world of 'Once Upon a Mattress', and the soul-stirring melodies of 'Let it Be', there's a story for everyone. Engage with the modern-day conflicts and ideals in 'Heroes of the Fourth Turning', each event offering a unique experience that resonates with audiences across generations. Prepare to be captivated, entertained, and moved by the magic of theater.

Exploring Timeless Tales: Wagner College's Captivating Theatrical Season

Why would anyone want to pursue a life in the theatre? In And Away We Go, Terrence McNally lovingly ponders that question. Written for six actors playing thirty-six theatre makers, the play hilariously hurtles through two millennia of theatre history. We begin backstage in ancient Athens, jump to Shakespeare’s Globe, travel to Versaille's Royal Theatre on the eve of revolution, detour through Stanislavsky’s Moscow Arts Theatre in 1896, stop by The Coconut Grove in the nineteen-fifties, and land in the present day with a resident theatre company on the eve of their final performance. And Away We Go is McNally’s love letter to the theatre.

And Away We Go

Wagner College

Winner of five 1990 Tony Awards including Best Musical, and boasting a swinging score by Cy Coleman (Sweet Charity), City of Angels tells the dueling stories of successful young writer Stine, struggling to maintain creative control of his latest crime novel as it's being adapted into a major motion picture, and the hard-boiled adventures of his Private Investigator protagonist, Stone. Keeping the two worlds separate is hard enough, but when the line between Stine's reality and Stone's film-noir fantasy begins to blur, hilarity and thrills ensue. A glorious musical comedy which is equal parts love letter to Golden Age Hollywood and homage to classic detective yarns such as The Maltese Falcon, City of Angels will keep your toes tapping as you sit on the very edge of your seat.

City of Angels

Celebrating the beauty of dance and physical communication, Wagner College Theatre Dance presents a collage of dance pieces, each with something different to say. Choreographed by Wagner Dance Faculty and selected students, WCT Dance will explore themes like finding meaning and beauty in repetition, the tension and relationship between the body and the environment, the universality and mythology of The Seven Deadly Sins, and much more. Guest choreographer Caterina Rago will also be returning with excerpts from her ballet, Morso D’Amore, powerful for its use of confrontation and subterfuge. Traversing an array of styles, WCT Dance is always rooted in a commitment to meaningful storytelling and healthy technique.

WCT Dance

Returning to Stage One after last year’s workshop, Daughters of Leda is a contemporary retelling of the events of the Iliad and Oresteia focused around the Three Princesses of Sparta: Helen, Clytemnestra, and Phoebe. Following the young women as they grow up and grow apart, the play traces their paths of love, loss, vengeance, justice, and forgiveness as their names and stories become myth and legend. 

Daughters of Leda

lano is a city in Texas…or an existential state of being… or a curse. In this wonderfully unsettling, screwball comedy we meet three sisters on a porch in Dallas, each suffering from problems like a slug infestation, a faceless ghost, mystery illnesses, and homemade hummus. As time and circumstances slip and swirl around them, at the center of the storm remains three sisters sharing their memories and nightmares.

PLANO

Equally beloved and fantastical, Seussical brings to life all of our favorite, colorful Dr. Seuss characters. The Cat in the Hat tells the story of Horton the Elephant and his discovery of the Whos. Along the way we also meet Mayzie La Bird, Jojo, Gertrude McFuzz, and many more. Come celebrate the courage to never lose faith even in the face of insurmountable odds. Oh, the thinks you can think!

Seussical

When the search for the next Earl of Hareford ends with the unapologetically cockney Bill Snibson, the Harefords are faced with a choice. They can either accept him as the rightful heir or reject him. The Duchess is determined to fashion Bill into a gentleman worthy of the title, but there is one obstacle in her way, his equally unrefined girlfriend Sally Smith. Love and duty are at odds when Bill refuses to let anything come between him and his girl.

Me And My Girl

Meet the lighter side of Anton Chekhov with a selection of his short, comedic one act plays (translated by Paul Schmidt). These slice-of-life vignettes are brimming with humor and farcical plot-twists to everyday situations.

Funny Chekhov

It is 1869 and ten explorers set out in four boats towards one Big Canyon. Written by Jaclyn Backhaus, this is the true(ish) story of the expedition to chart the course of the Colorado River.

Men On Boats

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s partnership both dominated and became synonymous with the Golden Age of Broadway. Reimagined as a musical revue, A Grand Night for Singing takes a fresh look at some of the duo’s greatest pieces. Be transported by the wit, charm, and melodies that put R&H in a class of their own.

