Taylor Theatre Playbills
The Taylor Theatre Playbills collection features programs from Taylor’s stage productions, including Taylor Theatre, musicals, playback theatre, and Taylor’s Touring Company. Some operas are also included.
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Busman’s Honeymoon
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1988 performance of Busman’s Honeymoon by Dorothy Sayers.
Busman’s Honeymoon is the story of Dorothy Sayer’s famous detective, Lord Peter Whimsey, and his new wife, Harriette Vane, who have just arrived at an old farmhouse in Hertfordshire where they plan to spend their honeymoon. When they discover the owner of the house murdered, their honeymoon is disrupted and they work together to discover the murderer.
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The King and I
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1988 performance of The King and I by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein.
The King and I is the story of a British schoolteacher named Anna, who is hired by the King of Siam to help modernize his country and the relationship between between them.
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Agnes of God
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1987 performance of Agnes of God by John Pielmeier.
Agnes of God is the story of a nun who gives birth but insists it is a result of a virgin conception. A psychiatrist and the mother superior of the convent clash over the investigation.
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Cotton Patch Gospel
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1987 performance of Cotton Patch Gospel book by Tom Key and Russel Treyz, music and lyrics by Harry Chapin.
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The Fifties: White Bucks and Blue Suede Shoes
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1987 performance of The Fifties: White Bucks and Blue Suede Shoes by Oliver Hubbard.
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Up the Down Staircase
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1987 performance of Up the Down Staircase by Bel Kaufman.
Up the Down Staircase tells the story of an idealistic English teacher in an inner-city high school who hopes to develop a love for classic literature in her students. The play follows her struggles with students, fellow teachers, and the bureaucracy and how she touches the lives of her students.
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1986 performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare.
In just one night, four magical stories are cleverly woven together: the marriage of the Athenian duke to the Amazon queen; the battle of the king and queen of the fairies; the follies of four lovers in a forest; and the hilarious antics of amateur actors staging a play. Enter a vibrant world where fairies fly overhead, a donkey bursts into song, and love potion makes your perspective turn on a dime. This production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is an immersive theatrical experience suitable for theatergoers nine to 90—one you don't want to miss!
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Arsenic and Old Lace
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1986 performance of Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring.
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The Good Doctor
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1986- performance of The Good Doctor by Neil Simon.
The Good Doctor is a series of short plays based on various works by Anton Chekhov.
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“…And What A Time It Was.”
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1985 Advanced Oral Interpretation Class’s performance of ”…And What A Time It Was.” by Dr. Oliver Hubbard.
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I Never Sang For My Father
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1985 performance of I Never Sang For My Father by Robert Anderson.
I Never Sang For My Father is the story of widowed professor Gene Garrison, who looks to get away from his father and remarry a woman in California, but struggles with the thought of leaving.
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The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-In-The-Moon Marigolds
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1985 performance of The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds by Paul Zindel.
The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds tells the story of a dysfunctional family of a single mother and two daughters and their struggles as the mother tries to keep her daughters from succeeding.
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The Rivals
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1985 performance of The Rivals by Richard Brinsley Sheridan.
The Rivals tells the story of young lovers, Lydia Languish and Captain Jack Absolute and the mishaps which happen when Jack’s father tries to arrange a marriage for him and a sequence of gossip and misdelivered letters sets off a clash between Lydia’s suitors.
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J.B.
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1984 performance of J.B. by Archibald MacLeish.
J.B. is a retelling of the Biblical story of Job by two old circus performers by the name of Zuss and Nickles (Zeus and Satan), who make a wager and play out Job’s story in modern America where Job is a millionaire named J.B..
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Somebody Stole My Stuff
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1984 performance of Somebody Stole My Stuff compiled and arranged by Dr. Jessica Rousselow.
Somebody Stole My Stuff is an original choreopoem, a dramatic expression that combines poetry, dance, music, and song. This original arrangement explores the identity of women in society, drawing from the concepts of feminist philosopher-theologian Mary Daly.
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The Music Man
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1984 performance of The Music Man by Meredith Wilson.
The Music Man is a the story of con man Harold Hill who comes to a town in Indiana posing as a boy’s band conductor, and how an unexpected romance with the local librarian, Marian, changes his plans.
