Cast of the musical Something Rotten doing a kickline.

Theatrical Productions

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Utica University Performing & Fine Arts Department presents:

Poster for Chicago performed at Utica University in April 2022.

Utica University presents CHICAGO - April 7, 8 and 9 at 7:30 p.m. and April 10 at 2 p.m. in Strebel Auditorium.

General Admission is $15, Utica University Student Admission is $5

Purchase Tickets Here

**PLEASE NOTE: This production contains mature content including nudity, murder, adult themes and smoking behavior (but not actual, physical smoke).

Chicago was first produced in 1975 and contains music by John Kander, lyics by Fred Ebb and book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse. Fosse was also the original choreographer, and his signature style is echoed in our choreography. This musical is based on the 1926 play by Maurine Dalas Watkins, a reporter who based her play on the true story of actual crimes. This musical explores the concept of the "celebrity criminal" where justice becomes a performance and the performance of justice becomes corrupt.

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Getting Involved

Cinderella Waltz Cast

Taking Part in Theatrical Productions at Utica

The Theatre Department produces one show a semester in Strebel Auditorium. We invite you to participate and share your talents. Here is how:

Backstage Talent

Anyone who can make the time commitment can work backstage. We welcome all techies!

To inquire about opportunities, please email Laura Salvaggio at lmsalvag@utica.edu

Onstage Talent

Auditions are open to everyone from either Utica University or the greater Utica community, though Utica University students are given some preference in casting decisions.

Performance Schedule

Our performances typically occur the week after Halloween and the last week of February, but dates are occasionally moved to avoid conflicts with other events. Fall auditions are within two weeks of the start of the semester. Spring auditions are the first or second week of December. Information is posted on the board outside Strebel Auditorium and posted here and on our Facebook page. The production process typically lasts six weeks from the start of rehearsal through the end of performances. Rehearsals are normally Monday through Friday 7-10:30. Technical Rehearsals usually start the Saturday before performances.

More About Theatre at Utica:

Spring 2021
Something Rotten
By Karey and Wayne Kirkpatrick

Fall 2020
The War of the Worlds
The 1938 Radio Script based on the novel by H.G. Wells, by Howard E. Koch

Spring 2020
Ghost Stories at Yotsuya
Tsurya Nanboku IV in a new translation by Mark Oshima

Fall 2019
Urinetown
Kotis/Holman

Spring 2019

Arcadia
Tom Stoppard

2nd Annual Levering Memorial Arts Festival

Fall 2018

Cabaret (musical)
Kander / Ebb / Masteroff

Theatre Club Production:
I Hate Shakespeare
Steph DeFerie

Spring 2018

All in the Timing
David Ives

Theatre Club Production:
The Importance of Being Earnest
Oscar Wilde

Levering Memorial Arts Festival

Fall 2017
Jekyll and Hyde (a musical)
Wildhorn/Bricusse/Cuden

Theatre Club Production:
Much Ado About Nothing
William Shakespeare

Spring 2017
Dracula
Alec Barbour

Fall 2016
Get Smart
Mel Brooks/Christopher Sergel

Spring 2016
The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon
Don Zolidis

Fall 2015
Tried by Twelve or Carried by Six
Shannon Enders

Spring 2015
Chamber Music
Arthur Kopit

The Actor's Nightmare
Christopher Durang

Fall 2014
The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later
Moisés Kaufman

Spring 2014
Cinderella Waltz
Don Nigro

Fall 2013
Mother Marianne's West Side Kitchen
Ann Carey/Shannon Enders

Spring 2013
Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom
Jennifer Haley

Fall 2012
Fighting and Dancing with Shakespeare*
William Shakespeare

Spring 2012
The Government Inspector*
Nikolai Gogol/Jeffrey Hatcher

Fall 2011
(Metamorphoses)
Ovid/Mary Zimmerman

Spring 2011
(Lion in Winter)*
James Goldman

Fall 2010
The Ladies Man
George Feydeau/Charles Morey

Spring 2010
A Tomb with a View
Norman Robbins

Fall 2009
(Picnic) *
William Inge

Spring 2009
The Pillowman
Martin McDonagh

Fall 2008
Tartuffe
Moliere

Spring 2008
Life Is Short
Craig Pospisil

Fall 2007
The Importance of Being Earnest
Oscar Wilde

Spring 2007
Rumors
Neil Simon

Fall 2006
Children’s Hour *
Lillian Hellman

Spring 2006
You Can’t Take It with You *
Hart and Kaufman

Fall 2005
(Pippin) *
Roger O. Hirson and Stephen Schwartz

Spring 2005
Trojan Women
Euripides

Fall 2004
(South Pacific) *
Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers and Joshua Logan

Spring 2004
(As You Like It)
Shakespeare

Fall 2003
Blithe Spirit
Noel Coward

Spring 2003
All in the Timing
David Ives

Fall 2002
(Robber Bridegroom) *
Robert Waldman

Spring 2002
Effect of Gamma Rays
Paul Zindel

Fall 2001
London Suite
Neil Simon

Spring 2001
Suddenly Last Summer
Tennessee Williams

Fall 2000
Fortinbras
Lee Blessing

Fall 1999
Personals: A Musical Cabaret

Spring 1999
The Dining Room
A.R. Gurney

Fall 1998
Scenes from Past UC Productions

Fall 1997
All in the Timing
David Ives

Spring 1996
The Miser
Moliere

Fall 1995
Two Rooms
Lee Blessing

Spring 1995
The Good Doctor
Neil Simon

Fall 1994
All My Sons
Arthur Miller

Spring 1994
Dancing at Lugnasa
Brian Friel

Fall 1993
Lips Together, Teeth Apart
Terrence McNally

Spring 1993
What the Butler Saw
Joe Orten

Fall 1992
The Dark at the Top of the Stairs
William Inge

Spring 1992
What I Did Last Summer
A.R. Gurney

Fall 1991
The Heiress
Ruth and Augustus Goetz

* Joint production with the Players of Utica

Broadway Utica

Make local theatre a tradition in your life by creating an unforgettable evening with memories that will last a lifetime. Broadway Utica offers local theatregoers star-studded evenings filled with music, drama and first-rate entertainment.

For student tickets to the Broadway Theatre League, please contact the Office of Student Activities.

For more information on upcoming Broadway Utica performances, please click here.

London Learning Experience

Study abroad in majestic London, one of the most iconic cities in the world. To learn how, click here

Players of Utica

Players of Utica is one of the oldest, continually producing community theatres in the United States and the oldest in New York State. Learn more at the Players of Utica web site.

Rome Community Theater

Formed in 1953, the organization known today as the Rome Community Theater was once two separate performing bodies; The Rome Theater Guild, and the Rome Civic Theater. Learn more about RCT on their web site.

Uptown Theatre for Creative Arts (UTCA)

UTCA offers a dynamic range of constantly-evolving programs to its constituents, on stage and on screen, in a multi-functional entertainment space. Learn more at UTCA's Web site.

Utica Dance Workshops

Click here for information about dance instruction opportunities at Utica Dance (formerly the Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute Dance Program). Please send inquiries to nancy@uticadance.com.

Syracuse Stage

Utica University students are encouraged to attend productions by our excellent regional theatre, Syracuse Stage. For information about upcoming shows, click here.

Wilde Rep Theatre

Wilde Rep Theater, less than two miles away in New Hartford, is an organization founded by a couple Utica University Theatre faculty members who saw a lack of certain kinds of local opportunity for our students to build professional resumes in theater disciplines. This experimental theater company welcomes Utica students to audition for acting gigs or apply for tech gigs, all of which pay a stipend and may be used as internships.