Welcome to the Joliet Drama Guild
Bringing quality theater to the Joliet area for the past 78 years.
Auditions for the musical, Lucky Stiff, will be coming up very soon!
The next Board Meeting will be on June 3rd at 2 PM at Bicentennial Park. The meeting is open to all members. Committees are open to all members. See the Board of Directors page for committee chairpersons and to contact the same. It’s a great way to have input into YOUR Joliet Drama Guild!
The Joliet Drama Guild is pleased to announce the production schedule for the 80th Season.
The order of the productions will be set by the board soon.
Proof by David Auburn
Mary Mary by Jean Kerr
Picnic – (Pulitzer Prize 1953), William Inge
Kiss Me Kate by Cole Porter
Synopsis for these shows are below. We are all very excited about these shows, and anticipate a very successful season.
If you have submitted an application any show in the past, please feel free to do so again. Please include your name, contact information (telephone number, e-mail address home address). As well as the list of theatre credits (acting, directing, stage managing, etc.), and a short statement of your interest in this particular show, an indication of how you would manage rehearsal time, and how you would approach the particular show you’re interested in. (all this information is available on the Director Application Form)
Proof by David Auburn Cast: 2M 2F
On the eve of her twenty-fifth birthday, Catherine, a troubled young woman, has spent years caring for her brilliant but unstable father, a famous mathematician. Now, following his death, she must deal with her own volatile emotions; the arrival of her estranged sister, Claire; and the attentions of Hal, a former student of her father’s who hopes to find valuable work in the 103 notebooks that her father left behind. Over the long weekend that follows, a burgeoning romance and the discovery of a mysterious notebook draw Catherine into the most difficult problem of all: How much of her father’s madness--or genius--will she inherit?
Mary Mary, Jean Kerr Cast: 3M 2W
Plot: Mary is contrary, and her trouble is basic insecurity. Seems she had an older sister, a stunner. Oh, the traumatic effect on Mary! In high school, she went out for the literary monthly instead of with boys. She learned to compensate for her drabness by being clever. When we meet her, she is as witty as—well, Jean Kerr. She appears at the apartment of her former husband, Bob, because his lawyer has summoned her to help with Bob’s sticky tax returns. Their marriage, it seems, foundered on the rocks of Mary’s unrelenting sense of humor. The moment she arrives, she gives us some excellent samples of it. It takes Dirk Winston, a handsome film hero whose star is in decline, to understand Mary. Dirk makes her face up to her secret. He also kisses her and offers her the kind of adoration her practical and obtuse husband has been unable to manage. Just in time, Bob, who has been on the verge of marrying a rich, young health fiend named Tiffany Richards, realizes that he still needs Mary. It will not be killing any suspense to reveal that true love triumphs.
Picnic – (Pulitzer Prize 1953), William Inge Cast: 4 M 7 W
The play takes place on Labor day Weekend in the joint back yards of two middle-aged widows. The one house belongs to Flo Owens, who lives there with her two maturing daughters, Madge and Millie, and a boarder who is a spinster school teacher
The other house belongs to Helen Potts, who lives with her elderly and invalid mother. Into this female atmosphere comes a young man named Hal Carter, whose animal vitality seriously upsets the entire group
Hal is a most interesting character, a child of parents who ignored him, self-conscious of his failings and his position behind the eight ball. Flo is sensitively wary of temptations for her daughters. Madge, bored with being only a beauty, sacrifices her chances for a wealthy marriage for the excitement Hal promises
Her sister, Millie, finds her balance for the first time through the stranger’s brief attention. And the spinster is stirred to make an issue out of the dangling courtship that has brightened her life in a dreary, minor way.
Kiss Me Kate. Cole Porter. This book and music are by Cole Porter, so its book is witty and the music is wonderful or “Wunderbar.” The plot is a classic play within a play. Feuding divorced couple, Lilly Vanessi and Fred Graham, are forcibly reunited for a tryout of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. Lillie is angered when Fred pays attention to the chorine cast as Bianca, who, in her turn, yearns for her ne’er-do-well boyfriend and fellow cast member Bill, who is being pursued by gangsters for a gambling debt. While the cast members untangle these complications, they are also acting and singing the play. Four principals, above, and numerous supporting characters. Witty dialogue, wonderful score. Familiar songs: “Another Openin’, Another Show,” “Wunderbar,” “So in Love,” “Brush up your Shakespeare,” and “Too Darn Hot.”
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New Membership Information
The membership committee has been working hard at expanding membership benefits, as well as simplifying enrollment. All membership terms now coincide with the season. Annual membership will be in effect from September 1st to August 31st. All members were given an extension through August 31st of 2011. Being sensitive to this tough economy, this extension was given at no additional charge. As of August 31st 2011, all annual memberships will need to be renewed. New members will be charged a prorated fee for membership till August 31st of next year. For more information on membership benefits, new membership levels, and how to become a member, go to our membership page.
If your membership has just expired: expect an e-mail or post mail with information on renewing.
Check back often for news on all of our latest shows.
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