College of the Arts

Welcome to the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies' 2021-2022 Season!

Our diverse season includes plays, musicals, spoken word performances, adaptations of classic literature, storytelling, improv comedy, and new works.

Please join us for this amazing season. Read below, or download here.

Need technical assistance? Please call 470-578-6650 or email boxoffice@kennesaw.edu.

24-Hour Play Festival

Aug. 28 | 8 p.m.
Stillwell Theater | $5

Created by KSU Students, the 24-Hour Play Festival encompasses conception, creation, and performance in less than 24 hours. Inventive, unpredictable, and a ton of fun.
Wondrous Strange by Martyna Majok, Meg Miroshnik, Jiehae Park, and Jen Silverman

Oct. 5-10
Tuesday-Thursday 7:30 p.m.;
Friday-Sat. 8 p.m.
Sat. 2 p.m.
Sunday 3 p.m.
Onyx Theater | $5-$12

Directed by Karen Robinson, Emily Denovich, Katie Nelson, and Veronica Sanders.

Inspired by Kentucky ghost tales, this collage of short plays explores our endless fascination with hauntings, spirits, and paranormal happenings. Louisville Insight wrote that Wondrous Strange is “a sweet, creepy and hilarious horror-comedy-romance.” Originally commissioned by Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, this production is the Atlanta-area premiere.
- In-Person
The 9th Annual Coming-Out Monologues

Oct. 14 | 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 15 | 8 p.m.
Onyx Theater | $5

Directed by TPS Students; produced in collaboration with the KSU LGBTQ Resource Center.

Inspiring, celebratory, and thought-provoking, this performance features original coming-out stories from KSU and Atlanta-area communities, performed by KSU students.
Everybody by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins

Oct. 26-31 | $5-$20
Tues.-Thurs., 7:30 p.m.
Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m.; Sunday, 3 p.m.
Stillwell Theater

Directed by Amanda Washington

Death shows up unexpectedly and tells Everybody his time is up. Everybody scrambles to find company. Who better than his life-long companions: Friendship? Kinship? Stuff? No one will go with him!

Branden-Jacob Jenkins’ audacious riff on the 15th century morality play Everyman is a provocative and wacky immersion in Everybody’s fight to cheat Death and confront life’s greatest mystery—the meaning of living. A celebration of live theatre that directly engages the audience every step of the way, Everybody was the 2018 Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and this production is the Atlanta-area premiere.
- In-Person
KSU Colors Showcase (Fall)

Nov. 6 | 8 p.m.
Stillwell Theater | $5

Original student works highlighting community, identity, and expression.
K.I.S.S. Improv Showcase (Fall)

Nov. 12-13 | 8 p.m.
Stillwell Theater | $5

Our resident improv ensemble creates performances on the fly. Side-splitting, surprising, and absolutely silly.

This event may not be suitable for audiences under the age of 16.
THE SPITFIRE GRILL

Nov. 16-20 | $5-$12
Tues-Thurs. 7:30 p.m.;
Friday 8 p.m.;
Sat. 2 p.m. & 8 p.m.
Onyx Theater

Music and Book by James Valcq
Lyrics and Book by Fred Alley
Based on the film by Lee David Zlotoff

Directed By Timothy Ellis; Music Direction by Amanda Wansa Morgan

A parolee arrives in a small Wisconsin town and struggles to find her place in a community of troubled souls who gather at a run-down diner. Her presence sparks re-connections and reconciliations that bring the community together. Featuring a gorgeous score inspired by American folk music, The Spitfire Grill offers a heartwarming story about finding redemption and building meaningful relationships in one’s new home. Sometimes we run away to land exactly where we are supposed to be.

THE SPITFIRE GRILL is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals.
- In-Person
KSU Tellers (Fall)

December 2-3
Thurs. 7:30 p.m. & Fri. 8 p.m.
Onyx Theater | $5

The KSU Tellers invite you to join them as they present their best solo performances from each semester.
And So We Walked: An Artist’s Journey Along the Trail of Tears with DeLanna Studi

Feb. 9-12 | $12-$25
Wed.-Thurs. 7:30 p.m.;
Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m.
Stillwell Theater

Directed by Corey Madden

Frank, heartwarming, and inspiring, And So We Walked: An Artist’s Journey Along the Trail of Tears is a story about a contemporary Cherokee woman and her father who embark on an incredible 900-mile journey along the Trail of Tears to truly understand her own identity and the conflicts of her nation. The six-week journey retraces the path her great-great grandparents took in the 1830’s during the forced relocation of 17,000 Cherokee from their homelands. This powerful, multi-faceted dramatic memoir draws on extraordinary interviews, historical research, and the artist’s personal experience to convey the complexities and conflicts with which the Cherokee wrestle.