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Witness for the Prosecution
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1984 performance of Witness for the Prosecution by Agatha Christie.
Witness for the Prosecution tells the story of a trial of a man named Leonard Vole for the murder of a wealthy older woman who made him her principle heir. During the trial his wife, Romaine, comes to testify not in his defense, but on the side of the prosecution.
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Once Upon a Time…
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1983 Advanced Oral Interpretation Class’s performance of Once Upon a Time… adapted by Oliver Hubbard.
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Summer and Smoke
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1983 performance of Summer and Smoke by Tennessee Williams.
Summer and Smoke is the story of a high strung young woman named Alma Winemiller, and the spiritual/sexual romance that nearly develops between her and John Buchanan Jr. who grew up next door.
The music used to accompany the performance was used in the original production.
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The Curious Savage
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1983 performance of The Curious Savage by John Patrick.
The Curious Savage is the story of Ethel P. Savage, an elderly lady whose husband has died and left her approximately ten million dollars. When she sets up a memorial fund for average people to pursue their dreams, her three stepchildren commit her to a sanatorium and try to discover where she has hidden the fortune. As the search for the fortune plays out the question becomes who is really crazy, the residents of the sanatorium or Ethel’s stepchildren.
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The Diary of Anne Frank
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1983 performance of The Diary of Anne Frank by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett adapted from The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.
The Diary of Anne Frank is a dramatization of the diary entries of Anne Frank, a young Dutch-Jew who went into hiding during the German occupation of the Netherlands.
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Inherit the Wind
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1982 performance of Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawerence and Robert E. Lee.
Inherit the Wind is a fictionalized account of the 1925 Scopes “Monkey” Trial where a high school teacher named John T. Scopes was tried for teaching evolution against state law.
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The Importance of Being Earnest
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1982 performance of The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde.
The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People, is a farcical comedy about two men who each take on the personas with the name of Earnest in order to escape the burdens of social obligations.
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You Can't Take It With You
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1982 performance of You Can’t Take It with You by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart.
You Can’t Take It with You follows the story of the only normal daughter in an eccentric family, and the chaos and mishaps which happen when she brings her fiancé home to meet her family.
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Fiddler on the Roof
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1981 performance of Fiddler on the Roof with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein. It is based on the stories of Jewish writer Sholem Alrichem.
Fiddler On the Roof follows the story of a poor Jewish dairyman named Tevye as he tries to maintain his religious and cultural traditions as outside influences begin to impact his family. It is set during the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia in 1905.
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Ten Little Indians
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1981 performance of Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie, adapted from her book of the same name (in the United States published as And Then There Were None.)
Ten Little Indians is the story of ten strangers invited to a house party on an isolated island. When they lose the ability to return to the mainland, they begin to die off one by one in accordance to an old nursery rhyme.
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The Miracle Worker
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1981 performance of The Miracle Worker by William Gibson.
The Miracle Worker is based on the autobiography of Helen Keller.
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Then the Circus Comes to Town
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1981 Advanced Oral Interpretation Class’s performance of When the Circus Come to Town adapted by Oliver Hubbard.
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Hamlet
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1980 performance of Hamlet by William Shakespeare.
Hamlet is the story of Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark who sets out to avenge his father’s murder at the hands of his uncle, and the tragedy that follows.
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See How They Run
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1980 performance of See How They Run by Philip King.
See How They Run is set in a vicarage of a fictitious English Village in 1943. It focuses on the wife of the vicar, who is going out to see a play with a friend from the army who dresses in one of her husband’s suits. Nothing goes as planned as additional characters come in and wear the vicar’s suits and no one can tell who the real vicar is.
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The Children's Hour
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1980 performance of The Children’s Hour by Lillian Hellman.
The Children’s Hour is the story of a manipulative young girl named Mary and how she uses lies and gossip to control and destroy the lives of the two women who run her boarding school.
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Free To Be You and Me
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1979 performance of Free to Be… You and Me by Marlo Thomas and Friends.
Free to Be…You and Me is a collection of stories, songs and poems, designed to teach children interdependence, mutual respect, and personal dignity.
Presented by the Advanced Oral Interpretation Class.
