Boar's Head Players Present Sizzling Hot New Play Showcase

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Boar’s Head Players during rehearsals (top), Laurence Luckinbill as Darrow (bottom left), Luckinbill as Roosevelt (bottom right).

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Boar’s Head Players, the University of Arkansas’ summer theatre troupe, will present New Play Showcase 2012 with performances by students, faculty and an alumnus of the department of drama in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.

On June 15 and 16, readings will be held of Calculation and Delta Secret at the Nadine Baum Studios. On June 22 and 23, two historic personalities are featured in Laurence Luckinbill’s special performances of Clarence Darrow Tonight! and Teddy Tonight! in the University Theatre. A series of one-person shows by undergraduate students will be followed by long-form improvisational comedy on June 27 and 28 at the Nadine Baum Studios. New plays from students in the master of fine arts program’s acting studio will be performed on June 29, also at the Baum Studios. All shows begin at 7:30 p.m.

Todd Taylor’s Calculation explores the dispute between Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz, two titanic figures of the Enlightenment who independently discovered a new method that will revolutionize mathematics. The bitter fight over who really invented calculus will damage both men in profoundly different ways. Taylor sets this feud against the meteoric rise of Leibniz’ patron family, the House of Hanover. This riveting staged reading reveals a little known side of the world of mathematics.

Delta Secret by Prince Duren considers how people learn to accept the truth after living a lie. A black family, living in the Mississippi Delta during the 1930s, must find a way to heal itself after a terrible secret is revealed. Each member must find a path in which the past doesn't destroy the present and hinder any hope for a future. Duren questions the meaning of family in the staged reading of this gripping new drama.

Luckinbill visits the U of A campus for a week as a McIlroy Family Vising Professor in Performing and visual Arts. As part of his visit, the actor, playwright and University of Arkansas alumnus will present Clarence Darrow Tonight!, about the celebrated attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union who fought for civil rights, decent working conditions and the abolition of the death penalty. Luckinbill will also perform Teddy Tonight!, one of his favorite and most famous works, based on the life and adventures of President Theodore Roosevelt.

Luckinbill was born in Fort Smith and graduated from the University of Arkansas department of drama in 1955. He earned a master of fine arts in playwriting from the Catholic University of America in 1958. He was a Tony nominee for The Shadow Box and a recipient of the New York Critics Circle Award for The Memory Box. Luckinbill works extensively as an actor, writer and director for the stage and screen. His humorous, complex and heartfelt one-man scripts examine the lives of iconic men whose challenges and struggles are as relevant today as when they lived.

Original One-Person Shows were written by the students in professor Michael Landman’s one-person show class. The world premiers of these one-act plays are also directed and acted by undergraduate students. These pieces will be followed by Long Form Comedy Improv by performers trained by instructor Kris Stoker. The actors will create characters and entire story lines based on audience suggestions. No lines, no props, no set … just creativity! 

Unannounced Arrivals: New Plays from the MFA Acting Studio, directed by visiting professor Bob Ford, will be brought to life by students pursuing a master of fine arts in acting. Their collaborations using exercises based on the Meisner technique of acting have produced riveting, vibrant and touching pieces.

Each performance is $5. Free tickets are available for University of Arkansas students with a valid university ID. Summer passes, allowing patrons admission to all shows, are available for $15. Tickets are available at the University Theatre box office. For ticket information, please call 479-575-4752, email acohea@uark.edu or visit the box office, open weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. in the Fine Arts Building.

Free parking is available in the Stadium Drive Parking Facility, where parking is free after 5 p.m. Entrance to the parking facility is on Stadium Drive, and the facility’s elevator will take patrons to street level directly across from the Fine Arts Building.

Parking for Nadine Baum Studios can be found in lots across from Walton Arts Center on West Avenue, at the corner of West Avenue and Spring Street and behind the Arts Center on School Avenue. Parking rates are $1 per hour.