Coordinated with Walk in Beauty, an exhibition highlighting Native American artists at KSU’s Zuckerman Museum of Art, January 11-February 12.

Special Event: On February 12, join us for a public reception at the Zuckerman Museum of Art from 6-7:30 p.m., followed by an 8 p.m. performance of And So We Walked: An Artist’s Journey Along the Trail of Tears.
- In-Person
Mother Road by Octavio Solís

Feb. 22-27 | $5-$12
Tues.-Thurs., 7:30 p.m.
Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.
Sat. 2 p.m.,
Sun. 3 p.m.
Onyx Theater

Inspired by The Grapes of Wrath, this modern epic picks up generations later when William Joad must find a blood relative to inherit the family land in Oklahoma that was abandoned in Steinbeck’s novel. Learning that the only surviving descendant is the young Mexican American Martín Jodes, Joad convinces him to travel from California across the American heartland to Oklahoma. During their journey, these two men forge an unexpected bond as they grapple with the brutal past and strive for a hopeful future. An inventive and engrossing tale of American identity, immigration, and the ties that bind.

World premiere produced by Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Artistic Director Bill Rauch, Executive Director Cynthia Rider. Mother Road was produced in a developmental production by Goodman Theatre, Chicago in the New Stages Festival, Robert Falls, Artistic Director, Roche Schulfer, Executive Director.

Commissioned by the National Steinbeck Center and first read as part of the National Steinbeck Festival.
- In-Person
K.I.S.S. Improv Showcase (Spring)

Mar. 25-26 | 8 p.m.
Stillwell Theater | $5

Our resident improv ensemble creates performances on the fly. Side-splitting, surprising, and absolutely silly.

This event may not be suitable for audiences under the age of 16.
Nickelodeon™ The Spongebob Musical

Apr. 7-17 | $14-$20
Thursday 7:30 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m.;
Sunday 3 p.m.
Stillwell Theater

Based on the series by Stephen Hillenburg;
Book by Kyle Jarrow

Songs by Yolanda Adams, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Sara Bareilles, Jonathan Coulton, Lady Antebellum, Cyndi Lauper, John Legend, Panic! At the Disco, They Might Be Giants and T.I. And Songs by David Bowie, Tom Kenny & Andy Paley. Additional Lyrics by Jonathan Coulton. Additional Music by Tom Kitt.
Musical Production Conceived by Tina Landau.

Directed by Amanda Wansa Morgan

The power of optimism really can save the world!

Adapted from the beloved animated series SpongeBob SquarePants, this colorful and vibrant musical is an uplifting tale of overcoming the odds and celebrating the joy of life.

SpongeBob and the sea creatures who inhabit Bikini Bottom are confronted with the total annihilation of their world. All hope seems lost, but our unlikely hero saves the day. An affectionate and timely satire of our individual and political foibles that affirms community, teamwork, and trust in one’s full potential. This production is the Atlanta-area premiere.

Nickelodeon, SpongeBob SquarePants, and all related titles, logos and characters are trademarks of Viacom International Inc.

The Spongebob Musical is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals.
- In-Person
Genesis Redux

Apr. 21-23 | $5
Wed.-Thurs.7:30 p.m.;
Friday 8 p.m.
Onyx Theater

Written by Charlie Parrott
Directed by Karen Robinson

Genesis Redux reimagines the first stories in the book of Genesis through a script devised from research, improvisation, and movement by students in spring of 2020.

Drawing on a variety of traditions and styles of performance, Genesis Redux uses these stories from the past to help us understand ourselves in the present. This is a world premiere workshop production.
- In-Person
KSU Tellers (Spring)

April 28-29
Thurs. 7:30 p.m. & Fri. 8 p.m.
Onyx Theater | $5

The KSU Tellers invite you to join them as they present their best solo performances from each semester.
KSU Colors Showcase (Spring)

Apr. 30 | 8 p.m.
Stillwell Theater | $5

Original student works highlighting community, identity, and expression.