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Our Town
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1979 performance of Our Town by Thornton Wilder.
Our Town tells the story of a small, fictional American town called Grover’s Corners through the everyday lives of its citizens. The play is set as a play performing in Grover’s Corners and uses metatheatrical elements.
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The Odd Couple
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1979 performance of The Odd Couple by Neil Simon.
The Odd Couple tells the story of friends Felix Ungar and Oscar Madison and the conflicts caused by their mismatched lifestyles when Felix moves in after being kicked out of his home by his wife.
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The School for Scandal
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1979 performance of The School for Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan.
The School for Scandal tells the story of a conniving gossiper Lady Sneerwell, and her plot with other unscrupulous persons to separate couples and redirect love interests through slander and gossip.
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A Doll's House
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1978 performance of A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen.
A Doll’s House is the story of a woman named Nora Helmer who tries to cover up an act of fraud she performed to save her husband’s life. The conflict shakes her home life and marriage, exposing their perceptions of each other and how each believes marriage is to be.
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Galileo
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1978 performance of Galileo by Bertolt Brecht.
Galileo is a fictional retelling of the trial of Galileo when he was tried by the Roman Catholic Church for the promulgation of his scientific discoveries.
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Quest and Query
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1978 performance of Quest and Query adapted by Oliver Hubbard.
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The Dark at the Top of the Stairs
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1978 performance of The Dark at the Top of the Stairs by William Inge.
The Dark at the Top of the Stairs is the story of Cora Flood, the wife of a traveling salesman. Learning that her husband might have an affair with another woman, she plans to leave the marriage. When her husband returns, having lost his job, Cora must decide how to respond.
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Brigadoon
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1977 performance of Brigadoon with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe.
Brigadoon is a musical about two American tourists who stumble upon a Scottish Town that only appears every one hundred years. One of the tourists falls in love and must decide whether to stay in the enchanted village or remain in the real world.
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Doctor Faustus
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1977 performance of Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe.
Doctor Faustus tells the story of Doctor Faustus, a man who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge, magic, and pleasures.
Performed by the Taylor Religious Drama Company.
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Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1977 performance of Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, with songs assembled and translated by Eric Blau and Mort Shuman.
Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris is a musical revue of the life and music of Jacques Brel.
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The American Experience
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1977 Advanced Oral Interpretation Class’s performance of The American Experience adapted by Oliver Hubbard.
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No Exit
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1976 performance of No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartés. In French the term is the equivalent of the legal term “in camera”, which refers to a private discussion behind closed doors.
No Exit is the story of three strangers set in a nicely furnished room in Hell, where they are set to torment each other through their perceptions of their fellow prisoners.
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The Magistrate
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1976 performance of The Magistrate by Arthur Pinero.
The Magistrate is the story of a respectable magistrate who ends up entangled in a series of events that almost result in a public scandal.
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The Mousetrap
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1976 performance of The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie.
Mysterious twists and thrilling turns abound when a group of strangers stranded in a guest house during a snowstorm discover that a murderer is in their midst. Whodunnit? Is it one of the suspicious newlyweds or the spinster with the curious background? Perhaps it’s the architect, the retired Army major or the strange man running from his past. Enjoy an evening of exhilarating intrigue as Agatha Christie’s greatest mystery unfolds to its surprising conclusion.
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Alice in Wonderland
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1975 performance of Alice in Wonderland adapted by Chamber Theatre from Lewis Carroll’s work of the same name.
Alice in Wonderland follows the fantastical and sometimes absurd adventures of a girl named Alice, who follows a White Rabbit and tumbles into a magical world called Wonderland.
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The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1975 performance of The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee.
The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail focuses on the life of Henry David Thoreau as he recounts his life during a night spent in prison for refusing to pay a Poll Tax.
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The Roar of the Greasepaint ̶ The Smell of the Crowd
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1975 performance of The Roar of Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley.
The Roar of Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd is an allegorical exploration of the status quo between the upper and lower classes in 1960s British society through the lens of characters Sir and Cocky.
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American Primitive
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1974 performance of American Primitive by William Gibson.
American Primitive is constructed from the correspondence of John and Abigail Adams and tells their story during the period of the American Revolution.