A SEASON OF FANTASTICAL JOURNEYS!

Audiences and critics took notice of yet another spectacular season of shows at Civic Theatre last year, and we couldn’t be more excited about upping the bar for this season! Crowds flocked to last season’s hits including I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, Tuesday’s With Morrie, The Underpants, and Anne of Green Gables, resulting in numerous sell-out performances, and we are sure seats will be filling fast for our next exciting blend of shows.

Join us on a “Fantastical Journey” that stretches from Indiana’s backyards to the Holy Roman Empire and beyond!

The NEXTWAVE kicks off the season with a trip to a deserted island with Lord of the Flies in a special outdoor presentation at Mesker Park! Then, it’s off to the down-home town of Tuna, Texas with the side-splitting, fast paced comedy Greater Tuna! The Holy-Roman empire gets a modern and magical spin with the song and dance extravaganza Pippin! Indiana takes center stage with Evansville native Matt Williams’ Between Daylight and Boonville. From the backyard of Evansville, we travel to Florida for the quirky and hilarious out of this world comedy The Sugar Bean Sisters, and return back home to Bomont, Indiana for the musical version of the famous 80’s movie Footloose with the NEXTWAVE program.

Six shows just isn’t enough for you? Then you’re in luck! In addition to our four mainstage shows and two NEXTWAVE productions, don’t miss our special Summer presentation, Leaving Iowa. Leaving Iowa is about every family vacation gone wrong! And we return to our successful Shakespeare in the Park with our free performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the corner of 4th and Main! All this and the Shower of Stars moves to October with a slew of local talent to croon and serenade you for the third year running!

So make your travel plans now, and join Civic Theatre on a “Fantastical Journey” this season!

Shakespeare in the Park	A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM 4TH STREET AND MAIN PARK JUNE 26, 27, 28     2009 FRIDAY-SUNDAY 6:00 PM One of Shakespeare’s most beloved comedies mixes fairies, fantasies, mistaken identities, workers, aristocrats and love in all its many guises.  Starry-eyed young lovers and zany would-be actors cross paths in a magical forest, and the result is one of the world’s most uproarious comedies. Love is blind, fickle and true. And under the sway of capricious fairies it becomes blinder (a queen romances a donkey), more fickle (best friends swoon over each other's beaus) and truest of all (lovers repledge their devotion). "Lord, what fools these mortals be!" in Shakespeare's bewitching comedy! Performed in the park at 4th Street and Main on the Walkway.
The Comedy about Family Vacations by Tim Clue and Spike Manton	LEAVING IOWA JULY 24, 25, 26*, 31 AUGUST 1, 2*     2009 FRIDAYS AND SATURDAYS 8:00 PM *SUNDAYS 2:00 pm If you ever took a family car trip during which someone asked, “Are we there yet?!”, you'll love the family vacation comedy Leaving Iowa. Join columnist Don Browning on his nostalgic journey back to the family home which triggers memories of all those exhilarating and exasperating family road trips with sis teasing her brother whose complaints only get him in trouble, dad getting lost and refusing to admit it, and mom losing it over her fear that they're REALLY lost. In turn side-splitting, touching, and boisterous, Leaving Iowa will be completely recognizable to anyone who's traveled more than a few miles with the family.
Adapted for the stage by Nigel Williams	WILLIAM GOLDING'S THE LORD OF THE FLIES A NEXTWAVE PRODUCTION IN MESKER PARK SEPTEMBER 11, 12, 13     2009 FRIDAY -SUNDAY 6:00 PM A plane crashes on a deserted island. The only survivors are a group of young school boys. Marooned, they live in a land of bright exotic birds and dark blue seas, but before long this well-behaved group has descended into savagery and turned into a bloodthirsty and murderous tribe. William Golding's gripping tale is still chilling and relevant today, igniting passionate debate with its startling portrayal of human nature. In an attempt to bring a sense of reality to the tale, the NEXTWAVE Program will present this powerful piece of classic literature in the great outdoors in a special presentation at MESKER PARK.
by Joe Sears and Jaston Williams	GREATER TUNA SEPTEMBER 18, 19, 25, 26, 27* OCTOBER 2, 3, 4*     2009 FRIDAYS AND SATURDAYS 8:00 PM *SUNDAYS 2:00PM Greater Tuna is the hilarious comedy about Texas' third smallest town, where the Lion's Club is too liberal and Patsy Cline never dies. The eclectic band of citizens in this hilarious send-up of small town morals are portrayed by only two performers, making this satire on life in rural America even more delightful as they depict all of the inhabitants of Tuna, Texas - men, women, children and animals in a tour de farce of quick change artistry, changing costumes and characterizations faster than a jack rabbit runs from a coyote. Two actors, twenty characters and a barrel of laughs, ya'll! This is a rip-roarin’ good time!
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz	PIPPIN DECEMBER 4, 5, 6*, 11, 12, 13*, 18, 19, 20*     2009 FRIDAYS AND SATURDAYS 8:00 PM *SUNDAYS 2:00PM We’ve got Magic to do, just for you! One of Broadway’s biggest hits comes to the Civic stage bringing the dance styles of legendary choreographer Bob Fosse and the music of three time Oscar Winning composer Stephen Schwartz bursting with one show-stopping number after another. It’s a show about life, living, and the pursuit of happiness, and will feature a large cast of Civic Theatre veterans and newcomers! Considered a modern classic, this hip, tongue-in-cheek, anachronistic fairy tale has captivated Broadway audiences for years and continues to appeal to the young at heart everywhere.
by Matt Williams Evansville Native and creator of Rosanne and Home Improvement	BETWEEN DAYLIGHT AND BOONVILLE FEBRUARY 12, 13, 19, 20, 21*, 26, 27, 28*     2010 FRIDAYS AND SATURDAYS 8:00 PM *SUNDAYS 2:00PM Set in Evansville’s backyard! Carla, a twenty six year old high school dropout, wife and mother, dreams of packing up and moving to escape her dreary existence. She is teased, threatened and cajoled by her friends as they settle into an ordinary day of trading gossip while the children dart about the trailer park. An ordinary day becomes extraordinary when the local mine resounds with an explosion. The play is a touching and humorous study of women who possess the courage, the humor and the dignity to rise above the grimmer facts of their existence. Written by Reitz High School graduate Matt Williams!
A Comedy by Nathan Sanders	THE SUGAR BEAN SISTERS APRIL 9, 10, 16, 17, 18*, 23, 24, 25     2010 FRIDAYS AND SATURDAYS 8:00 PM *SUNDAYS 2:00PM The Sugar Bean Sisters is an outrageous, out of this world Southern Gothic comedy featuring romance, murder, and alien abduction. We meet Faye and Willie Mae as they return home to their ramshackle swamp dwelling in Sugar Bean, Florida, after a disastrous daytrip to Disney World, where Willie lost her prized Eva Gabor wig on Space Mountain. A strange bird-like woman suddenly appears out of the darkness of the swamp, setting in motion a chain of extraordinary events. Lies begin to unravel and the truth is revealed as the sisters hatch a plan to summon the “space people” from their past.
by Dean Pitchford, Walter Bobbie & Tom Snow with additional music by Eric Carmen, Sammy Hagar, Kenny Loggins and Jim Steinman	FOOTLOOSE A NEXTWAVE PRODUCTION MAY 13**, 14, 15, 16*     2010 **THURSDAY 8:00 PM FRIDAY AND SATURDAY 8:00 PM *SUNDAY 2:00PM Ren and his mother move to Bomont, Indiana to discover a ban on dancing instituted by the local preacher. The reverend's rebellious daughter sets her sights on Ren and the locals are eager to believe the worst about the new kid. The heartfelt story that emerges is of a father longing for a lost son and of a young man aching for the father who walked out on him. With the rockin' rhythm of its Oscar and Tony nominated top 40 score, Footloose celebrates the wisdom of listening to young people, guiding them with a warm heart and an open mind and is one of the most explosive movie musicals in recent memory.

