Stephanie Holladay Earl

After their father dies, the Dashwood women must learn to embrace a new life, for better or for worse. Sisters Marianne (a hopeless romantic) and Elinor (a stoic realist) experience the pitfalls of society, the generosity of new friends, and the passion of unexpected love in this world-premiere adaptation of Jane Austen's exquisite early work. By battling through vicious gossip, relative poverty, and silly characters (not to mention countless set-ups by the "helpful" Mrs. Jennings), these sisters learn the importance of both sense and sensibility.

This hilarious comedy is much more than a "battle of the sexes"; it is also a profound look at the necessity of "play" in our lives. This production includes Shakespeare's "Induction," which presents the Kate and Petruchio story as a play within the play. Blending romantic comedy and outlandish farce, Shakespeare gives us a love story of psychological liberation and the mysteries of being married.

When long-distance love tangles the heartstrings of the play's title characters, it takes two clever women, a pair of devoted servants, and a dog to make things right. Shakespeare tries out some of his most popular ideas for the first time in this early comedy. Jealous lovers, a cross-dressing heroine, and a daring escape into the forest make The Two Gentlemen of Verona simultaneously a familiar and completely refreshing trip.

With its ravishing language and uproarious comedy, Romeo and Juliet celebrates love's triumph and its trivialities. Verona's walls embrace the volatility of youth as well as the wisdom and restraint that often escapes young and old alike. Thumb-biting, dance, and swordplay share the stage with sonnets, bawdy wit, and soul-searching speeches in this profoundly human and always surprising treasure.

A moving look at life in the small town of Grover's Corners, Our Town examines what it means to grow up. Through three acts: "Daily Life," "Love and Marriage," and "Death and Eternity," Thornton Wilder studies the deeply personal yet remarkably universal lives of the Webb and Gibbs families. This poignant American tale explores friendship, love, and death, but most importantly, what it truly means to live.

Back at the University of Wittenberg for the fall semester, Denmark’s Prince Hamlet finds himself in the center of a debate between two of his professors, the aggressively spiritual Martin Luther and the lewdly logical John Faustus. Like Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Davalos’s 21st-century comedy explores the issues of faith and skepticism with a wickedly modern sense of humour in this prequel to both Hamlet and Doctor Faustus.

While the villainous Don John devises a scheme to shatter the nuptials of Claudio and Hero, the young lovers conspire to trick Beatrice and Benedick into admitting their much-denied love. In this powerful comedy full of sparkling wit, Shakespeare gives us the joy of love won and the ache of love lost. He makes us laugh and breaks our hearts, then magically puts them back together again.

Faustus sells his soul, not for riches, but for knowledge and power; Marlowe weaves a shocking and contemporary tale of the struggle between good and evil, championing what is most daring in the human spirit. In his masterpiece that predates almost all of Shakespeare’s plays, Marlowe breathtakingly conjures Helen of Troy, the Seven Deadly Sins, angels, demons, and Satan himself, before dragging Faustus to Hell.

Hamlet struggles to discern reality from illusion in the rotten state of Denmark as he copes with the loss of his father, his mother's remarriage, and life's biggest questions. For centuries, audiences have seen themselves in the brilliant, troubled prince at the center of this ghost story, comedy, seven-murder revenge thriller, and philosopher's gold mine.

John Webster’s brutal and astonishing play tells the story of one of the stage’s greatest women and two of its greatest villains. The widowed Duchess of Malfi tragically defies her two powerful brothers by secretly marrying her household steward. When they uncover her deception, the brothers plot a series of horrific events that leads them all to destruction in this dark tapestry of sibling rivalry, forbidden love, unquenchable ambition, and ensuing madness.

In Love’s Labour’s Lost, the King of Navarre and his three schoolmates are ripe for an education in love from the Princess of France and her three ladies. Joining the lovers is a brilliantly goofy troupe of clowns, including the love-warrior Don Armado and the lust-sick rogue Costard, who ardently pursue the affections of a winsome country maid — and who perform an unforgettable pageant for the royals. Written around the same time as Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, this giddy and extravagant romantic comedy is Shakespeare’s most exuberant wordfest — a joyful carnival of love, loss, and hope.

Writing at the height of his powers, Shakespeare provides a feast of language and songs — and a stage full of memorable characters — from the lovesick Orsino and Viola to the alesick Toby Belch, from the acquiescent Sir Andrew Aguecheek to the pompous Malvolio. Sublime and subversive, Twelfth Night breaks rules and bends gender to show love in all its guises and disguises.