蜜柚直播

They wanted to bring great literature and classic works to life, but there weren鈥檛 a lot of opportunities in 蜜柚直播鈥檚 theater community to 鈥渃limb the big mountains,鈥� McGrath said.

鈥淪o we decided to start staging great plays and great literature and see if there was an audience out here for that,鈥� he said recently as he and Meier were in the midst of rehearsing the first production of their 20th anniversary season. 鈥淚t turns out that there is given the fact that we鈥檙e still cruising around here 20 years down the road.鈥�

Rogue Theatre opens its 20th season on Friday, Sept. 6, with one of those great works, Thornton Wilder鈥檚 Pulitzer Prize-winning play 鈥淭he Skin of Our Teeth.鈥� Performances at its theater, 300 E. University Blvd. in downtown鈥檚 Historic Y, run through Sept. 29.

The season includes five plays through next spring, when they will present Shakespeare鈥檚 鈥淩omeo and Juliet.鈥�

In its infancy, Rogue Theatre was an itinerant company with no place to call home. They split their time at when it was at the Historic Y and the Temple of Music & Art鈥檚 60-seat Cabaret Theatre. In 2006, they did Wallace Shawn鈥檚 鈥淭he Fever鈥� at Hotel Congress.

鈥淔or four years, we were moving around, but鈥� we eventually found out that audiences, when you say you are with the Rogue Theatre, the very first thing they ask is where is that,鈥� McGrath said. 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 have a home, you can鈥檛 place yourself in the audience鈥檚 mind and build an audience of any size and consistency.鈥�

In their fourth season, the company moved into the 160-seat space that was home in the 1950s to the late Mary MacMurtrie鈥檚 蜜柚直播 Children鈥檚 Theatre.

鈥淎lmost immediately, they kind of rose to the top especially after they got their own space,鈥� said Kathleen Allen, the longtime 蜜柚直播 theater critic who continues to do reviews in retirement. 鈥淭hey became one of the top theaters in 蜜柚直播.鈥�

Every year, the company staged a work by Shakespeare 鈥� in theater, all roads lead back to the Bard 鈥� and mounted plays by great American playwrights from Eugene O鈥橬eill to Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller and George Bernard Shaw.

They also wanted to bring great literature to life on their stage with play adaptations of novels.

鈥淣ot only are we talking about wanting to do really great literature in terms of dramatic literature but also in terms of prose, of writers we feel deserve to be heard,鈥� said Meier, who did her first adaption in their inaugural 2005-06 season of James Joyce鈥檚 short story 鈥淭he Dead.鈥� 鈥淕reat literature shouldn鈥檛 just be read but should be heard and lived.鈥�

To date, the Rogue has commissioned or done the first performances of 14 adaptations. In November, they will do their 15th, John Capecci鈥檚 adaptation of Italo Calvino鈥檚 novel 鈥�;鈥� Capecci will be in 蜜柚直播 to lead a free discussion of the play on Oct. 26.

Their 20th anniversary season also includes John Millington Synge鈥檚 鈥淭he Playboy of the Western World鈥� Jan. 10-Feb. 2, 2025; and Jordan Harrison鈥檚 鈥淢arjorie Prime,鈥� Feb. 21-March 16.

Meier said the company has kept an ensemble of a dozen actors who get three roles a season. She and McGrath also act and direct.

Allen said one of the things that also sets Rogue Theatre apart from other companies in 蜜柚直播 is its large-cast productions, made possible by a loyal funding base of dedicated followers.

鈥淭hey do really challenging work that none of the other theaters did including (蜜柚直播 Theatre Company),鈥� she said. 鈥淪ometimes it falls flat on its face, but you can鈥檛 fault a theater for falling flat on its face for doing something courageous. And I think the Rogue is always doings something courageous.鈥