The History of
Evansville Civic Theatre

Evansville Civic Theatre was born in the 1920's when the community theater movement swept across the country. But Civic Theatre's roots extend far back into the 19th Century to the days when independent theater companies performed throughout the Midwest, bringing artistry and entertainment to people who would otherwise never know the excitement of live theater. The founder of Evansville Civic Theatre, Miss Frances Golden, brought to the new community theater (called Peoples Players in 1925-then changed to Community Players) all of her previous experience as the daughter of a famous theatrical family. In addition, as artistic director for 17 years, Miss Golden gave to Evansville Civic Theatre a stability and sense of purpose that has shaped the character of community theater in Evansville for the past 73 years.

From its humble beginnings at the Old Central High School auditorium, Evansville Civic Theatre has had many homes -- Memorial Coliseum, Bosse High School, the Rose Room of the McCurdy Hotel, the Elks Ballroom, and the Evansville Museum of Arts and Sciences when the name was changed to Evansville Civic Theatre in 1956. In 1974, Evansville Civic Theatre acquired it's own home, the former Columbia Movie Theater at 717 N. Fulton Avenue, built in 1910. Here, more than half a century of Evansville's cultural history and innumerable hours of production and performance time are re-lived every time the curtain is raised on a new Civic Theatre production. Civic Theatre celebrated its 20th anniversary in the former Columbia Theater in Sept., 1994, with an exterior restoration as the building appeared in 1939. In August 1996 New theater seating and a complete refurbishing of the theatre interior was completed.

In recent years, Civic Theatre has implemented numerous new projects and programs reaching more and more audience members. The NEXTWAVE Educational Program reaches out to children, teens, and adults through classes and two mainstage shows that have been incorporated into each season. The Civic Theatre Education Annex in Washington Square Mall has birthed a new performance space in a flexible Black-Box setting dubbed The Underground at the Annex, and in 2007 Civic brought Shakespeare in the Park to Evansville in an annual summer presentation.

OUR MISSION STATEMENT:

Evansville Civic Theatre is a non-profit community theatre committed to presenting high-quality theatrical productions, to providing an imaginative environment for artistic expression for all members of the community, and to offering stimulating educational programming for youth and adults.