Special Collections

Synopsis:
Performed with a bare stage and suggested props, we are led by an ever-observant Stage Manager as our meta-theatrical guide in Jon Jory's touching and magical adaptation of The Boxcar Children, the beloved children's book created by teacher Gertrude Chandler Warner. This classic story of four precocious orphans finding their way in a small New England town is sure to tug on every audience member's...

Synopsis:
A pair of feuding modern-day stepsisters wake up at the Akron Women's Rights Convention of 1851, and find themselves on a whirlwind journey through US history. As they face the challenges of each time with fascinating suffragists, abolitionists, and freedom fighters like Sojourner Truth and Ida B. Wells, the young women must decide what they really believe and what kind of world they want to stand...

Synopsis:
The story of Joseph Merrick (a.k.a. The Elephant Man) comes to life in this highly theatrical retelling featuring an ensemble of performers that share the role of Merrick. Whether on a bare stage or with an elaborate set, this adaptable play shines the spotlight on the vivid inner life of Joseph Merrick, and his relationship with the good Dr. Treves. This classic story of the ultimate outcast feel...

Synopsis:
In 1950s Ireland, family means everything. So when Eveline Donnelly abandons her dream of a university education to care for her widowed father, it seems only right and natural. But as she watches her younger sister prepare to leave home, a visit from her mother's ghost makes Evie begin to ask, "When is it my turn?"

Synopsis:
Based on the remarkable true story of Heinz Geiringer -- neighbor and friend of Anne Frank -- we follow the story of a young artist and loving brother living in unconscionable circumstances. A trained musician at only 15 and now forced to live in hiding and silence, Heintz turns to painting and poetry to express his everyday terror but hope of the future. Through Heinz's inspired paintings, nostal...

Synopsis:
While wandering Worcester, England in 1943, a teenage boy happened upon the skeleton of an unidentified woman inside the trunk of a large tree. An investigation commenced to determine who the woman was and how she died, but it raised more questions than it answered. Was she a spy? Was she a prostitute? Had she been part of an occult ritual? Theories abounded, but no definitive answers emerged. The...

Synopsis:
Based on the remarkable true story of Heinz Geiringer -- neighbor and friend of Anne Frank -- we follow the story of a young artist and loving brother living in unconscionable circumstances. A trained musician at only 15 and now forced to live in hiding and silence, Heintz turns to painting and poetry to express his everyday terror but hope of the future. Through Heinz's inspired paintings, nostal...

Synopsis:
In February 1940, a young girl in Iowa pulled the name of a pen pal out of a hat. That name was Anne Frank. There was a brief correspondence before the Nazis invaded The Netherlands. The play is a coming-of-age reflection of that time from 1940-1942. While Nina and Jeannie strive to be “citizens of the world” in their tiny town of Danville, Anne and Margot try to live their lives in a world th...

Synopsis:
In February 1940, a young girl in Iowa pulled the name of a pen pal out of a hat. That name was Anne Frank. There was a brief correspondence before the Nazis invaded The Netherlands. The play is a coming-of-age reflection of that time from 1940-1942. While Nina and Jeannie strive to be “citizens of the world” in their tiny town of Danville, Anne and Margot try to live their lives in a world th...

Synopsis:
In 1951, the Red Scare is in full swing, and it migrates to a private girls’ school in New Hampshire when one teacher is suspected of being a Communist. Charged by the administration to find out the truth, Rachel, the daughter of the cafeteria manager, must challenge her own beliefs to figure  out the meaning of justice.