A Grand Night For Singing

Every masterpiece started as an idea that had the opportunity to take form. Stage One will host the workshop of an entirely new piece. Daughters of Leda is a contemporary retelling of the events of the Iliad and Oresteia focused around the Three Princesses of Sparta: Helen, Clytemnestra, and Phoebe. Following the young women as they grow up and grow apart, the play traces their paths of love, loss, vengeance, justice, and forgiveness as their names and stories become myth and legend.

Daughters Of Leda

Pippin is the story of a young prince, heir to the throne, who is searching for his own “corner of the sky.” Pippin returns from university certain that he will find a fulfilling purpose in life. The Leading Player encourages Pippin to dabble in bloody battle, in lusty sexual entanglements and in savvy political maneuvers. Pippin discovers that true happiness is more complicated than he thought. With infectious tunes by Stephen Schwartz, Pippin is both a humorous allegory about growing up and a dark tale of the danger of false appearances and empty promises.

Pippin

Four Broadway actors, lamenting the passing of their days of fame, travel to the conservative town of Edgewater, Indiana, to help a lesbian student banned from bringing her girlfriend to the high school prom. This joyous musical premiered on Broadway at the Longacre Theatre in October 2018. It was released as a streaming film on Netflix in 2020.

The Prom

Full of humor, trickery, and gender-bending, John Lyly's GALATEA is above all an ode to love. First premiered on New Year's Day in 1588 at Greenwich Palace for Queen Elizabeth I, GALATEA celebrates its 435th anniversary on Stage One. Treat yourself like royalty and see how WCT brings this play's cast of fanciful characters into the 21st century.

Galatea

USED RECORDS (the story of a family) explores the story of one family through generations spanning the 20th and 21st centuries.  Like a ball, love, happiness, grief, and trauma roll through families from one generation to the next, often undetected.  A daughter can be affected by a great aunt whom she never knew.  A grandfather’s actions as a youth can impact the life of his children forever.  A long-lost sister can never be found but remain a strong presence within a family for decades.  Through a series of circumstances, one family member decides to finally unpack it all and piece together the fabric of what has led their family to where they are today.

Used Records (the Story Of A Family)

A reading of a play cycle written in the context of our protagonist Beckett’s journey of growing up. “In a Playlist for Summer” is the beginning of Beckett’s growth through the discovery of friendships and how people and trauma become associated with home. “Place of Departure” is the brief meeting of Beckett and a stranger he becomes entranced with, as he begins to comprehend people coming and going in his life and how they impact his understanding of relationships. The final play “People You Meet on Your Daily Commute” takes place on the subway and views how movement with the people that surround him impacts how Beckett views himself as he comes to terms with his own identity.

The Vehicles That Brought Me Here

Captivating audiences for over 400 hundred years, Shakespeare’s masterpiece proves the timeless appeal of love, tragedy, and fate. Directed by Wagner College Prof. Mickey Tennenbaum, the legendary star-crossed lovers find new life once again in Wagner College’s Stage One venue.

Romeo and Juliet

Once upon a time, in a kingdom far away, lived the domineering Queen Aggravain, the cursed King Sextimus, and the mousy Prince Dauntless. In order to keep him unmarried, the Queen has decreed that only the princess who can pass her impossible test may marry the Prince. After rejecting princess after princess, the Queen has met her match: the brash and charming Winnifred the Woebegone. This hilariously irreverent comedy updates the classic fairytale “The Princess and the Pea” and features some of musical theater’s most beloved melodies like “Shy” and “In a Little While.”

Once Upon a Mattress

Set in the turbulent times of the 1960s and 1970s at the height of the Vietnam War, Let it Be follows a group of teenage friends and their intertwining stories as they struggle with the unrest of the country, their loss of innocence, and their long journey home. Told solely through the stirring music and compelling lyrics of The Beatles, Let it Be explores the universal themes of love, loss, joy, and desire.

 Let it Be

Four young conservatives have gathered at a backyard after-party in Wyoming. They’ve returned home to toast their mentor, Gina, newly inducted as president of a tiny Catholic college. Before long, their reunion spirals into spiritual chaos, clashing generational politics, and a vicious fight to be understood. On a chilly night in the middle of America, Will Arbery’s haunting play offers grace and disarming clarity, speaking to the heart of a country at war with itself.

Wagner College Performing Arts Department

20 - 23 Feb, 2025

Romeo and Juliet

6 - 16 Mar, 2025

Once Upon a Mattress

Apr 24 - May 4, 2025

Let it Be

1 - 4 May, 2025

Heroes of the Fourth Turning

21 - 24 Nov, 2024

And Away We Go

14 - 24 Nov, 2024

City of Angels

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Wagner College Performing Arts Department