Outreach Programs

Theatre Symposiums

Reed makes available to area high school students and teachers complimentary tickets on designated dates for both the fall and spring faculty-directed Theatre Department productions at the Reed Mainstage Theatre.

Directly following the production, the department offers a “talk back” of the play to the high school students and faculty in attendance. The discussion lasts between 15 and 20 minutes and includes the faculty director, as well as members of the cast and technical crew.

We strongly encourage teachers to accompany their students and ask that teachers make all reservations. Schools are limited initially to 20 student tickets, plus teachers. Please call the theatre department administrative assistant at 503/777-7710, to reserve tickets—compliments of Reed’s special programs office (special_programs@reed.edu). Seating is limited due to the small size of the facility. Reservations are on a first-come, first-served basis and should be made only for the number of students and teachers who are certain to attend.

2009-10 Productions


Measure for Measure
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Kathleen Worley
Thursday, November 12 @ 7:30 p.m., Mainstage Theatre

One of Shakespeare's most intriguing and rarely performed plays, Measure for Measure is a dark comedy of passion and reason, lust and justice, with a bed trick and a head trick and various instances of doubling and disguise. "Man, proud man, dressed in a little brief authority. . ." turns in quite unexpected directions while seeking perfection in an imperfect world of prisons, whorehouses, nunneries, and the infamous "moated grange."

Running time is about 2 hours and 15 minutes, including intermission.

Antigone
By Jean Anouilh
Adapted and translated by Lewis Galantiére
Directed by Kate Bredeson
Thursday, April 8 @ 7:30 p.m., Mainstage Theatre

First produced in German-occupied Paris during World War Two, Anouilh's version of the Greek myth is a meditation on power, responsibility, and duty. When Antigone, daughter of Oedipus, niece of King Creon, defies her uncle's orders and buries her brother who has been left out to rot, she instigates a fatal series of actions, reactions, decrees and punishments. Despite debates with her nurse, her sister, her future husband, and an extended tête-à-tête with Creon, Antigone remains unwavering in her convictions and true to her beliefs. A model of resistance and focus, the story of Antigone remains provocative and powerful as a meditation on duty and strength. Galantière's adaptation and translation deftly reveal Anouilh's poetic retelling of the classic myth.


Directions to the Reed theatre building.