Thomas Jefferson School Saint Louis, Missouri
| REQUIRED ACTIVITIES FOR 2005-2006 |
The descriptions below are courtesy of the St. Louis Repertory Theatre website, www.repstl.org.
| CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF |
| Date: Friday, September 16 at the St. Louis Repertory Theatre Description: Williams' Pulitzer Prize-winning drama is an explosive portrait of a Mississippi family, charged with verbal fireworks, savage humor and sexual friction. Nothing is as it seems in this house: The tempestuous Maggie fights to maintain the façade of a happy marriage. Brick, a former gridiron hero, turns to drink seeking respite from his fiery wife and controlling father. Big Daddy is dying, but believes he's in perfect health. His eldest son and daughter-in-law secretly plot to secure their place in the will. In a maze of avarice, hypocrisy and hidden desire, Big Daddy learns the painful truth about his illness as Maggie struggles to win back her husband and preserve the family fortune. |
| COMMUNITY SERVICE DAY |
| Date: Thursday, October 6 Description: Students and faculty spend an afternoon volunteering at sites in St. Louis city and county. |
| A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM |
| Date: Friday, October 21 at the St. Louis Repertory Theatre Description: All roads lead to laughs in this gaudy, bawdy musical! Pity poor Pseudolus, overworked slave-in-chief: His master's in the tub, the house is overrun with courtesans, a pompous military marauder is on the warpath, and there's a virgin on the roof. What's a put-upon peon to do? Sing and scheme, of course, to unite two young lovers and gain his longed-for freedom. With hilarious songs by Stephen Sondheim and a raucous book by Larry Gelbart (creator of M*A*S*H) and Burt Shevelove, from the opening notes to the frenzied finale, Forum delivers on the promise of its signature tune: "Comedy tonight!" |
| ALL THE GREAT BOOKS (ABRIDGED) |
| Date: Friday, December 9 at the St. Louis Repertory Theatre Description: Hold on for dear life as the literary canon explodes and launches a fast-paced, funny crash course in all those classics you should have read in school but probably didn't (unless you went to TJ). Confused by Confucius? Thoroughly thrown by Thoreau? Wish Swift was swifter? Then have a little Dickens, a bit of reduced Proust, and a Longfellow that's shorter. With an inspired mix of verbal dexterity and physical comedy, co-creator Reed Martin directs three gifted actors as they rip and race through nearly 90 famous texts with silliness and sophisticated irreverence. |
| I AM MY OWN WIFE |
| Date: Friday, January 20 at the St. Louis Repertory Theatre Description: The true story of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, a collector of culture who protects and preserves what's routinely denied and destroyed. Charlotte is also a survivor, a German transvestite who manages to endure the harrowing eras of both Hitler's Gestapo and East Germany's secret police. As Doug Wright—a character in his own play—works to uncover and dramatize her past, he finds that survival often forces people to lie about or to themselves, and that the lies are as important as the truth. Winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play. |
| PIRANDELLO'S HENRY V |
| Date: Friday, February 18 at the St. Louis Repertory Theatre Description: Pirandello's play is a masterpiece of love and jealousy, psychosis and self-awareness, brought to new life with flair and humor by Tom Stoppard. An Italian nobleman falls from his horse during a historical re-enactment, awakening to believe he actually is his character, the medieval German emperor King Henry IV. For two decades, everyone indulges his "madness". He lives in a fantasy world, an illusion engineered by his family, complete with an 11th century castle and a retinue of costumed courtiers. But his family now believes they can cure him and have come to shock him into the 21st century, only to receive a shock of their own. |
| STUDENT WORKSHOPS, organized by SAC |
| Date: Wednesday, March 1 at TJ Description: Topics to be announced. |
| WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION |
| Date: Friday, March 31 at the St. Louis Repertory Theatre Description: Pirandello's play is a masterpiece of love and jealousy, psychosis and self-awareness, brought to new life with flair and humor by Tom Stoppard. An Italian nobleman falls from his horse during a historical re-enactment, awakening to believe he actually is his character, the medieval German emperor King Henry IV. For two decades, everyone indulges his "madness". He lives in a fantasy world, an illusion engineered by his family, complete with an 11th century castle and a retinue of costumed courtiers. But his family now believes they can cure him and have come to shock him into the 21st century, only to receive a shock of their own. |