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
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Christ in the Concrete City and The Prodigal Son
The playbill for Taylor University’s 1974 performances of Christ in the Concrete City by Philip Turner and The Prodigal Son by R.H. Ward, performed by the Religious Drama Company
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The American Dream
The playbill for Taylor University’s Theatre 25 Fall 1974 performance of The American Dream by Edward Albee.
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The Emperor’s Daughters
The playbill for Taylor University’s Theatre 25 Fall 1974 performance of The Emperor’s Daughters by Cena Christopher Draper.
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The Glass Menagerie
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1974 performance of The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams.
The Glass Menagerie is a memory play narrated and led by a young man named Tom, who recounts life with his mother Amanda and sister Laura. The play has strong autobiographical elements of the playwright Tennessee and his experience growing up with his mother and sister.
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The Trojan Women
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1974 performance of The Trojan Women by Euripides.
The Trojan Women tells the story of the fates of four women after the fall of the city of Troy.
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A Mark Twain Production
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1973 performance of A Mark Twain Production adapted by Allen Goetcheus for Chamber Theatre.
A Mark Twin Production tells the story of Mark Twain and his work through collected writings and letters.
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Grimm's Fairy Tales
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1973 performance of Grimm’s Fairy Tales adapted by Allen Goetcheus for Chamber Theatre.
Grimm’s Fairy Tales is an adaption of the classic stories by the Grimm Brothers.
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The Skin of Our Teeth
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1973 performance of The Skin of Our Teeth by Thornton Wilder.
The Skin of Our Teeth is an allegory about human nature which follows a family and their maid through various disasters at different points of human history.
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The Taming of the Shrew
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1973 performance of The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare.
The Taming of the Shrew follows the courtship and marriage of Petruchio and Katherina, a headstrong shrew and how Petruchio "tames" her.
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The Ugly Duckling
The playbill for Taylor University’s Theatre 25 Fall 1973 performance of The Ugly Duckling by A. A. Milne.
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A Man for All Seasons
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1972 performance of A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt.
A Man for All Seasons is based on the life of Sir Thomas Moore, a 16th century chancellor of England who refused to endorse King Henry the VIII’s divorce his wife Catherine of Aragon, who did not bear him any sons so her could marry Anne Boleyn.
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Antigone
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1972 performance of Antigone by Sophocles, (translated by Jean Anouilh).
In this story, the bold yet cursed princess Antigone, daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta, chooses to confront her unmovable uncle/king about his decision to dishonor her brother by refusing his burial. Her choice to defy him shocks the entire city of Thebes. Ultimately, all concerned, including the audience, are forced to wrestle with the relationship of divine law to human laws.
This is one of three plays performed at Eastbrook Middle School Cafetorium because of the destruction of Shreiner Auditorium in Helena Music Hall. Helena Music Hall was destroyed in a fire January 20, 1972. The next building to host Taylor theatre on campus was the Little Theater in the 1972-73 school year.
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The Importance of Being Earnest
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1972 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.
This production was set as a Reader's Theatre due to the limited physical space available.
This is one of three plays performed at Eastbrook Middle School Cafetorium because of the destruction of Shreiner Auditorium in Helena Music Hall. Helena Music Hall was destroyed in a fire January 20, 1972. The next building to host Taylor theatre on campus was the Little Theater in the 1972-73 school year.
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The Turn of the Screw
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1972 performance of Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw adapted by Allen Goetcheus for Chamber Theatre.
The Turn of the Screw is the story of a governess who takes a job in an English country house and begins to see what she believes are the ghosts of two former employees.
This is one of three plays performed at Eastbrook Middle School Cafetorium because of the destruction of Shreiner Auditorium in Helena Music Hall. Helena Music Hall was destroyed in a fire January 20, 1972. The next building to host Taylor theatre on campus was the Little Theater in the 1972-73 school year.
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Ghosts
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1971 performance of Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen.
Ghosts tells the story of widow Mrs. Alving who has built an orphanage in honor of her late husband though he was unfaithful to her. The play shows her navigation of various issues with her son and husband’s illegitimate daughter, attacking conventional morals of the time.
