The Blinn College-Bryan Campus Theatre Arts Program kicks off its 2019-20 season with Lauren Gunderson’s hilarious Toil and Trouble, a modern adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
Blinn-Bryan will present the comedic romp at 7:30pm Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 16-17, in Student Center Room F-120 (map). This on-campus performance, approximately an hour long, is part of the Blinn-Bryan Theatre Arts Program’s Blinn-Bryan Theatre Troupe, which consists of Blinn theatre students who create short, interactive theatre experiences to encourage cultural and collaborative exchange in the community.
Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for the general public. All theatre performances are open seating. Tickets can be purchased at www.blinn.edu/boxoffice/bryan. For questions regarding ticket reservations, contact the Box Office at (979) 209-8100 or bryanboxoffice@blinn.edu. Tickets also will be available at the door.
A black comedy with clever wit, Toil and Trouble pits friend against friend, ambition against fate, and pet sitting against miniature mogul-dom. The play revolves around three underemployed friends, Adam, Matt, and Beth, who are desperate to beat the recession by any means necessary. The three combine forces to take over a small island in South America, but plans go awry when a fortune cookie message tells Matt that he will rule and Beth gets a little careless with a dagger. Audiences should note that the play contains adult language and themes.
Following both performances, attendees are encouraged to stay for a brief “Talkback” session featuring a discussion with the cast and production team who will invite the audience to ask questions and delve into the parallels between this modern adaptation and the Bard’s original text.
“This contemporary adaptation of Macbeth is shrouded in dark humor and introduces the audience to Shakespeare in a whole new way,” Blinn-Bryan Theatre Director Greg Wise said. “Tragedy turns to comedy in this timely production that showcases our students’ talent and delivers an evening of laughs.”
Now in its second year, the BBTT continues its successful outreach program that brings live theatre and educational tools and exercises into local schools, community centers, libraries, and retirement communities. As a counterpart to their on-campus shows, the troupe will conduct community performances, which are made possible by a grant from the Eugene Edge III Charitable Trust. For this play, the BBTT will bring excerpts of Toil and Trouble to Bryan and College Station High Schools’ as a complement to their English curriculum, which includes Macbeth.
“We are thrilled by the inaugural response the Blinn-Bryan Theatre Troupe received last year,” Wise said. “This outreach effort enables us to share the arts with local schools and organizations, collaborate with the community, and connect prospective students with our program.”
Blinn’s Theatre Arts Program hosts a variety of performances each year on its Bryan and Brenham campuses, and integrates the artistic, technical, and academic disciplines of theatre from the classroom to the stage. The Theatre Arts Program is part of Blinn’s Division of Visual/Performing Arts & Kinesiology, which offers courses and hands-on learning opportunities in architecture, arts, communication studies, construction science, kinesiology, music, and theatre.
For more information or to reserve the Blinn-Bryan Theatre Troupe, contact Wise at greg.wise@blinn.edu.
