Sondheim's Musical About Assassins Performed at UB
September 30, 2015
Contact: University Relations
Phone: 410.837.5739
Assassins, a musical by Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman, will receive several performances at the University of Baltimore in late October and early November in the Wright Theater. It's a co-production of Spotlight UB and Stillpointe Theatre. The piece is about every person who, successfully or not, made an attempt on the life of a president.
First produced off-Broadway in 1990, almost all of the initial 73 performances of Assassins were sold out. It was then revived in London's West End, a production which included a new song. The musical went through several popular regional productions before plans were made to bring it to Broadway in 2001. But the Broadway revival was postponed following the attacks of 9/11—much of the content was considered too sensitive for a newly traumatized New York.
The production of Assassins was delayed for three more years until 2004, when it was finally staged to great success on Broadway, earning five Tony Awards. Of the musical's subject matter, Sondheim has said that "there are always people who think that certain subjects are not right for musicals…. We're not going to apologize for dealing with such a volatile subject. Nowadays, anything goes."
Assassins recounts some of the most famous national tragedies (and the most famous national mishaps), by giving each killer and would-be killer the chance to tell their story through song and dance. Every assassin—John Wilkes Booth, Charles Guiteau, Leon Czolgosz, Guiseppe Zangara, Samual Byck, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, Sarah Jane Moore, John Hinckley, and Lee Harvey Oswald—is imagined occupying a shared limbo, interacting with each other, and performing their stories. They are joined by a historical cast of characters including revolutionaries, accomplices, politicians, and the victims themselves. Rich in irony and intrigue, Assassins imagines the minds and personalities of some of the nation's most notorious crimnals and provides a dark perspective on our culture.
Kimberley Lynne, UB's manager of theater and the arts, and Ryan Haase, artistic director for Stillpointe, are co-directing this production. It will run from Oct. 23 to Nov. 7 in the Wright Theater in the University of Baltimore’s Student Center, 21 W. Mt. Royal Ave., and will feature an ensemble cast of talented local actors.
The mission of Stillpointe Theater is to bring together Baltimore artists to push the boundaries of performance. This goal blends seamlessly with Spotlight UB's aim to bring performance arts programming to the UB community and enrich curriculum.
Lynne said she believes that theatre provides a powerful platform on which to wrestle with social issues. She has produced social justice theatre pieces through Spotlight UB since 2008.
Show times for Assassins are set for 7 p.m. on Oct. 23-25, Oct. 30 through Nov. 1, and Nov. 5-7. Matinee performances on Oct. 28-29 at 12:30 p.m., and Nov. 5 at 2 p.m are scheduled around UB class times and will be followed by an audience discussion moderated by Hoffberger Center for Professional Ethics Director Fred Guy. Following the Sunday, Nov. 1 performance, Firmin DeBrabander and Alan Lyles will host a post-show discussion that is also free to the public. DeBrabander is an associate professor of philosophy at Maryland Institute College of Art and wrote the 2015 definitive book on gun control and the safety of our schools, Do Guns Make Us Free? Democracy and the Armed Society. Lyles is a professor in UB's School of Health and Human Services in the College of Public Affairs, with a specialization in pharmo-social issues.
Tickets are $20 general admission, $10 for seniors and University of Baltimore staff, and $5 for students. Tickets will be available online at www.etix.com and in the Wright Theater lobby one hour prior to the show.
For more information about Spotlight UB, visit www.ubalt.edu/spotlightub or http://www.facebook.com/SpotlightUB, or send an e-mail to spotlightub@ubalt.edu.
The University of Baltimore is a member of the University System of Maryland and comprises the School of Law, the Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Public Affairs and the Merrick School of Business.