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Short Stories from the South
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1971 performance of Short Stories From the South adapted by Allen Goetcheus for Chamber Theatre.
Short Stories From the South features stories and excerpts from the works of Eudora Welty, Flannery O’Conner, and William Faulkner.
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The Cherry Orchard
The playbill for Taylor University’s April 1971 performance of The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov.
The play follows an aristocratic Russian landowner who returns to her family estate (which includes a large and well-known cherry orchard) just before it is auctioned to pay the mortgage.
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The Fantasticks
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1971 performance of The Fantasticks with music by Harvey Schmidt and book and lyrics by Tom Jones.
The Fantasticks is an allegorical musical about two scheming neighbor fathers who pretend to feud in order to make their children fall in love.
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The Imaginary Invalid
The playbill for Taylor University’s October 1971 performance of The Imaginary Invalid arranged by Jean Baptiste Moliére.
The Imaginary Invalid is a satirical Comédie-ballet about the 17th century medical profession, following the story of a wealthy Frenchman named Argan who is a hypochondriac.
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Much Ado About Nothing
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1970 performance of Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare.
Much Ado About Nothing tells the story of two couples, the feuding Benedick and Beatrice, and the deeply in love Claudio and Hero. Through the use of gossip Benedick and Beatrice are brought together again, and Claudio and Hero, at first separated by malicious lies, are brought together again.
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She Stoops to Conquer
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1970 performance of She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith.
She Stoops to Conquer is the story of Kate Hardcastle, a high society woman whom her father is trying to marry to rich Londoner Charles Marlow. When Marlow rejects her in favor of marrying someone less intimidating and of a lower class, she takes on the persona of a maid to woo him.
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Amahl and the Night visitors
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1969 performance of Amal and the Night Visitors by Gian-Carlo Menotti.
Amal and the Night Visitors is an opera about a young crippled boy name Amal who lives with his mother, and special night they are visited by the Magi, who are journeying in search of the Christ child.
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Charley's Aunt
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1969 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.
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Oklahoma!
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1969 performance of Oklahoma!. Books and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, music by Richard Rogers.
The high-spirited rivalry between the farmers and cowmen of the Western Indian Territory provides the colorful, turn-of-the-century backdrop for Curley and Laurey’s love story. But with these headstrong romantics holding the reins, the road to love is as bumpy as a surrey ride down a dusty road. Despite many hardships, their rocky romance leads to a new life beginning in a brand new state. Rodgers & Hammerstein's first collaboration remains, in many ways, their most innovative, having set the standards and established the rules that musical theatre still follows today.
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The Cocktail Party
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1969 performance of The Cocktail Party by T. S. Elliot.
The Cocktail Party by T. S. Elliot is the story of a separated couple who are brought together by their psychiatrist to a cocktail party so they might be reunited.
This show was performed by the Faculty Readers reader’s theater.
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The Madwoman of Chaillot
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1969 performance of The Madwoman of Chaillot by Jean Giraudoux.
The Madwoman of Chaillot is a satire about an eccentric woman who uncovers the plot of a group of businessmen to dig up Paris for oil and sets out to thwart them with the help of other ordinary and peculiar people.
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The World of Carl Sandburg
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1969 performance of The World of Carl Sandburg arranged by Norman Corwin.
The World of Carl Sandburg features selections from the poetry and prose of Carl Sandburg.
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All My Sons
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1968 performance of All My Sons by Arthur Miller.
All My Sons is the story of the Keller family, whose father knowingly sent a batch of defective engine cylinder heads to the military in World War II, and how the discovery of his crime impacts his family and neighbors.
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An Evening of One-Act Plays
The playbill for Taylor University’s 1968 student-directed productions, including The American Dream by Edward Albee, The Room by Harold Pinter, and The Bald Soprano by Eugene Ionesco.
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Cry of Dawn in Dark Babylon
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1968 performance of Cry Dawn in Dark Babylon by P. W. Turner.
From the playbill: “According to the author, this is a play about death, the Resurrection and the Church. It is a true story, based on his own experience as a pastor in an industrial parish in England.”
Performed by the Taylor Religious Drama Company. It was second of three projects developed by the class for the semester.
