The Nightingale Theater has a number of upcoming shows in their current season, including WONT FLEW OVER THE CUCKOOS NEST, DEAR NUBULON, and THE DRINKING GAME.
WONG FLEW OVER THE CUCKOOS NEST Started initially as Wong's personal exploration of mental illness among Asian American women. Asian women have the highest rates of suicide in a highly unpublicized statistic. The show itself examines larger themes of human isolation, "fiction" as a mode of cultural and psychic survival, and satirically skewers the bureaucracy of low-income mental health services. Despite the somber subject, the show is quite funny and is a great way to engage audiences to think about mental health issues in their community. This serio-comic, swear-to-god-not autobiographical show was created from the support of three major arts funders - NPN, Creative Capital and the NEA.
The production will play February 26 and February 27 at 8 PM. The show lasts 2 hours.
DEAR NEBULON will play February 26 and February 27 at 10 PM and will last 1 hour. The Midwestern Theater Troupe's original production was inspired and developed from the Recorder song "Dear Nebulon", which was itself inspired by a series of real-life encounters the band had with a local eccentric and frequenter of Orpha's Lounge, a man who calls himself Nebulon and claims to be from an eponymous planet. Nebulon feels that he is in communication with beings of a higher order who communicate to him through a special black box. He feels that his mission is largely to help humanity, and to suffer for it. Recorder collaborates with John Cruncleton to stage their songs as a performance piece in which the character Nebulon progresses through the song-cycle by presenting the various fractured emanations of his psyche in between the songs. This performance is suggested for mature audiences.
On Fridays and Saturdays from April 9 through April 24 the Nightingale Theater will present THE DRINKING PARTY, a new translation and staging of Plato's Symposium by the Midwestern Theater Troupe.
With stunning simplicity and clarity, Plato's classic masterpiece depicts the brilliant luminaries of the Greek world enjoying witty, provocative, and slightly drunken discourse, on the virtues of Love. Plato provides not only a contemporary portrait of such legends as Socrates, Aristophanes, and Alcibiades, but also demonstrates the famous Socratic Method in action, and offers a charming yet profound analysis of love, sex, and eroticism.
This production features an original translation by local scholar Amy Page Wilson, and is adapted for the stage by John Cruncleton. Wilson and Cruncleton's last collaborative foray into the world of Ancient Greece was 2006's "The Cyclops", an original translation and shadow-puppet adaptation of Euripides' satyr play. Performances will begin at 8 PM and run until 10 PM.
Tickets for these productions will be $10, with $7 discount tickets available to members and students for WONG FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST and DEAR NEBULON.
To order tickets or to find out more, visit online at www.nightingaletheater.com or call (918) 633-8666. The Nightingale Theater is located at 1416 East Fourth Street.
