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.
View Historical Context Statement
-
Tales from Rogues' Hollow
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1993 performance of Tales from Rogues’ Hollow by J. Gregory Sager.
Tales from Rogues’ Hollow is the story of travelers Leslie and Norman who get lost and visit an old tavern to ask directions. They discover the tavern full of the locals from Rogues’ Hollow eager to share their stories.
Rogues’ Hollow was a coal mining town in Ohio near where the playwright grew up. It was notorious for large the number of outlaws, and is associated with several ghost stories and bits of folklore today.
-
Charley’s Aunt
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1993 performance of Charley’s Aunt by Brandon Thomas.
Charley’s Aunt is the story of Lord Fancourt Babberley, an undergraduate persuaded by two of his friends, Jack and Charley, to impersonate Charley’s aunt so they can spend time with they beaus. Their plan is complicated when an elderly fortune hunter tries to woo the fake aunt and Charley’s real aunt appears.
-
Death Trap
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1993 performance of Deathtrap by Ira Levin.
Deathtrap is a one set, five character play with two acts. It follows the story of a struggling playwright and his student and their development of a one set, five character play called Deathtrap which mirrors the events happening in the play being performed.
-
To Kill A Mockingbird
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1992 performance of To Kill a Mockingbird, adapted by Christopher Sergel from Harper Lee’s novel of the same name.
To Kill a Mockingbird follows the story of Jean Louise “Scout” Finch and her personal growth as she observes various instances of injustice, racism, and prejudice in her hometown in the Deep South.
-
Quilters
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1992 performance of Quilters by Molly Newman and Barbara Damashek, with music and lyrics by Barbara Damashek.
Quilters is a musical of a mother and her six daughters on the American frontier. Through music and quilts they explore the life of a woman from childhood to death.
-
Cosmographicum
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1992 performance of Cosmographicum by Thom Verratti.
Cosmographicum is the story of a frustrated playwright trying to make sense of the life of 17th-century mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler. It is an original play written by former Taylor student Thom Verratti ’90. He graduated from Taylor’s computer science program.
-
“…Of Things Unseen”
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1991 Advanced Oral Interpretation Class’s performance of …Of Things Unseen adapted by Oliver Hubbard.
-
Sarcophagus
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1991 performance of Sarcophagus by Vladimir Gubaryev.
Sarcophagus is an exploration of the Chernobyl Disaster, a catastrophic nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near the city of Pripyat, Ukraine. The play takes place in the Institute of Radiation Safety, near Moscow, immediately following the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster.
-
The Matchmaker
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1991 performance of The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder.
Before the world fell in love with "Hello, Dolly!", Thornton Wilder’s uproarious play "The Matchmaker" introduced Ms. Dolly Gallagher Levi: a cunning, crafty, and thoroughly modern woman who knows a good catch when she sees one. When the wealthy Horace Vandergelder hires matchmaker Ms. Levi to find him a wife, Dolly doesn't need to look far to find his perfect mate. While Dolly is “arranging things” for Mr. Vandergelder, the young, hopeless romantics of Yonkers reap the rewards of Dolly’s generosity.
-
Whose Life Is It Anyway?
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1991 performance of Whose Life is it Anyway? by Brian Clark.
Whose Life is it Anyway? tells the story of Claire Harrison, a woman who is left paralyzed from the head down after a car accident and battles with the doctors to be taken off life support.
-
The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1990 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.
-
The Little Foxes
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1990 performance of The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman.
The Little Foxes tells the story of Regina Giddens, a woman from a small Alabama townwith a desire for wealth and success but unable to take from the family business because only her brothers are considered legal heirs. The play follows her efforts to acquire control of the business and all that it costs her.
-
I Remember Mama
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1990 performance of I Remember Mama by John van Druten.
I Remember Mama is the story of an immigrated Norwegian family living in San Francisco at the turn of the 20th century as told by one of the family’s daughters, Katrin.
-
The Victorians
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1989 performance of The Victorians adapted and arranged by Oliver Hubbard.
The Victorians highlights the work of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert Browning, Charles Dickens, Henry Mayhew, Benjamin Disraeli, Gilbert and Sullivan, Lewis Carrol, J. M. Barrie, and Oscar Wilde.
The play was presented by the Advanced Oral Interpretation Class.
-
The Barretts
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1989 performance of The Barretts by Marjorie Carleton.
The Barretts is based on the romance between Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett, and her father’s overbearing control over his family and refusal to allow them to marry.
A later production by Taylor Theatre, The Victorians, was produced later that year as a reader’s theatre featuring various Victorian poets and writers including Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
-
The Crucible
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1989 performance of The Crucible by Arthur Miller.
The Crucible is a fictional story of the Salem Witch trials, telling the deterioration of a Massachusetts town when a group of women are accused of practicing witchcraft. Millar wrote the play as an allegory for McCarthyism.
-
The Foreigner
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1989 performance of The Foreigner by Larry Shue.
The Foreigner is the story of two Englishmen Charlie Baker and Staff Sergeant Froggy who come to stay at a fishing lodge for a weekend. When Froggy makes up a story about Charlie being a foreigner who cannot understand English to help explain his shyness, Charlie is suddenly exposed to a variety of secrets held by the lodge visitors and becomes the focus of some racist members of the community.
-
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.
-
Amadeus
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1988 performance of Amadeus by Peter Shaffer.
Amadeus is a fictionalized account of the lives of the composers Antonio Salieri and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
Arsenic and Old Lace
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1986 performance of Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring.
-
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!
-
“…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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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..
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.