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The Mikado
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1967 performance of Mikado by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan.
The Mikado is the comic opera about the romance between Nanki-Poo, the son of Japan’s Mikado, and Yum-Yum, the ward of the High Executioner of Titipu.
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The Potting Shed
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1967 performance of The Potting Shed by Graham Greene.
The Potting Shed tells the story of a man who returns home to his estranged family as his father is dying. Unsure why he was estranged from his family, he pursues answers his family will not provide. He realizes the answer is found in his blank memory about an event in a potting shed when he was fourteen.
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The Rivals
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1967 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.
This show was performed by the Faculty Readers reader’s theater.
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An Evening of One-Act Plays
The playbill for Taylor University’s 1966 student-directed productions, including The Shoemaker’s Wife translated by David Thompson, The Starting March by Jerry McNeely .
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The Birds
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1966 performance of The Birds by Aristophanes.
The Birds tells the story of two Athenians who are tired of their life among the gods and people and seek a king who became a bird, that they may form an allegiance with the birds form a city of their own.
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The Fantasticks
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1966 performance of The Fantasticks with music by Harvey Schmidt and book and lyrics by Tom Jones.
The Fantasticks is an allegorical musical about two scheming neighbor fathers who pretend to feud in order to make their children fall in love.
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The Master Builder
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1966 performance of The Master Builder by Henrik Ibsen.
The Master Builder tells the story of Halvard Solness, the master builder in a small Norway town who meets a young woman whom he made advances on early in life and takes into his home.
This show was performed by the Faculty Readers reader’s theater.
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An Evening of One-Act Plays
The playbill for Taylor University’s 1965 student-directed productions, including The Apollo of Bellac by Jean Giradoux, Long Stay Cut Short by Tennessee Williams, and The Valiant by Holsworthy Hall and Robert Middlemass.
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Hedda Gabler
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1965 performance of Hebba Gabler by Henrik Ibsen.
Hebba Gabler is the story of newlywed Hedda Tesman and her reunion with a former lover and how she manipulates events to secure and create a life for herself with her husband.
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Arsenic and Old Lace
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1964 performance of Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring.
Arsenic and Old Lace is the story about the Brewsters, an insane homicidal family, and the one sane member, Mortimer Brewster, who must decide whether or not to go through with his promise to marry the woman he loves, Elaine Harper, who lives next door.
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The Cave Dwellers
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1964 performance of The Cave Dwellers by William Saroyan.
The Cave Dwellers tells the story of four homeless persons living on the stage of a theater about to be torn down, and how they recount the memories of their better days with joy.
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The House by the Stable
The playbill for Taylor University’s Players of Genesius 1964-1965 performances of The House by the Stable by Charles Williams.
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The Wounded
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1964 performance of The Wounded by Warren Kliewer.
The Wounded tells the story of the effect a German minister has on his Nazi antagonists in a World War II concentration camp.
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Right You Are
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1963 performance of Right You Are by Luigi Pirandello, translated by Eric Bentley.
Right You Are is the story of Mr. Ponza and his mother-in-law, Lady Frola, and the attempt by their village to determine the truth behind their story, as each claims the other is insane.
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The Dark at the Top of the Stairs
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1963 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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The Heiress
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1963 performance of The Heiress by Ruth and Augustus Goetz adapted from the 1880 Henry James novel Washington Square.
The Heiress tells the story of Catherine Sloper, a rather plain-looking woman set to receive a large inheritance from her father. When a man comes to court her, her father suspects it is for the money and attempts to thwart his plan.
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The Crucible
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1962 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.
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The Importance of Being Earnest
The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1962 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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The Miser
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1962 performance of The Miser by Molière, adapted by Miles Malleson.
The Miser tells the story of old man obsessed with wealth, determined to marry a young woman who is actually in love with his son, and marry his daughter to a rich man, though she is in love with someone else. As the children are trying to live according to their own designs, events are complicated further when the miser’s hoard is stolen.
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Three by Ionesco
The playbill for Taylor University’s Fall 1962 performance of Three by Ionesco, featuring Man's Futile Effort, The Lesson, and The Chairs by Eugéne Ionesco, translated by Donald M. Allen.