graphics highlighting the four shows in the University Players seasonThe University Players’ 65th season promises to be the theatre company’s biggest and most exciting yet.

University Players to deliver exciting season of theatre

The University Players’ 65th season promises to be the stage company’s biggest and most exciting yet, says Kristen Siapas, marketing and public relations co-ordinator.

“The theme of the 2023-24 season is Let’s Celebrate!, reflected in a program of classics and side-splitting comedy that audiences will love,” she says. “University Players has been a pillar of the arts community in Windsor Essex for 65 years, and this season represents the best of what we offer to students, to the campus, and to the community at large.”

Four productions will grace the Essex Hall Theatre:

Mac Beth, Sept. 22 to Oct. 1

  • A group of high school age girls gathers in an abandoned area to stage an amateur version of Macbeth, but the lines between fiction and reality are blurred as the ruthlessness of adolescence emerges. Playwright Erica Schmidt’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy is at once an empowering story of womanhood, and the gruesome and fatal effects of underlying resentment, anger, and competition told within the space of two hours.

The Play That Goes Wrong, Nov. 24 to Dec. 3

  • After years of casting and budgetary challenges, the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society is finally able to put on a spectacular full-scale production of The Murder at Haversham Manor, but little do they know the true challenges lie ahead. Between unconscious actors and broken elevators, lost dogs and missed lines, watch as this madcap team attempts to solve a murder mystery while the play literally falls to pieces around them.

The Glass Menagerie, Jan. 19 to 28

  • Tennessee Williams’ famous “memory play” traces the lives of Tom Wingfield, his mother Amanda, and his sister Laura, as they prepare for and host a gentleman caller, Jim O’Connor, in 1937 in St. Louis. Layered with ghosts and echoes of the past, the play explores the heartbreak and frustration that the Wingfield characters experience as they define who they are, who they ought be, and what they really wish for.

Little Women, March 15 to 24

  • Based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott, Marian de Forest’s adaptation of Little Women introduces audiences to the March women as their lives are impacted by the Civil War, young love, and the tragedy of death. Follow the responsible Meg, quick-tongued Jo, virtuous Beth, and artistic Amy in the timeless coming-of-age story.

Season renewals will be available starting March 24, and tickets will go on sale to the general public June 1.