Current Season
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Last Updated: Oct 07, 2024, 04:39 PM
2025-2026
Marion Kleinau Theatre Performance Season
The Kleinau Theatre returns to a full, in-person season, complying with all masking and social distancing protocols as deemed necessary by the university.
Fall Semester 2025
September 6, 7 pm
Open Performance Spotlight (free)
Graduate students, undergraduate students, faculty, and anyone with a passion for performance studies are invited to share work at this open spotlight. Previews of upcoming shows encouraged.
September 18-20, 7 pm
Lovely as a Tree
Composed and Performed by Dr. Jonny Gray
A solo performance exploring the arboreal as inspiration, form, metaphor, challenge, and transformative symbol of hope. Leaning heavily into Queer Ecology and Art as Inquiry, the performance investigates archetypal form as a genesis for creative expression and environmental advocacy. The script for this performance began as plein air paintings and visual explorations of various tree shapes and habitats. Mature Themes
October 4, 7 pm
Wave 1.12.22 (free)
Compiled, Written, and Performed by Dr. Desirée Rowe
Shaped by the sudden death of her unvaccinated father in January 2022 from C19 and long form interviews with C19 grief activists, in Wave 1.12.22 Rowe explores how the work to democratize grief and hold politicians accountable for C19 deaths twists around, though, and against the personal. In midst of the institutional and governmental structures that force a particular type of mourning for a particularly imagined personhood, Wave 1.12.22 revels in a queer mourning that pushes back. Mature Themes
October 16-18, 7 pm
Autism in Real Life: A Late Diagnosis Analysis
Written and Performed by Paula Horton
Co-Directed with Dr. Shelby Swafford and Dr. Christina Ivey
With a mission to turn autism awareness to autism acceptance, take an autoethnographic journey with Paula through the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-5 to understand how these clinical guidelines can manifest in reality. Is it a superpower? Is it a disability? With vignettes from her own childhood, memories as a parent of autistic kids, and current experiences that still cause frustrations, enjoy an evening learning about autism. This time, Autism speaks for itself.
November 13-15, 7 pm
At a Crossroads
Compiled and Directed by Dr. Shelby Swafford
Devised with the Cast
Carbondale: a crossroads of solar eclipses, politics, and regional identities. This cast-devised show explores personal and cultural tensions that intersect within our small Southern Illinois city. Layering the cast’s personal narratives with local history and folklore, At a Crossroads invites us to consider the critical junctures of our individual lives and shared communities. Mature Themes.
December 6, 7 pm
Performance Course Spotlight (free)
Undergraduate and graduate students in performance courses present their best work, as selected by instructors.
Spring Semester 2026
February 5-7, 7 pm
The Black Experience Showcase
Africana Theatre Lab
The Black Experience Showcase is a 3-night variety show that showcases music, theater, monologues, comedy, and drama. This show is a part of the Black History Month calendar. Mature Themes.
February 21, 7 pm
The Audacity of L.I.V.E. (free)
Written and Performed by Dr. Anjuliet Woodruffe and Dr. Marquese McFerguson
The Audacity of L.I.V.E. is a collaborative poetry performance, staged for the first time at the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, Ohio in 2024. The Audacity of L.I.V.E.’s name is inspired by a privet hedge on the campus of the University of Cincinnati that is labeled, "LIVE.” The poet/performers used the hedge as a muse to write about what it has meant to live as Black wo/men and academics over the last 5 years. Mature Themes.
March 26-28, 7pm [Double Bill]
Work/Shoot
Written and Performed by Mario Sanders
Co-Directed with T Brown
The world of professional wrestling is one that blurs the lines between fiction (the “work”) and reality (the “shoot”). While the work and shoot elements of professional wrestling are often conceived as antithetical to one another, they can be better understood as working in tandem. This performance utilizes both work and shoot elements to discuss masculinity and grief, while simultaneously using autoethnographic reflections on masculinity and grief to illuminate aspects of professional wrestling.
Saints, Witches, and Madwomen
Written and Performed by Dr. Christina L. Ivey
Directed by: Dr. Shelby Swafford
A historiography of women’s behaviors that were societally described as odd, problematic, and dangerous, this performance traces the historical connection between women labeled as “saints,” “witches,” and “madwomen” while exploring the darker areas of family communication. Weaving story, poetry, theory, and history, this autoethnographic performance examines Ivey’s relationship with their mother. Mature Themes
April 23-25, 7 pm
Becoming Unbecoming
Written and Illustrated by Una
Performed by Julia Stemper
Adapted and Directed by T Brown
Becoming Unbecoming is an adaptation of a graphic novel about an English woman’s experience surviving sexual assault. The novel, written and illustrated by Una, is a gorgeous and grueling depiction of the sexism of the times and how it presented itself in Una’s lived experience. The production emphasizes distinctive characteristics of the graphic novel genre, allowing the performer to bring her body and words into dialogue with music and images. Mature Themes
May 2, 7 pm
Performance Course Spotlight (free)
Undergraduate and graduate students in performance courses present their best work, as selected by instructors. Followed by The Kleinau Awards.