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UPSTATE THEATRE 2023-2024 SEASON

'23 London company presents
Gruesome playground injuries

By Rajiv Joseph

August 25 & 26, 2023 at 7:30 p.m. | Performances will be held in the Main Stage Theatre of the Performing Arts Center

It’s not your typical love story: Doug and Kayleen meet at the nurse’s office in their elementary school; she’s got a painful stomach ache, and he’s all banged up from a running dive off the roof of the school. Over the next thirty years, these scar-crossed lovers meet again and again, brought together by injury, heartbreak, and their own self-destructive tendencies.

Performances are FREE.

*Donations are always appreciated. Cash donations will be taken at the door or you can donate online at www.uscupstate.edu/theatrefund

Seating is limited and must be reserved in advanced, HERE.

Voices to Hear Presents
The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later

By Moisés Kaufman, Leigh Fondakowski, Greg Pierotti, Andy Paris, and Stephen Belber

September 28 & 29, 2023 at 7:30 p.m. | September 30, 2023 at 3:00 p.m.

Performances will be held in the Main Stage Theatre of the Performing Arts Center

On October 7, 1998, a young gay man was discovered bound to a fence outside Laramie, Wyoming, savagely beaten and left to die in an act of brutality and hate that shocked the nation. Matthew Shepard’s death became a national symbol of intolerance, but for the people of the town, the event was deeply personal. In the aftermath, Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project went to Laramie and conducted more than 200 interviews with its citizens. From the transcripts, the playwrights constructed an extraordinary chronicle of life in the town after the murder.

In The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later, the company revisits the town a decade after the tragedy, finding a community grappling with its legacy and its place in history. In addition to revisiting the folks whose words riveted us in the original play, this time around, the company also spoke with the two murderers, McKinney and Henderson, as well as Matthew's mother, Judy Shepard. THE LARAMIE PROJECT: TEN YEARS LATER is a bold work, which asks the question, "How does society write its own history?"

VOICES TO HEAR is a staged reading series here at USC Upstate that shines a light on recent works from both upcoming and established playwrights whose voices may not be heard otherwise. It focuses on diverse characters, themes, and cultures that may not be experienced or appreciated within the confines of the mainstream, commercial theatre.

General Admission: $10
Faculty, Staff & Students: $5

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Upstate Student Tickets

*Upstate Student tickets can now be purchased/reserved through the USC Upstate Student Portal by signing in with your student credentials. Having Trouble? Please contact the box office at boxoffice@uscupstate.edu and we will assist you.

She Kills Monsters

By Qui Nguyen

November 9-11, 2023 at 7:30 p.m. | November 12, 2023 at 3:00 p.m.

Performances will be held in the Main Stage Theatre of the Performing Arts Center

The Evans sisters were never very close, but after Tilly’s death Agnes finds a notebook containing a game scenario created by her sister. She discovers that Tilly was a well-known Dungeons and Dragons player. In order to find out more about her mysterious young sister, Agnes recruits a "dungeon master" named Chuck to help her play the game.

Chock-full of supermodel elves, homicidal fairies, nasty ogres and 90's pop culture, She Kills Monsters is a kick-ass comedic romp about friendship, loss, and acceptance.

General Admission: $10
Faculty, Staff & Students: $5

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Upstate Student Tickets

LAst night & The NIGHT beFORE

By Donnette Lavinia Grays

February 22-24, 2024 at 7:30 p.m. | February 25, 2024 at 3:00 p.m.

Performances will be held in the Main Stage Theatre of the Performing Arts Center

When Monique and her 10-year-old daughter Samantha show up unexpectedly on her sister’s Brooklyn doorstep, it’s the beginning of the end for Rachel and her partner Nadima’s orderly lifestyle. Monique is on the run from deep trouble, her husband Reggie is nowhere to be seen, and Samantha becomes ever haunted by the life in southern Georgia she was forced to leave behind. Poetic, dark and often deeply funny Last Night and the Night Before explores the power, necessity, and beauty of loss.

General Admission: $10
Faculty, Staff & Students: $5

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Upstate Student Tickets

First LAdy Suite

Words and Music By Michael John LaChiusa

April 11-13, 2024 at 7:30 p.m. | April 14, 2024 at 3:00 p.m.

Performances will be held in the Main Stage Theatre of the Performing Arts Center

First Lady Suite is an enthralling look into the lives of some of history’s most neglected figures, the wives of U.S. presidents. The musical is presented in four vignettes. The first piece, Over Texas, takes place aboard Air Force One on November 22nd, 1963. Mary Gallagher, the First Lady’s secretary, and Evelyn Lincoln, secretary to the President, are relaxing as they fly into Dallas. While napping, Mary’s dreams become portentous nightmares as they are haunted by a ghostly Jackie and an eerie Lady Bird. Where’s Mamie? is a time-travel fantasy as Mamie, melancholic and alone on her birthday, is paid a visit by the celebrated opera star Marian Anderson. They travel to Algiers to confront Ike about an affair and warn him of the racial strife he’ll face later as President. Olio presents first daughter Margaret Truman singing at a recital but constantly upstaged by First Lady Bess. Eleanor Sleeps Here is a heart-rending examination of the relationship between Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok as they’re flown over Washington by Amelia Earhart.

General Admission: $10
Faculty, Staff & Students: $5

Purchase Tickets

Upstate Student Tickets

Upstate Theatre thanks you for your continued support and encouragement. If you would like to make a lasting and transformative contribution to our program, please consider donating to the Upstate Theatre Fund.