The University’s theater community is staging an exciting batch of shows this semester. The University’s Theater Department, Spike Tape, and SHADES are already putting together performances that promise to electrify.
The University’s Theater Department is putting on two shows: “Mothership” and “Marta Becket, Save Us All!”
“Mothership” is a one-act senior thesis play directed by Eliza Bryson ’26 and written by Dani Brugger ’26 and Paige Merril ’26. The play, set in the 2010s in the suburbs of New Jersey, will go up Dec. 10–12 in the Patricelli ’92 Memorial Theater.
“[It] explores that feeling of being caught in a vortex of indecision, wanting to leave, and not knowing where to go,” a blurb from the Center for the Arts website reads. “It’s about the confusion of emerging as an adult, searching for connection, and weighing the risks of stepping into the unknown.”
“Marta Becket, Save Us All!” takes inspiration from the life of Marta Becket, a real-life Broadway performer who moved to Death Valley, Calif. in the 1960s to found her own theater. Becket’s performances, often before an empty audience, earned her international fame. Directed by Associate Professor of Theater Katie Pearl, the show is devised, meaning its script is created in rehearsal by the actors. It goes up Nov. 13–15 at the brand-new HEx Theater at the Fries Arts Building.
SHADES, a student theater collective at Wesleyan that centers people of color, is putting on “I’m Gonna Marry You, Tobey Maguire.” Directed by Michael Scott ’27, the three-person show takes place in the early 2000s. It features Shelby Hinkley, an eighth grader who struggles at both home and school. She becomes absorbed by an online fan club dedicated to Tobey Maguire, who she decides to kidnap and marry. The play parodies the Y2K Internet culture emergent at the time, while also tackling issues like teenage loneliness and parasocial relationships. It will go up Oct. 24 and 25, but the location has yet to be decided.
Last but not least, Spike Tape, the University’s largest student theater group, is putting on four shows: “The Modern Chick’s Guide to Giving No Fucks,” “What Horizon,” “Little Shop of Horrors,” and “Pericles.”
“The Modern Chick’s Guide to Giving No Fucks” is a multimedia play written by Phoebe Levitsky ’26 and directed by Levitsky and Daniel Anton ’27. It will be performed as a staged reading in Ring Hall on Nov. 7 and 8.
“[It] is about two young women who meet on the hostel circuit backpacking through Europe and become inextricably entangled in each other’s wildly different lives,” a description from the show’s Instagram page reads. “It explores the ethicality of tourism, the ways women talk to each other about money, and what it means to be everywhere and nowhere at the same time.”
“What Horizon,” written and directed by Percival Liftin-Harris ’28, is an original adaptation of Victor Hugo’s “Les Misérables.” It will go up Nov. 14 and 15 in WestCo Cafe.
“In 1830s Paris, a group of young revolutionaries take to the streets, but they can’t shake the feeling that they’ve done this all before,” a description from the Spike Tape website reads.
The production of “Little Shop of Horrors,” the megahit Broadway musical, will be directed by Emma Somol ’27. The show takes place in the 1960s and features a soundtrack soaked with soul and Motown groove. Seymour, working in a flower shop in the skids, discovers a curious plant. He names it after his workplace crush, Audrey, but he soon discovers the secret behind its mysterious growth. Chaos, hilarity, and R&B ensue. The show goes up Nov. 21 and 22 in the ’92 Theater.
“Pericles,” a Shakespeare play set in Ancient Greece, will be directed by Iza Konings ’26. The play follows the titular prince, who must recover his wife and daughter after a shipwreck. Konings’ production will place Pericles in a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by climate disaster. The show goes up Dec. 5 and 6 in WestCo Cafe.
“What begins as a tale of flight and survival becomes a story of resilience, renewal, and the fragile possibility of rebuilding in the aftermath of catastrophe,” a description from the Spike Tape website reads.
Conrad Lewis can be reached at cglewis@wesleyan.edu.
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